2011-2012 Teaching Artists

Chicago Opera Theater takes great pride in the in-depth focus and individual attention of the Opera for All and Opera for Teens programs. Our young and dynamic teaching fellows visit selected partner schools and Gallery 37 throughout the entirety of an academic year to teach weekly opera and violin classes.

Linden Christ, soprano, Director of Education and Outreach for Chicago Opera Theater and Teaching Artist for Opera for All at Lionel Hampton Fine & Performing arts School, Calmeca Academy of Fine Arts & Dual Language, Dewitt Clinton Elementary School, and Reilly Elementary School

Linden Kathleen Christ made her international debut as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with the Rome Opera Festival in 2005. She made her professional American debut in 2008 as First Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre. She performs every summer with the Peoria Municipal Band, has been the featured soloist at Bradley University’s John Philip Sousa Concerts, and will sing with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra in the 2011-2012 season. Christ is the artistic director of the opera outreach company, Chicago Opera Play House. The company is presently touring Cinderhood by Adam Busch (Opera For All composer). Christ is the Manager of Education and Outreach for Chicago Opera Theater, working with After School Matter’s Opera For Teens, and middle school opera program, Opera for All.

Christ completed her Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance and Musicology from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where she is now a Faculty Member and conducts the University Singers. Christ graduated magna cum laude from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana and spent a semester abroad in Florence, Italy. Christ resides in Chicago, where she studies with Judith Haddon and is a native of Metamora, Illinois.

Lisa Golda, soprano, Teaching Artist for Opera for All at Dewitt Clinton Elementary School, and Reilly Elementary School

Lisa Golda is active in Wisconsin as a performer, music director, and voice teacher. Her credits as an actor-singer include leading roles at Off the Wall, The Boulevard Studio Ensemble, Soulstice Theatre, and Sheboygan Theatre Company. She has recently performed with Chicago Opera Playhouse and has also done vocal direction and dialect coaching for Soulstice Theatre and Carte Blanche Studios. Professional operatic experience also includes work with Seattle Opera and Portland Opera. Lisa has an MM in Vocal Performance from the Indiana School of Music, writes freelance for Classical Singer magazine and other publications, and maintains her own theatre/studio, The Vox Box, at the Marian Center for Non-Profits in Bay View, WI. She is also the music director at Unity Church in Sheboygan, WI.

Kimberly Chin, soprano, Teaching Artist for Opera for All at Lionel Hampton Fine & Performing arts School and Calmeca Academy of Fine Arts & Dual Language

Kimberly Chin is a graduate of Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts with a double degree in Voice Performance and Music Education. There she has been in Operas such as L'enfant et les sortileges (Ravel) and The Turn of the Screw (Brittan) and has student taught in the Chicago Public School district and well as the Glenview/Wilmette Avoca school district. Since then, she has performed with Chicago theaters in plays and musicals such as Sita Ram (Jai Uttal), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare), and Mountain Days: The John Muir Musical (Bohmler). She has also been in many choirs in the Chicago-land area: currently with the With One Voice Community Choir in Downtown Chicago. Kimberly is teaching piano, general music, musical theater, and choir from ages five through young adults with companies such as the Chicago Opera Theater’s Opera for All program, Merit School of Music, and private in home lessons with Melody Music Studios. Kimberly currently resides in Chicago and is the student of Tracy Watson.

Amanda Compton, A St. Louis native Amanda Compton is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University (B.M. Vocal Performance) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (M.M. Voice). She currently sings and teaches in the Chicago area, performing regularly with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Light Opera Works (Yeomen of the Guard, Brigadoon, The Student Prince), and Red Tape Theatre. She will be a soloist this year with the Belleville Diocesan Schola, and continues to teach private voice lessons in the city and Lockport Township High School. Her favorite roles include Yum-Yum in The Mikado (Madison Savoyards), Mélisande in Pelleas et Mélisande (UW-Madison), and Rapunzel in Into the Woods (IWU). She has toured with Prairie Fire Theater in the cast of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, originated the role of Lee Krasner in the premiere of Art and Desire (UW-Madison) in February 2009, and she performed with the American Institute of Music in Graz in summer of 2009.

Christopher Richard, baritone, Teaching Artist for Opera for Teens at Gallery 37

Christopher Richard, originally from Indiana, holds degrees from Butler University and the University of Southern California. While in Chicago, Mr. Richard has performed with DuPage Opera Theatre, Bowen Park Opera, Light Opera Works and Drury Lane Oakbrook. On a broader scope, he has appeared with Sarasota Opera, Indianapolis Opera, the Aspen Music Festival Opera, Brevard Music Center, the Mexico National Chamber Orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and the New World Symphony Orchestra. Although Mr. Richard has many credits in opera, he is equally at home in the music theatre, cabaret and recital genres. In addition to performing, Mr. Richard teaches voice lessons privately and at Oak Park & River Forest High School, is Assistant Music Director at Irving Park Lutheran Church and director of their Contemporary Ensemble. In the fall of 2002 he was Music Director for the Youth Opera Program at Sarasota Opera. Serving as Music Director for the Light Opera Works Summer Music Theatre Workshop since 2007, Mr. Richard works on 5 separate productions specifically tailored for young performers each summer. In that same vein, Mr. Richard has been the Program Director of Music Theatre at Merit School of Music, director of the DePaul Community Musical Theatre class, and has enjoyed working as music director for productions with OPRF and Triton College. Most recently he has enjoyed being the Music Director for Bowen Park Opera since 2007.

Marta Johnson, pianist, Teaching Artist for Opera for Teens at Gallery 37

Pianist Marta Johnson is active as a collaborator and accompanist in Chicago. In addition to beginning the position of teaching fellow with Chicago Opera Theater and After School Matters this spring, she has worked with organizations such as Music of the Baroque, Elgin Orchestra, Community Chorale at Symphony Center, Light Opera Works, Bowen Park Opera Theater, American Opera Group, Opera for the Young and Interactive Opera. She also has been a member of the faculty at Black Hills State University Summer Institute for the Arts, as well as an apprentice at VOICExperience with Sherrill Milnes, and at International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy.

Amanda Grimm, violinist, Violin Teacher at Reilly Elementary School is an active soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player.

A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory and Carnegie Mellon University she performed both as soloist and as concertmaster in over fifteen venues in France, Germany, and Michigan with the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp European Tour Orchestra. In 2004 she was selected by faculty to be concertmaster of the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in a live broadcast performance of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony under Sir Simon Rattle. In 2007, she was the winner of the Carnegie Mellon Concerto Competition, performing Bernstein’s Serenade with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic. An active chamber musician, she has been a member of many ensembles including the Cerberus Piano Trio, the Logan Square Piano Quartet, and the Silberman Competition winning Faure Piano Quintet. She was featured on WQED Pittsburgh as the first violin soloist in a performance of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins and was heard live on WBEZ last year as a performer in a benefit concert for Haiti at Roosevelt University. Ms. Grimm can also be heard on the soundtrack for the documentary film In My Hands, which was an official entry at the Toronto Film Festival. Currently, Ms. Grimm is a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.