Ravinia Steans Music Institute 2019

32 RAVINIA’S STEANS MUSIC INSTITUTE Jacobs School of Music. He earned graduate degrees in piano performance and chamber music at Saint Petersburg State Conservatory and performed as both a soloist and collaborator in recitals an concerts throughout Europe and Russia. Verevkin then moved to the United States and earned his Doctor of Arts and Artist Diploma in piano performance and chamber music from Ball State University. Brent Funderburk Praised for his sensitive and nuanced accompanying, Brent Funderburk is known across the country as a respected recitalist, coach, and music director. A passionate champion of art song, Funderburk has served on the faculty of the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College for the past three years. In addition to his work with the young artists as a Master Coach, he inaugurated the program’s Alumni Recital Series. In performance, Brent has made appearances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Kaufmann Center’s Merkin Hall, among others, and recently concluded an eight-month-tour of the Metropolitan Opera’s Rising Stars Concert Series as pianist and music director. With a growing discography, Brent boasts six complete albums on Acis Productions, Albany Records, and New Focus Records and has numerous American radio broadcast credits. A South Carolina native, Brent holds bachelor’s degrees from Lawrence University in music and biology and a master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he served four years as a staff pianist for the Ellen and James S. Marcus Vocal Arts Department. Funderburk currently resides and maintains a private coaching studio in New York City. Marika Yasuda, apprentice pianist Pianist Marika Yasuda is currently a Doctoral student in the Collaborative Piano program at the Jacobs School of Music under the mentorship of Kevin Murphy and Anne Epperson. She holds degrees in Piano Performance and Vocal Accompaniment from Oberlin Conservatory and the Jacobs School of Music. As a soloist, she has received top prizes at competitions including the Hellam Young Artists’ Competition, Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, Julia Crane International Piano Competition, and was named a winner of the 2015 Oberlin Conservatory Concerto Competition. An active collaborator, she has performed with Grammy-Award winning ensemble eighth blackbird on tour at their annual Third Practice Electroacoustic Festival, and recent performance engagements include recitals and orchestral concerts in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Seiji Ozawa Hall. Previously a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 2017 and 2018, she has also participated in masterclasses and festivals such as SongFest, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and at the Banff Centre. Outside of her recital appearances, she works extensively with the Jacobs School Opera Theater as a coach accompanist. This is her first summer attending the Steans Music Institute at Ravinia in Chicago RSMI SINGERS FELLOWS Amelie Aldner , mezzo-soprano Eleanor L. Scher Memorial Voice Fellowship from Ms. Scher’s family, HSBC-North America Fellowship Amelie Aldner was a soloist at The Norwegian Opera and Ballet from 2009-2014. The last few years she has sung Verdi’s Requiem and Rossini’s Stabat Mater in recitals and concerts throughout Norway and abroad. She also performed in the Lidal North productions of Hänsel und Gretl and Heroes and Villains . She released her first solo-album, At Midnight Hour, in 2017 and was recently on tour for its promotion. In 2019, she performed Handel’s Messiah concerts in France, as well as performing in the role of Sesto in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Lidal North Workshop in Oslo, Norway. She will perform in Rossini’s Petit messe solenelle in the fall. Amelie has made an impression on the Norwegian press as “a stage talent of dimensions” (Kulturspeilet) , and has also gained recognition in international press from Forum Opera and Kultiversum and Der Kulturplattform for her performances at The Norwegian Opera. Lily Arbisser, soprano Ravinia Women’s Board Program for Singers Fellowship Lily Arbisser possesses an “individual-timbred soprano” (Opera News) that “floats effortlessly” over the orchestra (www.feastofmusic. com). In previous seasons, Arbisser debuted such roles as Monica in Menotti’s The Medium at the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Opera Seabrook, and enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with pianist Jason Wirth in performances of Poulenc’s La voix humaine . Arbisser is a frequent soloist with choral groups in and around the New York City area, most recently appearing in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Princeton Pro Musica. This season Arbisser was a semifinalist in the Kurt Weill Foundation’s prestigious Lotte Lenya Competition and made her debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in Riyoichi Saito’s chamber opera Dojoji. She graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Art and Archaeology. She holds a Master of Music from Mannes College. Dominik Belavy , baritone John N. Stern Fellowship, Grace Bersted Fellowship Baritone Dominik Belavy has established himself as “one to watch with his smooth cultivated singing,” ( Opera News ). He has spent numerous summers as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center where he cultivated a love for art song, chamber music and contemporary works. Belavy was recently invited back as a guest to sing Junior in Bernstein’s A Quiet Place. Numerous appearances at Alice Tully Hall include an all-Schubert program following his win of Juilliard’s Honors Recital. He has been featured in live broadcast on BBC 3’s In Tune series as well as WQXR’s Midday Masterpieces . Belavy’s love of sacred music has culminated in numerous performances with John Harbison and a tour of Bach’s B Minor Mass with Ton Koopman. Mr. Belavy received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at The Juilliard School, where he was a Toulmin Scholar. Dominik studied with Sanford Sylvan. Shira Ben David , soprano Morris and Evelyn Muskal Fellowship, Stephen and Susan Rappin Fellowship Israeli Soprano Shira Ben David graduated with a masters degree from the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College in 2018. In the years spent pursuing her degrees, Shira performed roles such as Pamina ( Die Zauberflöte ), Valentina (J. Musto’s Later the same evening ) Milica (Ana Socolovic’s Svadba , New York premiere), Giunia (Mozart’s Lucio Silla ) and Susanna ( Le nozze di Figaro ). In 2018 Shira performed the role of La Fée in Massenet’s Cendrillion in the Summer Opera Institute in Tel Aviv and in 2017 the role of Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia in Den Norske Opera&Ballett in Oslo as a participant of the Lidal North Opera Program. Shira is a recipient of the 2019 Eva and Marc Stern Fellowship at SongFest, Los Angeles, where she will perform in various concerts and masterclasses. Shira is also a recipient of the Israel Vocal Arts Institute Buchholz Prize in 2018-19 and the Ronnen Foundation’s scholarship.