The Program

Rossini:  Petite Messe Solennelle

The Artists

The goal of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program is to nurture the most talented young artists through training and performance opportunities. Founded in 1980, the Program uses the Met's unique resources to identify and educate young singers and coach/pianists for major careers in opera. To meet the individual needs of each young artist, the Program provides specialized training in music, language, dramatic coaching, and movement from the Met's own artistic staff and invited master teachers. Program participants have access to rehearsals for all Metropolitan Opera productions and are offered a position with the Program for a period of one year with annual renewal for up to three years for singers and two years for pianists. For more information on the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, visit www.metoperafamily.org.

Michael Korn founded the Philadelphia Singers in 1972 as the region’s only professional chamber chorus. For nearly 40 years, the group has upheld its mission to inspire audiences in the Philadelphia region with compelling concert experiences featuring performances of choral masterpieces and contemporary works. The Singers began as a 32-voice chamber ensemble that presented an annual concert series. In 1991, the Philadelphia Singers Chorale, a symphonic ensemble composed of professional singers and talented volunteers, was established. and one year later, David Hayes was named Music Director. Under Mr. Hayes’s leadership, the group has presented several world premieres including David Shapiro’s Metamorphoses, Robert Capanna’s Day, Hayr Arrakogh by Richard Yardumian, Ezra Laderman’s Brotherly Love, and Thomas Whitman’s Babylon. For more information on the Philadelphia Singers, visit www.philadelphiasingers.org.

David Hayes is a conductor with an unusually broad range of repertory, spanning the symphonic, oratorio/choral and operatic genres. He is currently the Music Director of The Philadelphia Singers and recently concluded a decade-long tenure on the conducting staff of The Philadelphia Orchestra (with whom he made his subscription debut in 1993 at the request of Wolfgang Sawallisch). In addition, Mr. Hayes is the Music Director of the Mannes Orchestra and Professor of Professional Practice at Mannes College The New School for Music in New York City and Staff Conductor of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. He has also served as a cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic as well as for Sir Andre Previn on the Curtis Symphony Orchestra’s 1999 European Tour with Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Ken Noda has served as Musical Assistant to James Levine on the Artistic Administration of the Metropolitan Opera for many years. A former full-time concert pianist, he studied with renowned pianist/conductor Daniel Barenboim and made his concert debut in London in 1979 with the maestro conducting the English Chamber Orchestra. He has since performed as soloist with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly and Rafael Kubelik; collaborated as chamber musician with James Levine (at two pianos), Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, and Nigel Kennedy; and as lieder accompanist to Kathleen Battle, Hildegard Behrens, Maria Ewing, Aprile Millo, Kurt Moll, Jessye Norman, Dawn Upshaw and Deborah Voigt. Since 1999 he has been a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival and also teaches at the Renata Scotto Opera Academy. He also performs chamber music and gives master classes at Juilliard, Yale, and at the Ravinia Festival/Steans Institute. 

Called "a pianist's pianist" by The New Yorker, Cecile Licad's artistry is a blend of daring musical instinct and superb training. A native of the Philippines, she began her piano studies at the age of three with her mother and honed her talents at the Curtis Institute of Music with Rudolf Serkin, Seymour Lipkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski. As a highly regarded chamber musician, she has performed regularly with PCMS and ensembles such as the New York Chamber Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Guarneri Quartet, Takacs Quartet, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Musicians from Marlboro. For more information on Cecile Licad visit www.cecilelicad.com. 

Michael Stairs, harmonium, is a native of Maine. He received his B.M. from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, where he served as accompanist for the famed touring choir. He then went on to the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied organ with Alexander McCurdy and piano with Vladimir Sokoloff. A member of the Delius Society, he plays frequently in and around Philadelphia.