FACULTY
International Baroque Academy 2020 Faculty
Faculty updates will be posted here as soon as we complete plans to resume IBA operations in a future summer.
Suzi LeBlanc | Voice and Performance Practice
Renowned Acadian soprano Suzie LeBlanc began her singing career by replacing Emma Kirkby in the Consort of Musicke and from there, continued to specialize in baroque, researching and recording a substantial amount of unpublished material. Suzie’s recordings have received international praise and several prestigious awards: a Grammy award for Lully’s Thésée; two Opus awards – best World Music recording for “Tempi con Variazioni”, and best contemporary music CD for her Messiaen cd; and a CINI award (Italy) for the opera Orfeo by Sartorio in which she sings the leading role. She has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Hyperion, Chandos, Teldec, Das Alte Werk, among others.
Past performance highlights include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Brooklyn Academy of Music staged by Jonathan Miller, recitals and recording of Mozart songs with renowned conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, 17th century duets with Dame Emma Kirkby in Montreal, and appearances with festivals and orchestras world-wide which include the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Proms and Wigmore Hall in London, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Tragicomedia, the Hilliard Ensemble and others. On the opera stage, she has performed for De Nederlandse Opera, Festival de Beaune, Opéra de Montréal, the Boston Early Music Festival, Tanglewood, Festival Vancouver and Early Music Vancouver.
She is the artistic director of Le Nouvel Opéra (www.lenouvelopera.com) and heads a workshop every summer at the Orford Arts Centre Academy in Quebec. Appointed to the Order of Canada in 2015, she has also earned four honorary doctorates for her contribution to early music and to Acadian culture. Ms. LeBlanc serves on voice and early music faculty of McGill University in Montreal. Visit: www.suzieleblanc.com.
Christian Immler | Voice and Performance Practice
Appearing in major concert halls, festivals, and opera houses, German bass-baritone Christian Immler is an unusually versatile artist with the rare ability to switch enthusiastically between the worlds of oratorio and opera. Soon after studying with Rudolf Piernay at the Guildhall School of Music in London, he won the International Nadia et Lili Boulanger Competition in Paris, launching his career.
In concert, Christian has worked with such conductors as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Marc Minkowski, Christophe Rousset, Kent Nagano, James Conlon, Andrew Parrott, Masaaki Suzuki, Giovanni Antonini, and William Christie. He actively performs in venues such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Sydney Opera House, the Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne Festivals and the BBC Proms. Recent highlights include a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah at the Gewandhaus Leipzig, a series of televised broadcasts of all of Bach’s major sacred works, and a staged version of Mozart’s Requiem.
Highlights of Christian’s operatic career include appearances under René Jacobs as Il Commendatore and Masetto in Don Giovanni, The Speaker in The Magic Flute at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Freischütz in Brussels and the Theater an der Wien, and the world premiere of Alice in Wonderland at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He has also appeared with the Boston Early Music Festival as Seneca in Poppea and the title role in Graupner’s Antiochus und Stratonica, Achis in David & Jonathas conducted by William Christie, Jupiter in Castor et Pollux with Raphaël Pichon at the Opéra Comique, and Pharnaces in Zemlinsky’s Der König Kandaules at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
The 2019/20 season first has him appearing with the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Opéra de Rouen, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and the Opéra de Massy. He will then tour throughout Europe with Masaaki Suzuki, and Raphaël Pichon before appearing with René Jacobs and Akamus in Berlin. He closes the season in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Missa solemnis with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo.
A keen recitalist, Christian has been invited to perform at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Frick Collection in New York, the Paris Philharmonie, the Salzburg Mozarteum, and the Tonhalle Zurich. His more than 50 recordings have been awarded prizes such as a 2015 and 2016 Grammy Nomination, the Echo Klassik, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, several Diapason d’Or, Diamant d’Opéra and France Musiques’ Enregistrement de l’année.
Much in demand for worldwide masterclasses, Christian is Professor of Voice at the Kalaidos Fachhochschule in Zurich. He has served on the Lied and oratorio faculty of the International Summeracademy Mozarteum Salzburg for several seasons, and in December 2019 returned to the International Nadia et Lili Boulanger Competition in Paris, this time as a member of the jury. Visit: www.christianimmler.com
Ellen Hargis | Stage Director, Performance Practice and Historical Gesture
Soprano Ellen Hargis is a specialist in baroque music, the co-director of The Newberry Consort, and a sought-after voice teacher and lecturer on historical performance practice. Her regular lectures on historical performance, baroque gesture and movement, rhetoric, and opera have been presented at Harvard, Yale, the Juilliard School of Music, the Oberlin Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, and The Moscow Conservatory, among others.
As a soprano, Ms. Hargis has appeared with many renowned conductors, including Andrew Parrott, Gustav Leonhardt, Paul Goodwin, Jane Glover, and Nicolas Kraemer. She appears regularly in recital with her duo partner, lutenist Paul O'Dette, and has performed with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. Ellen Hargis has performed at many of the world’s leading festivals including the Adelaide Festival (Australia), Utrecht Festival (Holland), Resonanzen Festival (Vienna), Tanglewood, the New Music America Festival, Festival Vancouver, the Berkeley Festival (California), and is a frequent guest at the Boston Early Music Festival.
A prolific recording artist, her discography of more than 50 recordings embraces repertoire from medieval to contemporary music and boasts the Grand Prix du Disque, the Choc du Monde, and two Grammy nominations for best opera recording. Ellen Hargis teaches voice for the Graduate Program in Historical Performance at Case Western University and for the Historical Performance Division at Bard College. She is a visiting Artist at the Eastman School of Music, and is an Artist-in-Residence with the Newberry Consort at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.
Richard Stone | Lute and Theorbo
Lutenist Richard Stone has performed as soloist and accompanist worldwide. The New York Times called his playing “beautiful” and “lustrously melancholy,” while the Washington Post described it as having “the energy of a rock solo and the craft of a classical cadenza.” He founded and co-directs Philadelphia baroque orchestra Tempesta di Mare.
Soloist engagements have included a two-season nationwide tour of the complete Bach lute suites, and lute concerti with the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston and Cleveland baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire. Solo recordings include the world premiere of the complete lute concerti of Silvius Leopold Weiss, Johann Friedrich Fasch’s lute concerto, lute suites by Weiss, and new theorbo music by David Loeb. A‑R Editions has published Stone’s reconstructions of the Weiss concerti in its Recent Researches series.
Stone is also one of the most highly regarded baroque vocal accompanists on lute, archlute and theorbo in the United States. He has accompanied today’s best-known vocal artists, including Christine Goerke, Lorraine Hunt, Julianne Baird, Christine Brandes, Jeffrey Thomas and Drew Minter. He has played with Taverner Players, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Consort of Musicke, Apollo’s Fire, Handel and Haydn Society, New York Collegium, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Glimmerglass Opera and Mark Morris Dance Group. Recording and broadcast credits include Deutsche Grammophon, Lyrichord, PGM, Musical Heritage, Polygram, Vienna Modern Masters, ATMA, Eklecta, Centaur, Bis, Chesky, NPR, BBC CBC, and Czech Radio 3-Vltava.
Stone teaches baroque lute and theorbo and is a vocal coach at the Peabody Conservatory. Stone studied guitar with David Starobin at SUNY Purchase, then lute with Nigel North as a Fulbright Lusk Fellow at the Guildhall School in London, and with Patrick O’Brien at the Mannes College of Music in New York. Visit: www.tempestadimare.org.
Alexander Weimann | Harpsichord and Organ
(photo to come) Alexander Weimann is one of the most sought-after ensemble directors, soloists, and chamber music partners of his generation. After traveling the world with ensembles like Tragicomedia, and as frequent guest with Cantus Köln, the Freiburger Barockorchester, Gesualdo Consort and Tafelmusik, he now focuses on his activities as conductor of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra Vancouver, and as music director of Les Voix Baroques, Le Nouvel Opéra and Tempo Rubato. Additionally, and of special note is his recent appointment as Artistic Director of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra. Performing highlights include appearances with Holland Baroque Orchestra, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival, Victoria Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Portland Baroque, Mercury Baroque in Houston, Vancouver Early Music, Arion Baroque in Montreal, the Boston Early Music Festival, Amherst Early Music Festival, Les Violons du Roy, Orchestre symphonique de Québec and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.
Alexander Weimann can be heard on some 100 CDs. Discography highlights include: Capritio with Tragicomedi (Harmonia Mundi USA), Handel’s Gloria (ATMA Classique), Volume 1 of his recordings of the complete keyboard works by Alessandro Scarlatti (2005 Opus Prize nominee for best Canadian early music recording), Handel oratorio arias with soprano Karina Gauvin and Tempo Rubato (Opus Winner), Bach’s St. John’s Passion and various albums with Les Voix Baroques of Buxtehude, Carissimi and Purcell, Prima Donna with Karina Gauvin and Arion Baroque Orchestra (2013 Juno Award), and the full recording of Handel’s Orlando with Pacific Baroque Orchestra.
Professor Weimann has served on the faculty of the Munich Musikhochschule, as head of harpsichord instruction at McGill University, and as lecturer in historical performance practice and conductor of the Baroque opera program at the Université de Montréal. He is a frequent clinician of harpsichord and historical performance practice at institutions such as Lunds University in Malmö, the Bremen Musikhochschule, UC Berkeley and Dartmouth College.
Charlotte Bell | Baroque Dance and Choreography
Charlotte Bell began her classical ballet training at an early age and studied at the Legat School of Russian Ballet (GB) before moving on to the Ballet Rambert School in London which consequently broadened her horizons and awakened her interest in modern dance.
In 1986 she moved to Cologne, Germany, to become a member of Tanz Forum. One year in Germany became thirty as she moved from theatre to theatre to work with a multitude of international choreographers and directors, e.g. Jochen Ulrich, Philippe Talard, Olaf Schmidt, Jacopo Godani, Boris von Poser and Sven Severin.
Since 2005 Ms. Bell has been deepening her understanding of dance and movement by working in the area of baroque dance. Her formative teachers include: Sigrid T‘Hooft, Ingolf Collmar and Nicolle Klinkeberg, as well as courses given by: Marie-Genevieve Masse, Barbara Segal, Kai Sylegard, and Hubert Hazebroucq among others.
She has been a member of Sigrid T‘Hooft‘s company Corpo Barocco with whom she performed in Händel‘s Radamisto, Amadigi di Gaula and Imeneo productions in Germany. More recently she has worked with Deda Christina Colonna in her Lully‘s Armide in Warsaw. Smaller collaborations continue with the baroque music ensemble Music for a French Mistress and Nicolle Klinkeberg.
Ms. Bell teaches baroque dance at workshops and summer schools in Germany and Sweden as well as regularly continuing to teach ballet and modern dance. Having taught at the inaugural International Baroque Academy last year in Germany, Charlotte is a returning member of the IBA faculty.
Isai Jess Muñoz | Artistic and Executive Director
Praised by the New York Times for "Crucially, deftly navigating the border of genuine emotion through his singing," tenor Isai Jess Muñoz enjoys a busy schedule of opera, concerts, and recitals, performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to the 21st Century. He has appeared with leading ensembles and companies around the world including the Israel Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, the Grammy-Winning Voices of Ascension, Verbier Music Festival of Switzerland, Bard Music Festival, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater on Broadway, New York City Opera, American Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Symphony, and The Cincinnati Opera.
Recent engagements include debuts with the St. Petersburg Opera, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, the Newark Symphony, New York Opera Society, the National Young Arts foundation in Miami, Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, and Opera Orlando.
Jess Muñoz has been featured on fourteen audio recordings including the 2009 Grammy-Nominated Album Song of the Stars with Voices of Ascension. His collaboration with Iranian composer Hafez Nazeri can be heard on Sony Classical's album, "Rumi Symphony Project Untold" which was twice ranked Billboard's #1 Classical Album (2013). With a strong commitment to participating in the dissemination of contemporary and underrepresented works of classical music, eight of his recordings premiere never-before captured material. His latest album scheduled for release in summer 2019, entitled Visca L’Amor, features 24 Catalan Art Songs by native composers.
He has most recently been recognized by the American Prize, the National Opera Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Delaware Division of the Arts, and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts for ongoing performance activities of Iberian and Latin American Song as well as for his work in the area of stage direction and production. His award-winning solo recitals devoted to music of the Hispanic diaspora continues to tour throughout the country.
Dr. Muñoz is a graduate of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and SUNY Stony Brook where he studied with W. Stephen Smith of the Juilliard School. As educator, he has served on the voice faculty of Musiktheater Bavaria in Germany, the Rollins College Summer Music Academy, and the University of Central Florida Summer Opera Institute. From 2012-2016, he served as Associate Professor of Voice and Opera at Indiana Wesleyan University. Dr. Muñoz currently serves as Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera at the University of Delaware and as Chair of National Opera Association’s Sacred in Opera Initiative— a division of the NOA that explores through research and performance, the interplay between music-drama and the ideologies of world religions. He is also a proud member of the NATS National Committee on Advocacy— an initiative geared to support inclusion and diversity in the fields of singing. Visit: www.JessMunoz.com
Please note that IBA faculty may be subject to change, in the event a contracted teacher needs to cancel their engagement. The above faculty list was current for summer 2020. In the event of any change, we will immediately update the list on this page.
Emeritus Faculty
The International Baroque Academy, which celebrated its inaugural year in summer 2019, was inspired by the ideas and vision of Musiktheater Bavaria’s Founder and Director Emeritus, Richard R. Owens (1931-2018) and his wife, MTB faculty member Rolann Owens. We are grateful for their formative influence in planning for a new program of Baroque study, and excited to welcome students of historical performance into the MTB family of summer programs.
Musiktheater Bavaria is proud to honor and to continue Richard Owens’s legacy of educating, mentoring, and meaningfully influencing the careers of classical and musical theater singers and musicians at the highest level.
Richard Owens (1931-2018) | MTB Founder and Director Emeritus
Richard Owens, baritone, enjoyed a long career on the opera and concert stage, in arts administration and in teaching, in both Europe and the United States. He received degrees from Trinity University (BM), Yale University (MM) and Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology (MSTh), and completed advanced training in Opera and Lied at the Akademie für darstellende Kunst in Vienna.
Mr. Owens was an active soloist and recitalist in Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the U.S., and sang over 400 performances of 20 major baritone roles with the Municipal Opera of Ulm, Germany, the Municipal Opera of Regensburg, Germany, the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Milan, Italy, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Corpus Christi Symphony, the Dallas Civic Symphony, the Florida Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Space Coast Symphony, the Winter Park Bach Festival, and the Robert Shaw Chorale, among others. He performed the Southwestern premieres of Cantorial roles in the Sacred Services of Ernest Bloch, Darius Milhaud and Simon Sargon, and was the first American to perform the Shostakovich 13th Symphony, Babi Yar. He also sang the premiere recordings of La Grande Bretéche by Avery Claflin for CRI Records, and Three Gothic Ballads by John Duke for WNYC, New York.
Mr. Owens was a founder of the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, and served as its Artistic Director from 1968 until 1984, when he moved to Orlando, Florida, to serve as General Director of the Orlando Opera Company, a position he held until 1990. The Orlando Opera experienced dramatic growth during his tenure, greatly increasing its attendance and subscriber base, as well as its community outreach, number of performances, and engagement of international stars. He founded the Musiktheater Bavaria program in 2000, and served as its General and Artistic Director for many years.
Mr. Owens was honored with the title Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Voice at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where he taught from 1992 - 2018, and previously also served on the voice faculties of Baylor University, Southern Methodist University, Texas A & I University and North Texas State University, and as an adjunct Professor of Music Theatre at the University of Central Florida. He published books titled Towards A Career in Europe (a handbook for singers auditioning for opera houses in the German-speaking countries) and The Professional Singer's Guide to New York, and conducted many career training seminars on both topics.
Passionate about teaching, and equally at home working with students of either opera or musical theater, he was a mentor to hundreds of successful opera singers and musical theater performers, including more than 20 who have sung at the Metropolitan Opera, and many who performed in major Broadway productions. He was honored with the Director Emeritus title at Musiktheater Bavaria, recognizing his long history of contributions to the program.
Rolann B. Owens | MTB Teacher of Dance Emerita
Rolann Owens, a faculty member at Musiktheater Bavaria since its first season in summer 2000, is recognized as one of America's foremost teachers of dance. An award-winning choreographer and frequent judge of national and international dance competitions, she received both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in dance from The Juilliard School.
Experienced in all areas of dance, Ms. Owens has particular expertise in musical theater dance styles and tap. Beginning her professional career while still in high school, she was a member of the original Broadway casts of My Fair Lady, Li'l Abner and Destry Rides Again. Her television dance credits include The Perry Como Show, The Gary Moore Show, The Jackie Gleason Show (with the June Taylor Dancers) and the Miss America Pageant, as well as national TV commercials.
Ms. Owens has chaired the Tap Committee of the International Dance Organization, and also serves on juries such as the International Dance Organization's World Championship (Germany), the Trofeo Internazionale di Danza for the Regione Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Italy), the Just Dance Festival (Slovenia), the American Dance Awards and the Headliners National Talent Competition. She has also judged for the German National Tap Dance Championship, the Swiss National Tap Competition Finals, the Slovenian National Dance Competition Finals, and American Dance Spectrum.
Working extensively as a choreographer in a variety of settings, Ms. Owens has choreographed for the Miss New York State Pageant, Holiday on Ice, the Ice Follies, the U.S. Olympic Team Ice Skating Pairs and National Ice Skating Pairs, and has prepared the Croatian Formation Tap Team for the World Competition. At home in Orlando, Florida, she counts numerous shows for Walt Disney World among her credits, including Ellington Under the Stars: A Salute to the Duke (in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institute), Bob McGrath's Sesame Street Show, the World's Largest Concert (a PBS special with Sandy Duncan), the Millenium Show and the World Dancers Special Events Show, and has also served as Disney World's College Program dance director. At the acclaimed Passionspielhaus in Erl, Austria, Ms. Owens choreographed the world premiere of the Jürgen Doetsch opera Altes Testament.
Recipient of a Presidential Scholar Teacher Award from President Bill Clinton, Ms. Owens maintains an active studio where she and her staff teach a full curriculum of ballet, tap, jazz, lyric and contemporary dance, as well as musical theater voice and dance. She has presented master classes in New York, L.A., Miami, Buffalo and New Orleans on musical theater dance and audition technique. Many of her former students are appearing on Broadway, television, video, cruise lines and opera stages throughout the world. A number of them have recently been cast in major Broadway shows, including Aladdin, The Book of Mormon, Evita, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Billy Elliott, The Pirate Queen, Rock of Ages, Oklahoma, A Chorus Line, Gypsy, Jersey Boys, All Shook Up, Young Frankenstein, Wicked, The Little Mermaid and Curtains, and some have been featured with the famous Rockettes. Ms. Owens was the childhood dance partner of Michael Bennett, the creator of A Chorus Line, and maintains extensive connections in the dance and Broadway communities.
Ms. Owens is a Teacher of Dance Emerita at MTB, recognizing her long history of contributions to the program. She will teach dance at MTB this summer.
Previous IBA Faculty
2019 (IBA's inaugural summer, held in Oberaudorf, Germany):
Avi Stein, Sigrid T'Hooft, Ellen Hargis, Christopher Robson, Alon Sariel, Charlotte Bell, Katja Riek, Isai Jess Muñoz
International Baroque Academy 2020 Faculty
Faculty updates will be posted here as soon as we complete plans to resume IBA operations in a future summer.
Suzi LeBlanc | Voice and Performance Practice
Renowned Acadian soprano Suzie LeBlanc began her singing career by replacing Emma Kirkby in the Consort of Musicke and from there, continued to specialize in baroque, researching and recording a substantial amount of unpublished material. Suzie’s recordings have received international praise and several prestigious awards: a Grammy award for Lully’s Thésée; two Opus awards – best World Music recording for “Tempi con Variazioni”, and best contemporary music CD for her Messiaen cd; and a CINI award (Italy) for the opera Orfeo by Sartorio in which she sings the leading role. She has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Hyperion, Chandos, Teldec, Das Alte Werk, among others.
Past performance highlights include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Brooklyn Academy of Music staged by Jonathan Miller, recitals and recording of Mozart songs with renowned conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, 17th century duets with Dame Emma Kirkby in Montreal, and appearances with festivals and orchestras world-wide which include the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Proms and Wigmore Hall in London, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Tragicomedia, the Hilliard Ensemble and others. On the opera stage, she has performed for De Nederlandse Opera, Festival de Beaune, Opéra de Montréal, the Boston Early Music Festival, Tanglewood, Festival Vancouver and Early Music Vancouver.
She is the artistic director of Le Nouvel Opéra (www.lenouvelopera.com) and heads a workshop every summer at the Orford Arts Centre Academy in Quebec. Appointed to the Order of Canada in 2015, she has also earned four honorary doctorates for her contribution to early music and to Acadian culture. Ms. LeBlanc serves on voice and early music faculty of McGill University in Montreal. Visit: www.suzieleblanc.com.
Christian Immler | Voice and Performance Practice
Appearing in major concert halls, festivals, and opera houses, German bass-baritone Christian Immler is an unusually versatile artist with the rare ability to switch enthusiastically between the worlds of oratorio and opera. Soon after studying with Rudolf Piernay at the Guildhall School of Music in London, he won the International Nadia et Lili Boulanger Competition in Paris, launching his career.
In concert, Christian has worked with such conductors as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Marc Minkowski, Christophe Rousset, Kent Nagano, James Conlon, Andrew Parrott, Masaaki Suzuki, Giovanni Antonini, and William Christie. He actively performs in venues such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Sydney Opera House, the Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne Festivals and the BBC Proms. Recent highlights include a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah at the Gewandhaus Leipzig, a series of televised broadcasts of all of Bach’s major sacred works, and a staged version of Mozart’s Requiem.
Highlights of Christian’s operatic career include appearances under René Jacobs as Il Commendatore and Masetto in Don Giovanni, The Speaker in The Magic Flute at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Freischütz in Brussels and the Theater an der Wien, and the world premiere of Alice in Wonderland at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He has also appeared with the Boston Early Music Festival as Seneca in Poppea and the title role in Graupner’s Antiochus und Stratonica, Achis in David & Jonathas conducted by William Christie, Jupiter in Castor et Pollux with Raphaël Pichon at the Opéra Comique, and Pharnaces in Zemlinsky’s Der König Kandaules at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
The 2019/20 season first has him appearing with the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Opéra de Rouen, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and the Opéra de Massy. He will then tour throughout Europe with Masaaki Suzuki, and Raphaël Pichon before appearing with René Jacobs and Akamus in Berlin. He closes the season in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Missa solemnis with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo.
A keen recitalist, Christian has been invited to perform at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Frick Collection in New York, the Paris Philharmonie, the Salzburg Mozarteum, and the Tonhalle Zurich. His more than 50 recordings have been awarded prizes such as a 2015 and 2016 Grammy Nomination, the Echo Klassik, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, several Diapason d’Or, Diamant d’Opéra and France Musiques’ Enregistrement de l’année.
Much in demand for worldwide masterclasses, Christian is Professor of Voice at the Kalaidos Fachhochschule in Zurich. He has served on the Lied and oratorio faculty of the International Summeracademy Mozarteum Salzburg for several seasons, and in December 2019 returned to the International Nadia et Lili Boulanger Competition in Paris, this time as a member of the jury. Visit: www.christianimmler.com
Ellen Hargis | Stage Director, Performance Practice and Historical Gesture
Soprano Ellen Hargis is a specialist in baroque music, the co-director of The Newberry Consort, and a sought-after voice teacher and lecturer on historical performance practice. Her regular lectures on historical performance, baroque gesture and movement, rhetoric, and opera have been presented at Harvard, Yale, the Juilliard School of Music, the Oberlin Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, and The Moscow Conservatory, among others.
As a soprano, Ms. Hargis has appeared with many renowned conductors, including Andrew Parrott, Gustav Leonhardt, Paul Goodwin, Jane Glover, and Nicolas Kraemer. She appears regularly in recital with her duo partner, lutenist Paul O'Dette, and has performed with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. Ellen Hargis has performed at many of the world’s leading festivals including the Adelaide Festival (Australia), Utrecht Festival (Holland), Resonanzen Festival (Vienna), Tanglewood, the New Music America Festival, Festival Vancouver, the Berkeley Festival (California), and is a frequent guest at the Boston Early Music Festival.
A prolific recording artist, her discography of more than 50 recordings embraces repertoire from medieval to contemporary music and boasts the Grand Prix du Disque, the Choc du Monde, and two Grammy nominations for best opera recording. Ellen Hargis teaches voice for the Graduate Program in Historical Performance at Case Western University and for the Historical Performance Division at Bard College. She is a visiting Artist at the Eastman School of Music, and is an Artist-in-Residence with the Newberry Consort at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.
Richard Stone | Lute and Theorbo
Lutenist Richard Stone has performed as soloist and accompanist worldwide. The New York Times called his playing “beautiful” and “lustrously melancholy,” while the Washington Post described it as having “the energy of a rock solo and the craft of a classical cadenza.” He founded and co-directs Philadelphia baroque orchestra Tempesta di Mare.
Soloist engagements have included a two-season nationwide tour of the complete Bach lute suites, and lute concerti with the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston and Cleveland baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire. Solo recordings include the world premiere of the complete lute concerti of Silvius Leopold Weiss, Johann Friedrich Fasch’s lute concerto, lute suites by Weiss, and new theorbo music by David Loeb. A‑R Editions has published Stone’s reconstructions of the Weiss concerti in its Recent Researches series.
Stone is also one of the most highly regarded baroque vocal accompanists on lute, archlute and theorbo in the United States. He has accompanied today’s best-known vocal artists, including Christine Goerke, Lorraine Hunt, Julianne Baird, Christine Brandes, Jeffrey Thomas and Drew Minter. He has played with Taverner Players, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Consort of Musicke, Apollo’s Fire, Handel and Haydn Society, New York Collegium, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Glimmerglass Opera and Mark Morris Dance Group. Recording and broadcast credits include Deutsche Grammophon, Lyrichord, PGM, Musical Heritage, Polygram, Vienna Modern Masters, ATMA, Eklecta, Centaur, Bis, Chesky, NPR, BBC CBC, and Czech Radio 3-Vltava.
Stone teaches baroque lute and theorbo and is a vocal coach at the Peabody Conservatory. Stone studied guitar with David Starobin at SUNY Purchase, then lute with Nigel North as a Fulbright Lusk Fellow at the Guildhall School in London, and with Patrick O’Brien at the Mannes College of Music in New York. Visit: www.tempestadimare.org.
Alexander Weimann | Harpsichord and Organ
(photo to come) Alexander Weimann is one of the most sought-after ensemble directors, soloists, and chamber music partners of his generation. After traveling the world with ensembles like Tragicomedia, and as frequent guest with Cantus Köln, the Freiburger Barockorchester, Gesualdo Consort and Tafelmusik, he now focuses on his activities as conductor of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra Vancouver, and as music director of Les Voix Baroques, Le Nouvel Opéra and Tempo Rubato. Additionally, and of special note is his recent appointment as Artistic Director of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra. Performing highlights include appearances with Holland Baroque Orchestra, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival, Victoria Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Portland Baroque, Mercury Baroque in Houston, Vancouver Early Music, Arion Baroque in Montreal, the Boston Early Music Festival, Amherst Early Music Festival, Les Violons du Roy, Orchestre symphonique de Québec and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.
Alexander Weimann can be heard on some 100 CDs. Discography highlights include: Capritio with Tragicomedi (Harmonia Mundi USA), Handel’s Gloria (ATMA Classique), Volume 1 of his recordings of the complete keyboard works by Alessandro Scarlatti (2005 Opus Prize nominee for best Canadian early music recording), Handel oratorio arias with soprano Karina Gauvin and Tempo Rubato (Opus Winner), Bach’s St. John’s Passion and various albums with Les Voix Baroques of Buxtehude, Carissimi and Purcell, Prima Donna with Karina Gauvin and Arion Baroque Orchestra (2013 Juno Award), and the full recording of Handel’s Orlando with Pacific Baroque Orchestra.
Professor Weimann has served on the faculty of the Munich Musikhochschule, as head of harpsichord instruction at McGill University, and as lecturer in historical performance practice and conductor of the Baroque opera program at the Université de Montréal. He is a frequent clinician of harpsichord and historical performance practice at institutions such as Lunds University in Malmö, the Bremen Musikhochschule, UC Berkeley and Dartmouth College.
Charlotte Bell | Baroque Dance and Choreography
Charlotte Bell began her classical ballet training at an early age and studied at the Legat School of Russian Ballet (GB) before moving on to the Ballet Rambert School in London which consequently broadened her horizons and awakened her interest in modern dance.
In 1986 she moved to Cologne, Germany, to become a member of Tanz Forum. One year in Germany became thirty as she moved from theatre to theatre to work with a multitude of international choreographers and directors, e.g. Jochen Ulrich, Philippe Talard, Olaf Schmidt, Jacopo Godani, Boris von Poser and Sven Severin.
Since 2005 Ms. Bell has been deepening her understanding of dance and movement by working in the area of baroque dance. Her formative teachers include: Sigrid T‘Hooft, Ingolf Collmar and Nicolle Klinkeberg, as well as courses given by: Marie-Genevieve Masse, Barbara Segal, Kai Sylegard, and Hubert Hazebroucq among others.
She has been a member of Sigrid T‘Hooft‘s company Corpo Barocco with whom she performed in Händel‘s Radamisto, Amadigi di Gaula and Imeneo productions in Germany. More recently she has worked with Deda Christina Colonna in her Lully‘s Armide in Warsaw. Smaller collaborations continue with the baroque music ensemble Music for a French Mistress and Nicolle Klinkeberg.
Ms. Bell teaches baroque dance at workshops and summer schools in Germany and Sweden as well as regularly continuing to teach ballet and modern dance. Having taught at the inaugural International Baroque Academy last year in Germany, Charlotte is a returning member of the IBA faculty.
Isai Jess Muñoz | Artistic and Executive Director
Praised by the New York Times for "Crucially, deftly navigating the border of genuine emotion through his singing," tenor Isai Jess Muñoz enjoys a busy schedule of opera, concerts, and recitals, performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to the 21st Century. He has appeared with leading ensembles and companies around the world including the Israel Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, the Grammy-Winning Voices of Ascension, Verbier Music Festival of Switzerland, Bard Music Festival, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater on Broadway, New York City Opera, American Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Symphony, and The Cincinnati Opera.
Recent engagements include debuts with the St. Petersburg Opera, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, the Newark Symphony, New York Opera Society, the National Young Arts foundation in Miami, Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, and Opera Orlando.
Jess Muñoz has been featured on fourteen audio recordings including the 2009 Grammy-Nominated Album Song of the Stars with Voices of Ascension. His collaboration with Iranian composer Hafez Nazeri can be heard on Sony Classical's album, "Rumi Symphony Project Untold" which was twice ranked Billboard's #1 Classical Album (2013). With a strong commitment to participating in the dissemination of contemporary and underrepresented works of classical music, eight of his recordings premiere never-before captured material. His latest album scheduled for release in summer 2019, entitled Visca L’Amor, features 24 Catalan Art Songs by native composers.
He has most recently been recognized by the American Prize, the National Opera Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Delaware Division of the Arts, and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts for ongoing performance activities of Iberian and Latin American Song as well as for his work in the area of stage direction and production. His award-winning solo recitals devoted to music of the Hispanic diaspora continues to tour throughout the country.
Dr. Muñoz is a graduate of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and SUNY Stony Brook where he studied with W. Stephen Smith of the Juilliard School. As educator, he has served on the voice faculty of Musiktheater Bavaria in Germany, the Rollins College Summer Music Academy, and the University of Central Florida Summer Opera Institute. From 2012-2016, he served as Associate Professor of Voice and Opera at Indiana Wesleyan University. Dr. Muñoz currently serves as Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera at the University of Delaware and as Chair of National Opera Association’s Sacred in Opera Initiative— a division of the NOA that explores through research and performance, the interplay between music-drama and the ideologies of world religions. He is also a proud member of the NATS National Committee on Advocacy— an initiative geared to support inclusion and diversity in the fields of singing. Visit: www.JessMunoz.com
Please note that IBA faculty may be subject to change, in the event a contracted teacher needs to cancel their engagement. The above faculty list was current for summer 2020. In the event of any change, we will immediately update the list on this page.
Emeritus Faculty
The International Baroque Academy, which celebrated its inaugural year in summer 2019, was inspired by the ideas and vision of Musiktheater Bavaria’s Founder and Director Emeritus, Richard R. Owens (1931-2018) and his wife, MTB faculty member Rolann Owens. We are grateful for their formative influence in planning for a new program of Baroque study, and excited to welcome students of historical performance into the MTB family of summer programs.
Musiktheater Bavaria is proud to honor and to continue Richard Owens’s legacy of educating, mentoring, and meaningfully influencing the careers of classical and musical theater singers and musicians at the highest level.
Richard Owens (1931-2018) | MTB Founder and Director Emeritus
Richard Owens, baritone, enjoyed a long career on the opera and concert stage, in arts administration and in teaching, in both Europe and the United States. He received degrees from Trinity University (BM), Yale University (MM) and Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology (MSTh), and completed advanced training in Opera and Lied at the Akademie für darstellende Kunst in Vienna.
Mr. Owens was an active soloist and recitalist in Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the U.S., and sang over 400 performances of 20 major baritone roles with the Municipal Opera of Ulm, Germany, the Municipal Opera of Regensburg, Germany, the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Milan, Italy, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Corpus Christi Symphony, the Dallas Civic Symphony, the Florida Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Space Coast Symphony, the Winter Park Bach Festival, and the Robert Shaw Chorale, among others. He performed the Southwestern premieres of Cantorial roles in the Sacred Services of Ernest Bloch, Darius Milhaud and Simon Sargon, and was the first American to perform the Shostakovich 13th Symphony, Babi Yar. He also sang the premiere recordings of La Grande Bretéche by Avery Claflin for CRI Records, and Three Gothic Ballads by John Duke for WNYC, New York.
Mr. Owens was a founder of the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, and served as its Artistic Director from 1968 until 1984, when he moved to Orlando, Florida, to serve as General Director of the Orlando Opera Company, a position he held until 1990. The Orlando Opera experienced dramatic growth during his tenure, greatly increasing its attendance and subscriber base, as well as its community outreach, number of performances, and engagement of international stars. He founded the Musiktheater Bavaria program in 2000, and served as its General and Artistic Director for many years.
Mr. Owens was honored with the title Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Voice at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where he taught from 1992 - 2018, and previously also served on the voice faculties of Baylor University, Southern Methodist University, Texas A & I University and North Texas State University, and as an adjunct Professor of Music Theatre at the University of Central Florida. He published books titled Towards A Career in Europe (a handbook for singers auditioning for opera houses in the German-speaking countries) and The Professional Singer's Guide to New York, and conducted many career training seminars on both topics.
Passionate about teaching, and equally at home working with students of either opera or musical theater, he was a mentor to hundreds of successful opera singers and musical theater performers, including more than 20 who have sung at the Metropolitan Opera, and many who performed in major Broadway productions. He was honored with the Director Emeritus title at Musiktheater Bavaria, recognizing his long history of contributions to the program.
Rolann B. Owens | MTB Teacher of Dance Emerita
Rolann Owens, a faculty member at Musiktheater Bavaria since its first season in summer 2000, is recognized as one of America's foremost teachers of dance. An award-winning choreographer and frequent judge of national and international dance competitions, she received both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in dance from The Juilliard School.
Experienced in all areas of dance, Ms. Owens has particular expertise in musical theater dance styles and tap. Beginning her professional career while still in high school, she was a member of the original Broadway casts of My Fair Lady, Li'l Abner and Destry Rides Again. Her television dance credits include The Perry Como Show, The Gary Moore Show, The Jackie Gleason Show (with the June Taylor Dancers) and the Miss America Pageant, as well as national TV commercials.
Ms. Owens has chaired the Tap Committee of the International Dance Organization, and also serves on juries such as the International Dance Organization's World Championship (Germany), the Trofeo Internazionale di Danza for the Regione Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Italy), the Just Dance Festival (Slovenia), the American Dance Awards and the Headliners National Talent Competition. She has also judged for the German National Tap Dance Championship, the Swiss National Tap Competition Finals, the Slovenian National Dance Competition Finals, and American Dance Spectrum.
Working extensively as a choreographer in a variety of settings, Ms. Owens has choreographed for the Miss New York State Pageant, Holiday on Ice, the Ice Follies, the U.S. Olympic Team Ice Skating Pairs and National Ice Skating Pairs, and has prepared the Croatian Formation Tap Team for the World Competition. At home in Orlando, Florida, she counts numerous shows for Walt Disney World among her credits, including Ellington Under the Stars: A Salute to the Duke (in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institute), Bob McGrath's Sesame Street Show, the World's Largest Concert (a PBS special with Sandy Duncan), the Millenium Show and the World Dancers Special Events Show, and has also served as Disney World's College Program dance director. At the acclaimed Passionspielhaus in Erl, Austria, Ms. Owens choreographed the world premiere of the Jürgen Doetsch opera Altes Testament.
Recipient of a Presidential Scholar Teacher Award from President Bill Clinton, Ms. Owens maintains an active studio where she and her staff teach a full curriculum of ballet, tap, jazz, lyric and contemporary dance, as well as musical theater voice and dance. She has presented master classes in New York, L.A., Miami, Buffalo and New Orleans on musical theater dance and audition technique. Many of her former students are appearing on Broadway, television, video, cruise lines and opera stages throughout the world. A number of them have recently been cast in major Broadway shows, including Aladdin, The Book of Mormon, Evita, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Billy Elliott, The Pirate Queen, Rock of Ages, Oklahoma, A Chorus Line, Gypsy, Jersey Boys, All Shook Up, Young Frankenstein, Wicked, The Little Mermaid and Curtains, and some have been featured with the famous Rockettes. Ms. Owens was the childhood dance partner of Michael Bennett, the creator of A Chorus Line, and maintains extensive connections in the dance and Broadway communities.
Ms. Owens is a Teacher of Dance Emerita at MTB, recognizing her long history of contributions to the program. She will teach dance at MTB this summer.
Previous IBA Faculty
2019 (IBA's inaugural summer, held in Oberaudorf, Germany):
Avi Stein, Sigrid T'Hooft, Ellen Hargis, Christopher Robson, Alon Sariel, Charlotte Bell, Katja Riek, Isai Jess Muñoz
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