The Lindemann Young Artist Development Program was created in 1980 by Music Director Emeritus James Levine to identify and develop extraordinarily talented young artists in the realm of opera. This prestigious Program has trained a new generation of celebrated American and international opera singers, as well as coaches and pianists, who perform at the highest standards in productions at the Met and opera houses around the world.
The Young Artist Development Program has been named after Mr. and Mrs. George Lindemann in recognition and gratitude for their leadership and generous support.
While many opera companies around the world conduct young artist training programs, the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program is unparalleled for the quality, breadth, and scope of resources available to its participants. Throughout their instruction, young artists draw upon the vast, incomparable pool of world-renowned talent available at the Met, including current and former Met artists, internationally recognized coaches and master teachers, and staff from the Metropolitan Opera's music and artistic departments. Aside from their advanced studies in voice/piano, language, diction, drama, and movement, Program participants also have access to daily rehearsals, where they observe and speak with great singers, conductors, and directors preparing current Met repertory. Additionally, singers are presented with the unique opportunity to perform onstage in Met productions, as many are assigned supporting roles and serve as covers for featured singers. Pianists are considered for assistant conductor duties on the Met's music staff.
Faculty and Staff
James Levine
-Music Director Emeritus
Michael Heaston
-Executive Director
Ken Noda
-Musical Assistant to James Levine
Clare Avery
-Administrative Director
Stephen Wadsworth
-Head of Dramatic Studies
Robert Cowart
-Head of Linguistic Studies
Natalia Katyukova
-Staff Music Coach
Marianne Barrett
-German Diction
Deborah Birnbaum
-Breath Specialist
Mary Birnbaum
-Stage Director
Tish Brandt
-English Instructor
John Fisher
-Assistant General Manager, Music Administration
Kathryn LaBouff
-English Diction
Nathaniel Murray
-Fitness Instructor
David Paul
-German Instructor, Stage Director
Lori Schiff
-Alexander Technique Instructor
Miloš Repický
-Czech Diction
Pierre Vallet
-Music Coach, French Diction
Artists: 2016-17
Michelle Bradley
Rihab Chaieb
Sara Couden
Zalman Kelber
Ian Koziara
David Leigh
Clarissa Lyons
Giuseppe Mentuccia
Petr Nekoranec
Hyesang Park
Valeriya Polunina
Sava Vemić
Virginie Verrez
Kang Wang
Yunpeng Wang
Biographies:
James Levine
MUSIC DIRECTOR EMERITUS/CONDUCTOR (Cincinnati, Ohio)
MET DEBUT: Tosca 1971
MET HIGHLIGHTS: Das Rheingold, Concerts, Simon Boccanegra, Don Pasquale, Wozzeck, Il Trovatore, Die Walküre, La Bohème, Don Carlo
Michael Heaston
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (West Des Moines, Iowa)
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Master of Music, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities; Bachelor of Music, Drake University; piano studies with Margo Garrett, Brian Zeger, Chiu-Ling Lin.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Director, Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program and Advisor to the Artistic Director: Washington National Opera at The Kennedy Center; Associate Artistic Director: Glimmerglass Festival; recital appearances with Christine Goerke, Dolora Zajick, Eric Owens, Ailyn Pérez, Stephen Costello, Lise Lindstrom; named one of Musical America’s 30 Professionals of the Year.
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Ken Noda
MUSICAL ASSISTANT TO JAMES LEVINE (New York, New York)
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Studied piano with Daniel Barenboim
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Soloist with Berlin, Vienna, New York, Israel, and Los Angeles Philharmonics; London, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphonies; Cleveland Orchestra and Orchestre de Paris under Abbado, Barenboim, Chailly, Levine, Mehta, Ozawa, and Previn. Chamber music collaborations with Levine, Perlman, and Zukerman. Vocal accompanist to Battle, Behrens, Ewing, Millo, Moll, Norman, and Upshaw; regular participant at Marlboro Music Festival.
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Stephen Wadsworth
HEAD OF DRAMATIC STUDIES (Mt. Kisco, New York)
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Director for the Met's Boris Godunov and Iphigénie en Tauride; director for The Juilliard School and The Metropolitan Opera's joint production of The Bartered Bride and Così fan tutte. Met debut Rodelinda 2004; has been a teacher in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program since the early 1980s; has directed at La Scala, the Vienna Staatsoper, Covent Garden, Netherlands Opera, the Edinburgh Festival, and Seattle Opera, where he directed the world premiere of Daron Hagen's Amelia, celebrated the 25th anniversary of his debut, and received the Artist of the Year Award; wrote the opera A Quiet Place with Leonard Bernstein which played at New York City Opera.
Robert Cowart
HEAD OF LINGUISTIC STUDIES (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Studied music and languages at University of Pennsylvania and Queens College; extensive private research studies in linguistics.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Vocal language coach at Manhattan School of Music; The Juilliard School; Mannes School of Music; Curtis Institute of Music; Aspen Music Festival and School; International Vocal Arts Institute in Israel, Montreal and Japan; and "Si parla si canta" Vocal Program in Urbania, Italy, where he concentrates on the profound connection between language and the voice.
Natalia Katyukova
STAFF MUSIC COACH (Klin, Russia)
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Masters in Solo Piano, Moscow State Conservatory; Artist Diploma in Solo Piano, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth; Piano Degree from Conservatorio "C.Monteverdi", Bolzano, Italy; Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano, The Juilliard School. Graduate of Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Assistant Conductor at the Met since 2012 and coach at The Juilliard School; vocal accompanist to Bryn Terfel, Paul Appleby, Irina Arkhipova; recitals at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Ravinia Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival; soloist with Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, "Haydn Orchestra", Moscow State Symphony Orchestra.
Nathaniel Murray
FITNESS INSTRUCTOR (Buffalo, New York)
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Laban Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, New York; Alexander and Feldenkrais; Integral Yoga; Yoga Certification; Kokushi Budo Institute, New York; Shodan-First Degree Black Belt-Aikido; trained with Babatunde Olatunji as Master Drummer.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Performed with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Fitness Coach for the David Letterman Band, Saturday Night Live Band, James Taylor Band and Stevie Wonder Band; Guest Artist with Kirtanist Krishna Das.
David Paul
GERMAN INSTRUCTOR (Hamburg, Germany)
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Studied acting and directing at Columbia University; Graduate of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Has directed extensively on operatic and theatrical stages throughout the United States and abroad, including the Met+Juilliard production of Iphigénie en Aulide and Washington National Opera, the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC, Wolf Trap Opera, Music Academy of the West, and others; Dramatic Advisor & primary acting teacher for the Juilliard School's master's program in Voice.
2016-17 Young Artists
Michelle Bradley
Ms. Bradley's participation in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program is sponsored by The Terry and Elroy Krumholz Foundation.
SOPRANO (Versailles, Kentucky)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - Second Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING:
Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from Bowling Green State University.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Met debut in 2016 Summer Recital Series; Grand prize winner of The Music Academy of the West’s 2014 Marilyn Horne Song Competition; recital on Carnegie Hall neighborhood concert series. Recipient of 2015 Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award.
Rihab Chaieb
Ms. Chaieb's participation in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program is sponsored by the Kern Family, in memory of Ralph W. Kern.
MEZZO-SOPRANO (Montreal, Canada)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - Second Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: B. Mus in Voice at Schulich School of Music at McGill University. Merola Opera Program, the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival and Franz Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2015-16 season: Dorabella in Così fan tutte with Against the Grain Theatre in Toronto; Tebaldo in Don Carlo in Bordeaux. 2015: Mercedes in Carmen at Glyndebourne. 2014-2015 season: Waltraute in Die Walküre at Canadian Opera Company. Has sung Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Merola, Sesto in La clemenza di Tito with COC Ensemble and Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the McGill Chamber Orchestra. First Prize winner of the 2016 Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition; recipient of grants from the Canada Arts Council, the Encouragement Award at the George London Foundation Competition and First Prize at the Christina and Louis Quilico Award Competition.
Sara Couden
MEZZO-SOPRANO (Walnut Creek, California)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - Third Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Artist Diploma from Yale's Institute of Sacred Music (Early Music and Oratorio program), Masters of Music from San Francisco Conservatory.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2016: At Marlboro Music Festival; 2015-16 season: Sang Teresa in Met+Juilliard production of La Sonnambula. 2015: Sang Penelope in Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria with West Edge Opera. 2013-2014 season: Vivaldi's Dixit Dominus with Simon Carrington, St. John Passion with Masaaki Suzuki, and Honegger's King David with Marguerite Brooks at Yale, Baba in Act 2 of The Medium at Music Academy of the West; 2012-2013 season: Third Lady in The Magic Flute at Music Academy of the West, "Lob des Hohen Verstandes" and "Urlicht" with the Music Academy Festival Orchestra under James Gaffigan, alto soloist in Dvorak's Stabat Mater with Helmuth Rilling, Bach's B Minor Mass with Masaaki Suzuki, Baba in The Medium at San Francisco Conservatory, Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, Principessa in Suor Angelica, and Bradamante in Alcina. 2011-2012 season: Mother Goose in The Rake's Progress at Music Academy of the West, alto soloist in Bach's Magnificat/Vivaldi's Gloria (San Francisco Bach Choir) and Handel's Messiah (San Jose Symphonic Choir).
Zalman Kelber
COACH/PIANIST (Brooklyn, New York)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - First Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Bachelor of Music in Piano, Bachelor of Arts in African History, Northwestern University; Master of Studies, Harpsichord and Musicology, University of Oxford.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2016: Coach/Pianist at Summer Opera Tel Aviv (Le Nozze di Figaro), Young Artist with Palm Beach Opera (Carmen, Don Pasquale, Ariadne auf Naxos). 2015: Pianist and Continuo Player, Venture Opera (Don Giovanni); Music Staff, American Lyric Theatre (Alan Turing);Young Artist, Glimmerglass Festival (Macbeth, Catone in Utica). 2013-14: Opera Coaching Fellow, Aspen (L'incoronazione di Poppea, Eugene Onegin), Resident Artist Pianist and Chorus Master, Shreveport Opera (L'Elisir d'Amore, The Mikado, Turandot). Summers 2010-12: Staff Pianist and Coach, Castleton Festival (Suor Angelica, El Retablo de Maese Pedro, A Little Night Music).
Ian Koziara
TENOR (Chicago, Illinois)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - First Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING:
Masters of Music degree at Rice Univeristy's Sherpherd School of Music in Houston, and Bachelor of Music degree from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2016: Sang the role of Ezekiel Cheever in Ward's The Crucible at Glimmerglass. 2015: Wolftrap Opera. District winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions; Finalist of the Houston Grand Opera Elenor McCollum Concert of Arias.
David Leigh
BASS (New York, NY)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - First Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: BA with honors from Yale in Music Composition; Masters in Voice from Mannes, Masters in Opera from Yale.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2016: Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera; 2015: Young Artist at Opera Theatre of St. Louis; Fellow at Ravinia Steans Vocal Institute; Fafner in Siegfried at Queen City Opera; New York City Opera's Julius Rudel Gala; Prior Seasons: Young Artist at Music Academy of the West and Chautauqua Opera. 2016: Grant Winner in the McCammon Competition at Fort Worth Opera and finalist in the Concorso Internacional Francisco Viñas; 2015: Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions National Semifinalist (Eastern Region Winner).
Clarissa Lyons
SOPRANO (Davis, California)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - Second Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Masters of Music from Bard College Conservatory and MSM; Bachelor of Arts with Honors from UC Berkeley.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2016 summer: The role of Stonatrilla in the U.S. Premiere of Gassmann's L'Opera Seria at Wolf Trap Opera; 2015-2016 season: Lisa in MET+Juilliard production of La Sonnambula, conducted by Speranza Scappucci; recitals at Weill Hall and Park Avenue Armory. 2014-2015 season: Bel Canto Young Artist at Caramoor; participated in Marilyn Horne's series The Song Continues at Carnegie Hall. Summer 2014: Helena in Midsummer Night's Dream at Opera on the Avalon. 2012: sang Second Witch and Second Woman in Dido and Aeneas with the Mark Morris Dance Group at Lincoln Center. 2012 and 2011 at Tanglewood as a Music Center fellow: sang Arianna in Lamento d'Arianna, Ravel's Trois Poèmes de Stephan Mallarmé, and appeared in Iphigénie en Tauride with BSO and Susan Graham. 2009: Mimi in La Bohème with Martina Arroyo. Received the Grand Prize at Florida Grand's Young Patronesses of the Opera competition, First Place in the Carmel Music Society competition and the Hertz Memorial Traveling Fellowship from UC Berkeley.
Giuseppe Mentuccia
COACH/PIANIST (Bassano Romano, Italy)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - Second Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Artist Diploma in piano performance at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Masters of Music at The Juilliard School; currently a third-year CV Starr Doctoral Fellow at Juilliard.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Solo recitals and concerto performances throughout Europe and USA including Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Alice Tully Hall, The Greene Space at WQXR, Valencia International Piano Festival. First prize at the Juilliard Stravinsky Concerto Competition and Prize Vittoria as best graduate of Santa Cecilia Conservatory. Faculty at the Juilliard School, at Music Academy of the West and Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts.
Petr Nekoranec
TENOR (Nové Dvory, Czech Republic)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - First Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Diploma in Classical Voice from the Pardubice Conservatory, Czech Republic. Member of the Bayerische Staatsoper's Opera Studio for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2014-2016: at Opera Studio, title roles in Albert Herring, and Le Comte Orly, and Servitore in Martinu's Mirandolina; on the National Theatre's stage: Parpignol in La bohème, Albazar in Il turco in Italia, the Animal Trainer in Der Rosenkavalier, and an Officer in Ariadne auf Naxos. 2013: Lindoro in L'Italiana in Algeri at the Teatro Nuovo in Torino. 2012: Vašek in The Bartered Bride at the National Theatre of Prague. Has performed Mozart's Requiem and Coronation Mass with the Coro Filarmonico Veneto and the Orchestra Regionale Filarmonia Veneta.
Hyesang Park
SOPRANO (Seoul, Korea)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - Second Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Masters in Music from Juilliard, Artist Diploma of Opera Studies student at Juilliard.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2015- 2016 season: Amina in MET+Juilliard production of La Sonnambula, conducted by Speranza Scappucci. 2014 – 2015 season: Fiorilla in Juilliard Opera’s production of Il Turco in Italia, also under Speranza Scappucci. Violetta in Korea National Opera’s production of La Traviata in 2009. Winner of the Plácido Domingo Operalia Competition, the Montreal International Competition in 2015, the Queen Elizabeth Voice Competition in 2014 and the Korean National Theater Competition in 2010.
Valeriya Polunina
COACH/PIANIST (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - First Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Bachelors and Masters degrees from Gnessin's Academy of Music, Moscow; Professional Diploma in Piano Solo Performance at Chicago College of Performing Arts; Masters of Music in Collaborative Piano at the Juilliard School.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2015-2016 season: Rehearsal pianist in the Juilliard Opera’s production of Mozart’s Magic Flute conducted by David Stern; rehearsal pianist for Juilliard’s 2016 biannual Gala (Mendelssohn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream”) conducted by Alan Gilbert. Vocal coach and rehearsal pianist for Juilliard’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro conducted by Gary Thor Wedow. Apprentice vocal coach and rehearsal pianist in Crested Butte Music Festival, for the Marcello Giordani Young Artist Program, for Il Barbiere di Siviglia conducted by David Stern. Recital with soprano Sofia Fomina in London at The Travellers Club and the Tchaikovsky Competition Winners’ Recital, hosted by Valery Gergiev at Carnegie Hall.
Sava Vemić
BASS (Belgrade, Serbia)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - Third Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Music School Mokranjac, Faculty of Music Art, University of Arts in Belgrade.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2015-2016 season: Ernesto with the Opera Orchestra of New York in Donizetti's Parasina d'Este. Rodolfo in the MET+Juilliard production of La Sonnambula; 2014-2015 season: Arcas in the MET+Juilliard production of Iphigénie en Aulide. 2013-2014 season: Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at IVAI in Tel Aviv, Israel. 2012-2013 season: Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro at IVAI, soloist in Aficionados' Concerts at the festival Esterhazy in Haydnsaal, Austria. Debut as Sarastro in The Magic Flute at the Madlenianum Opera & Theatre in Belgrade. First Prize 2014 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition; Danica Mastilović's Award for the best student of solo-singing department at University of Arts in Belgrade; Publikumspreis der Stadt Beeskow in the frame of the International Opera Course Oper Oder-Spree, Germany, 2011; First Prize 2010 15th International Competition of Young Musicians Petar Konjovic, Serbia; First Prize 13th Solo Singers Competition Nikola Cvejic; First Prize 2008 at 6th Solo Singers Competition Lazar Jovanovic, Serbia.
Virginie Verrez
MEZZO-SOPRANO (Saint-Denis, France)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - Second Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Bachelor and Masters of Music at Juilliard.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2016: Erika in Barber's Vanessa at Sante Fe; 2015-2016 season: Met debut as Madrigalist in Manon Lescaut; New York Philhamonic debut in El sombrero de tres picos by De Falla. 2014-2015 season: Clythemnestre in the MET+Juilliard production of Iphigénie en Aulide. At Juilliard, Beatrice in Wolf-Ferrari's Le donne curiose, Zenobia in Handel's Radamista and Junon in Charpentier's Actéon. Has sung Lola in Cavalleria rusticana with Avignon Opera and Mercedes in Carmen with Wolf Trap Opera. Performed in Bruckner's Te Deum at Carnegie Hall and in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prize winner in the Opera Index Competition, the McCammon Competition, the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, the Gerda Lissner Foundation and the Art Song Society of New York.
Kang Wang
TENOR (Harbin, China)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - Second Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: International Artist Diploma (Opera) at Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK; Master of Music at Queensland Conversatorium Griffith University, Australia. Member of OperAvenir at Theater Basel.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2016: Met debut in Summer Recital Series; 2015-2016 season: Elvino in the MET+Juilliard production of Bellini's La Sonnambula. 2014-2015 season: Nathanael in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Notar in Don Pasquale and Male Chorus in Rape of Lucretia, all with OperAvenir at Theater Basel in Switzerland. 2013-2014 season: Don Jose in La Tragedie de Carmen at IVAI Virginia.People's Choice Award in the Dame Joan Sutherland National Vocal Award; semi-finalist at 2011 Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna; winner of the 2014 Clonter Opera Prize in UK.
Yunpeng Wang
BARITONE (Shenzhen, China)
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - Fourth Year
EDUCATION/TRAINING: Master of Music The Manhattan School of Music, Bachelor of Music Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing China.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2016: Returned to Met's Summer Recital Series; 2015-2016 season: at the Met, both Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly; Figaro in Il Barbiere di Sviligia in concert in Pesaro; Gugliemo in Così fan tutte with the Macao Symphony; Opera Orchestra of New York debut as Duke Azzo in Donizetti's Parisina D'este. 2014-2015 season: Sang the Count in Le nozze di Figaro at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing China; at the Met made his house debut as Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Flemish Deputy in Don Carlo. In the MET+Juilliard production of Iphigénie en Aulide, sang the role of Agamemnon. Performed in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro Italy. 2013-2014 season: Met's 2014 Summer Recital Series, and Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Santa Cruz Symphony. 2012-2013 Season: Carnegie Hall debut with The Musical Olympus Festival; Alice Tully Hall debut with the I Sing Beijing Program and The New York City Opera Orchestra, Performed with The Hartford Symphony as a soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and The Yellow River Cantata, Appeared with The Voices of 2012 concert with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV in Pécs, Hungary; Athanaël in Thaïs with The Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater. 2011-2012 season; Marco in Gianni Schicchi and Eisenstein (Cover) in Die Fledermaus at The National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China; Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with The Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater; Participated in the Zürich Stiftung Opera Bel Canto Night in Switzerland. Recipient of 2nd Place Prize, Zarzuela Prize, and Audience Award of Placido Domingo's International Operalia Competition in 2012; 1st Place Winner of The 2013 Alan M. and Joan Taub Ades Vocal Competition.