Sherrill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes is universally acclaimed as the foremost operatic baritone of his generation. With his powerful voice, commanding stage presence and rugged handsomeness, he received the kind of adulation that is usually reserved for tenors. He sang over 650 performances at the Met, where he was honored with sixteen new productions, seven opening nights, and ten national telecasts. As a leading artist in all of the world’s great opera houses, Mr. Milnes performed and recorded with the likes of Domingo, Pavarotti, Sutherland, Sills, Horne, Price, and Tebaldi. He is the winner of three Grammy Awards, and the most recorded American singer of his time. In 2008 he received the Opera News Award for Distinguished Achievement.
Maria Zouves
Maria Zouves is an educator, director, producer and writer. She is President of the Sherrill Milnes VOICE Programs − VOICExperience Foundation and the Savannah VOICE Festival – which she co-founded with her husband, Sherrill Milnes, to provide training for aspiring young artists and foster new audiences for the vocal arts. The Greek-American soprano has sung leading roles in the regional U.S., made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1997, and has recorded under the VAI label. While Maria directs most of the concerts in the VOICE Programs and co-directed the new SVF opera commission, Ching’s Alice Ryley: A Savannah Ghost Story, she most recently directed Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre in Prague, where the work first premiered and co-directed Le nozze de Figaro with Sherrill Milnes in Prague and Salzburg with Prague Summer Nights. She was recently seen in the title role of the premiere of Ching’s Anna Hunter: The Spirit of Savannah.
Ms. Zouves has directed, taught, and produced events all around the world, having worked with the International Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI) in Montreal and Puerto Rico, the International Institute of Vocal Arts (IIVA) in Chiari, Italy, and at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland. From 2007 to 2011, she served as Vice President and Associate General Director of Opera Tampa, the resident opera company of the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. She has taught workshops at Southern Illinois University, Drake University and served as interim opera director at Northwestern University. A sought after clinician, particularly in career development, she has also aided young singers as a career liaison through her former feature, “A Conversation with…” in Classical Singer magazine.
Ms. Zouves has sung leading roles with the Baltimore Opera, Florentine Opera, Memphis Opera, New Jersey State Opera, Orlando Opera, and the Pittsburgh Opera. The Stuttgarter Zeitung praised her “beautiful, lyric voice” and “a not to be surpassed ‘piano’ in the high register.” Opera News has described her voice as “creamy.” This Greek-American soprano shows great versatility in opera, on concert stages, and in crossover repertoire, with a specialty in classical and popular Greek music.
Javier Arrey
Heralded for his “superbly refined voice” and “laudable performances” (Washington Classical Review), Chilean born American baritone Javier Arrey has appeared in houses like The Vienna State Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Palau de Les Arts, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Nacional de Chile, Washington National Opera and San Francisco Opera, among others. Javier Arrey has collaborated with conductors including Eun Sun Kim, Lorin Maazel, Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, James Gaffigan, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Plácido Domingo, Antony
Walker and Marco Armiliato. His repertoire includes, among others, roles like Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Belcore (L’Elisir D’Amore), Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Conte Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Conte di Luna (Il Trovatore), Jago (Otello), Renato (Un Ballo in Maschera), Rodrigo (Don Carlo), Alfio (Cavalleria Rusticana), Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Riccardo (I Puritani). Baritone Javier Arrey had the privilege and honor of performing twice in the U.S. Supreme Court for the Honorable Justices invited by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In addition to his work on the opera stage, baritone Javier Arrey is a world-class interpreter of Lieder and concert repertoire. Recent performances include Giovanni (Don Giovanni) at Savannah VOICE Festival and Opera Tampa, Beethoven Ninth symphony with HHSO and Verdi Requiem with Savannah Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Keitaro Harada.
Assaf Gleizner
Born and raised in Israel, Assaf Gleizner is a Grammy nominated composer, Music Director, orchestrator, and arranger both in NYC and around the world for the past 10 years. Assaf‘s favorite credits include:
Broadway: Arts For Autism – Featuring Kelly O’Hara, Julia Murney (Gershwin Theater). Orchestrator, Arranger. Off-Broadway/Tour: The Office! A Musical Parody (The Theater Center, North America Tour), Friends! The Musical (The Theater Center, North America Tour, International Tour) 90210! The Musical (Theater 80, Chicago) Composer, Orchestrator.
Regional: The Swingaroos (Florida Studio Theater)
Composer, MD. Other: Move On, A Sondheim Adventure – Grammy nominated album featuring Cyrille Aimee (NYC, FRANCE) Arranger, Orchestrator, Producer. Show Choir! The Musical – Featuring Christiane Noll (NYC) Orchestrator. The Wolf, (NC & NYC) Orchestrator.
Assaf is also a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.
Paulo Lapa
Paulo Lapa is an Opera enthusiast and assumes a variety of roles within the Opera world: singer, diretor, producer and educator.
After obtaining his Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from Aveiro University – Portugal – continued his musical education in the United States. Having established a successful relationship with VOICExperience Foundation and Savannah Voice Festival Paulo was appointed as Outreach&Education Coordinator for these institutions, developing Opera activities that have encouraged and engaged hundreds of young students with this art form.
In Portugal and Mozambique Paulo has staged full productions of Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute, Orpheus in the Underworld, Carmen, Eugene Onegin, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Verdi’s Requiem, Ravel’s Sheherazade and Ri-te como Jacques.
As a producer and stage manager he has been involved in more than fifty different opera productions.
As a singer Paulo sang the roles of Nemorino (“L’elisir d’amore”, Donizetti), Beppe (“Rita”, Offenbach), Aristée/Pluton (“Orphée Aux Enfers”, Offenbach), Dancairo (“Carmen”, Bizet), Monsieur Vogelsang (“Der Schauspieldirektor”, Mozart) and world premiered the roles of Malaquias and Soldado in the Operas Mátria and Madrugada – as razões de um movimento.
On the series “Readings of the Portuguese Opera at TNSC, he played Sampiero and was a chorus member of the Boston Lyric Opera in the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Upon his return to Portugal, Paulo co-founded the Plateia Protagonista Association, a non-profit organization focused on the promotion of Opera and Classical Music. Through concerts and social projects such as “Ópera Oh Que Seca” and “Ópera Connosco” – the latter with the recognition of the High Sponsorship of the Presidency of the Republic – Paulo continues to share his passion for this art form.
In 2023 he was a finalist of the TV Show – The Voice Portugal.
Tiago Matos
Tiago Matos was recently Guglielmo in the opera “Così Fan Tutte”, by Mozart, at the Coliseu do Porto and sergeant Belcore in “L’Elisir d’Amore” by Donizetti. He also participated in the world premiere of “Mátria” (Fernando Lapa and Eduarda Freitas) and interpreted Ti Raul and Padre Gusmão. He also performed George Crumb’s Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death with the Remix Ensemble and returned to the Coliseu do Porto with the Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras to present El Retablo del Maese Pedro (Falla), where he plays Don Quichotte.
With the Paris National Opera, Tiago was, among others, Fiorello in Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”; the protagonist of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”; and, more recently, the much-praised Frank in J. Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus”.
Among other interpretations, we highlight Le Dancaïre and Moralès, in “Carmen”, by Bizet; L’Horloge Comtoise and Le Chat in “L’Enfant et Les Sortilèges” by Ravel and Mercutio in “Roméo et Juliette” by Gounod.
He founded Plateia Protagonista projects to promote opera and classical music and the Trio À La Joie!, an essential part of his concert activity.
Ashley Nuñez
Cuban-American soprano Ashley Nuñez recently premiered the role of Lilian in The Eleanors at the National Opera Association in collaboration with the Savannah VOICE Festival. An alumna of the Milnes VOICE Studio, Ms. Nuñez was selected as an Emerging Artist for two consecutive summers under the mentorship of world-renowned baritone, Sherrill Milnes. Her recent engagements include being the Soprano Soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a featured performance at the Indiana Landmarks Holly & the Ivy Concert, and débuting the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with the Miami Music Festival.
Ashley’s operatic repertoire spans celebrated companies across the United States such as the Florida Grand Opera, Vero Beach Opera, Painted Sky Opera, and the San José Chamber Orchestra. Her standout roles include Manon in Massenet’s Manon, Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck, and Krysia in Two Remain (Out of Darkness) by Jake Heggie.
Ms. Nuñez has also distinguished herself in numerous vocal competitions earning accolades in the St. Petersburg Opera Guild Voice Competition, Nightingale Opera Theatre Competition, Music International Grand Prix, Mobile Opera Rose Competition, and the Giffin Vocal Competition. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Stetson University and a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Louisiana State University.
Júlio Resende
Júlio Resende is one of the most international Portuguese musicians, with nine released albums.
He was born in Faro, Algarve region, Portugal, and spent his childhood in neighbouring Olhão. Having started to play the piano at the age of 4, he considers this instrument his favourite toy. After studying classical piano at the Conservatório of Faro, his taste for improvisation led him to jazz, as he needed “a musical language which demands freedom”. In Júlio’s words, “Jazz is not a style; it’s a way of thinking. In Improvisation and Jazz, I found a musical language that works this way, in freedom and demands this of its musicians”.
In 2001, Resende moved to Lisbon. While studying Philosophy at the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, he became involved in the musical activities of the Hot Clube de Portugal. He later went to Paris to study jazz at the Université de St. Denis – Paris VIII. During this period, he participated in workshops, which led him to work with musicians from Hot Clube, the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Berklee College of Music, and the Bill Evans Academy.
His career began with jazz, passed through Pop-Rock and the Spoken Word, and recently came to Fado in a never-ending search for the perfect place that doesn’t exist. The attainment of this continuous state of dissatisfaction and irreverence allows him to explore even more and more, allowing those who listen to him to come into contact with discoveries.
After recording his first three projects in a jazz trio or quartet (“Da Alma” – 2007, “Assim Falava Jazzatustra” – 2009, “You Taste Like a Song” – 2011), he decided to improvise on other musical genres, like Fado, mixing tradition with modernity and launching, from his piano, a new look over the traditional Portuguese song.
Based on Amália Rodrigues’ (the “Diva” of Fado) most popular themes, Júlio Resende accepts new challenges: bringing Fado to the piano, singing the melodies with the piano instead of just accompanying them and expressing with the piano everything that Fado means. “Amália por Júlio Resende”, released in 2013 by Valentim de Carvalho, was unanimously acclaimed by all Portuguese music critics and received CHOC DISC*****5 Stars by the prestigious French magazine CLASSICA, which ranks the best musicians and instrumentalists in the world.
As a talented and creative improviser, Júlio goes further and risks a(n) (im)possible duet with Amália, serving the Diva’s voice with his piano on the theme “Medo”. Fifteen years after the disappearance of Amália Rodrigues, Júlio Resende manages to convince Valentim de Carvalho (Amália’s editor). For the first time in history, a musician is allowed to play with the voice of the Diva.
In 2015, following his first solo project where he integrated Fado and Jazz, Júlio Resende released his fifth album, “Fado & Further”, which includes the participation of Catalan Sílvia Pérez Cruz, one of the most outstanding Spanish female singers.
His sixth album opened the challenge for a new paradigm: the spoken word and poetry, in a happy encounter with the Psychiatrist and Sexologist Júlio Machado Vaz. “Poesia Homónima” (2016) proves that art has no barriers and opens the path for a new relationship between the pianist and poetry. These are poems by Eugénio de Andrade and Gonçalo M. Tavares, in the unmistakable voice of Júlio Machado Vaz, accompanied by the improvisation on the piano by Júlio Resende.
In 2017, Júlio Resende released what is probably the most daring and divergent of all his creations. Based on the English poetry of Fernando Pessoa, he created a Pop-Rock band with influences from indie and electronic music to which he gave the name “Alexander Search”, one of Pessoa’s most important heteronyms and who wrote almost exclusively in English. In June, the album went directly to the third position at the top of national sales, confirming that it was a winning bet.
“Cinderella Cyborg” is his eighth album. Released in 2018, it’s a musical adventure, an assumed courtship between man and machine, between the acoustic of the piano, the drums and the bass, and the electronic sounds of the pads and chips.
In 2018, at Eurovision Song Contest 2018, he played the piano on one of the grand final interval acts along with Salvador Sobral and Caetano Veloso.
In December 2019, the pianists Júlio Resende and Maria João Pires performed together for the first time in a memorable show in which the creative spirits of both artists converged. They sought to create a new “concert recipe” whose unique character promotes unparalleled moments in a musical dialogue. Improvisation, fantasy, and inspiration – essential elements in the pianists’ performances – gave way to a concert exceptional of its kind.
2020 was the year in which Júlio Resende released the album “Júlio Resende – Fado Jazz Ensemble”. This unique Jazz and World Music project synthesises a creative vision of a dialogue between Jazz and Fado. The instrumental ensemble comprises a jazz trio – piano, double bass and drums – and the distinctive Portuguese guitar that gives a unique character to the show. ACT Music re-released this album worldwide in February 2022, receiving outstanding reviews from some of the most renowned critics.
In October 2023, he released his latest album “Sons of Revolution,” once again through ACT Music, featuring Salvador Sobral. He has captivated audiences in some of the finest international venues, including Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie Köln, and Philharmonie Luxembourg. Additionally, he has made a significant impact at prestigious festivals such as SF Jazz and Jazzaldia.
Chad Sonka
Chad Sonka is establishing himself as a versatile American baritone, teacher, and director. He was consistently singing and teaching throughout the country for Savannah VOICE Festival and Iowa State University, where he serves on the voice faculty. Recently, he performed as the baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem at Carnegie Hall with Iowa State University and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder
Congcong Wang
Congcong Wang is a talented vocalist and musician who has dedicated her life to pursuing music. She was the district winner in the San Francisco district for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and received an Encouragement Award in the Western Region Finals in 2018. She received the 1st Prize in the Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition, the 2nd Prize in the George Gershwin International Music Competition, Encouragement Award receivers in the Altamura/Caruso International Voice Competition. Ms. Wang has sung leading roles in various operas, such as Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, Iolanta in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, Manon in Massenet’s Manon, Mashaline in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Mimi in Puccini’s La Boheme, Liu in Puccini’s Turandot, Rosalinde in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Christine in Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and Maria in Bernstein’s West Side Story. She has worked with the San Francisco Symphony, performing as a soloist in Berlitz’s Requiem Symphony, John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, Carmina Burana, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, and Mahler’s Das klagende Lied. Ms. Wang is currently pursuing a DMA in vocal performance at University of Miami, with Professor Robynne Redmon. She has previously earned a Master of Music in vocal performance from the Boston Conservatory of Music and a postgraduate voice performance diploma at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Her dedication and hard work provided her with scholarship to perform and study in Maryland Lyric Opera Young Artist Institute. Ms. Wang’s extensive education and training have been guided by voice and opera coaches, such as Manny Perez, Kathryn Wright, Ellie Mao Mok, Catherine Cook, Luis Salemno, Kevin Class, Carmela Altamura, Miah Im, Johnathon Pape, Tony Arnold, Joan Caplan, Amy Burton, and Elizabeth Hynes.