Students & Teachers: Opera For All
2008-2009 TEACHING ARTISTS
Chicago Opera Theater takes great pride in the in-depth focus and individual attention of the Opera for All program. Our young and dynamic teaching fellows visit selected partner schools throughout the entirety of an academic year to teach weekly opera and violin classes.
Teaching Artist position available for 2008-2009 school year. Click here for more information.
Linden Christ, Soprano, Voice & Student Production Director at McKinley Park Elementary
Linden Christ received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance with an additional Performance Certificate from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana in 2005. She is currently in her second year masters program at the Chicago College Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Linden is a student of Elizabeth Norman, and will be receiving a degree in Vocal Performance and Musicology. At Roosevelt University, Linden is a Teacher's Assistant for undergraduate Music History courses as well as a Student Orientation Leader. In the summer of 2005, Linden made her international debut as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with the Rome Opera Festival in Italy. Last winter she was the soprano soloist in “Sing it Yourself Messiah” in Highland Park, Chicago. This summer she sang in the Student Prince with Music by the Lake in Wisconsin. Beginning this autumn, Linden will be in her second year of teaching Opera for All.
Marta Johnson, Pianist, Vocal Coach and Music Director at After School Matters, Gallery 37 (Spring semester)
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.
Francesco Milioto, Conductor, Music Director at After School Matters, Gallery 37 (Fall Semester)
Francesco Milioto is excited to begin this season with new positions as Music Director of the Skokie Valley Symphony and Principal Conductor of the Highland Park Strings. Mr. Milioto will lead the SVSO in concerts featuring symphonies by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, and Brahms as well as Mascagni’s powerful opera Cavalleria Rusticana. Following three years as assistant conductor he will now lead the HPS, as principal conductor, in works by Mahler, Beethoven, Schumann, Corelli, and Bach. Mr. Milioto will also collaborate with clarinetist David Shifrin on Mozart’s clarinet concerto for an HPS benefit concert in Bennett-Gordon recital hall at Ravinia. Mr. Milioto returns to Opera Elgin as Music Director for Donizetti’s L’Elisir D’Amore. For this production Mr. Milioto will lead the New Millennium Orchestra, an ensemble he helped found in 2005. This season will also include a second appearance at DePaul University. Mr. Milioto has enjoyed much successful collaboration with the NMO both as a pianist, and conductor of concert and operatic repertoire.
This past summer has included a wide variety of opportunities for Mr. Milioto. In his 4th year as a pianist/assistant conductor at the Ravinia Festival he played for Lynn Harrell, Sir James Galway, and assisted James Conlon on a production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Mr. Milioto also made his debut at Music by the Lake as an assistant for Romberg’s The New Moon. To mark his 6th summer as Music Director of the Chicago Cultural Center’s Summer Opera, he led a production of the rarely heard one-act comedy Il Signor Bruschino by Rossini, accompanied by the New Millennium Orchestra. Mr. Milioto is looking forward to continuing the Opera Theater Workshop for Teens with Chicago Opera Theater and After School Matters. He is also eager to being touring his school show “Not Just Figaro!” in collaboration with Urban Gateways.
Olga Katkova-Trevino, Violin, Violin Teaching Artist & Opera for All Ensemble Director at Von Humboldt Elementary and McKinley Park Elementary
Olga Katkova-Trevino studied music since the age of five in her native Bulgaria. She won a number of national competitions, toured Europe, and was featured on Bulgarian National Television. Olga came to the U.S. on a full musical scholarship to pursue a degree in Violin Performance. She is currently a member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra and the Rockford Symphony. This is Olga's second consecutive year working with Opera for All. At Von Humboldt Elementary, Olga teaches violin lessons to small groups of 10, with a total of 50 students (2 nd -5 th grade). In the past, Olga's students in the Opera for All Violin Program provided a strings accompaniment to the Opera for All student production.
A.J. Wester, Director, Voice & Student Production Director at After School Matters, Gallery 37 and Clinton Elementary
A.J. Wester is a staple of Chicago's music scene. She is an active teacher, performer and director, with a range of stage experience from musical theater to symphonic chorus to opera. For the past five years she has conducted in the Chicago Children's Choir in-school program throughout the city. At the Intimate Opera company she recently served as director and set designer, and costume designer for Cosi Fan Tutte. For three years she has directed the DePaul Musical Theatre Workshop as part of Community Music at DePaul University. A.J. holds degrees in vocal performance from Roosevelt University and DePaul. She was in the chorus of Philip Glass' Akhnaten in Chicago Opera Theater's production directed by Mary Zimmerman.
