ALUMNI - Simpson College

“The opera training opportunities at Simpson
are on the level that one would expect from
a university offering graduate degrees in
music. We were immersed into the art form,
as undergraduates, through a combination
of excellent voice training and high-quality
opera productions and scenes programs.
Subsequently, the school attracted a high
level of student talent. I’m grateful for the
‘hands-on’ experiences I had in the Simpson program,
which included everything from playing rehearsals and
coaching singers to painting flats. Simpson prepared me
remarkably well for further training and eventually a
professional career in music.”
ALUMNI
SOME
CELEBRATED ALUMNI
SUSANNE SHESTON
Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor,
The Santa Fe Opera, Utah Opera
Chorus Master, Utah Symphony
“I can safely say that I would not
have had the same number of career
opportunities had I not been educated
at Simpson College. I would have been
lost at a state school, or conservatory
with graduate students taking all the
performing opportunities. The music
department went above and beyond
the call of duty to prepare and stage
professional-level productions. That tradition
thrives today, as new faculty and staff reinvigorate
the high level of artistry that has existed already
for decades.”
JOHN MICHAEL MOORE
Baritone, Metropolitan Opera
“At Simpson College, I learned the value
of discipline and hard work in music.
There were countless moments we
heard and made music that took my
breath away. I was also taught to be
an independent learner. It was this skill
that stood me in best stead in graduate
school and beyond. Choosing to enroll in
the music program at Simpson College
was one of the best decisions I ever made.”
MICHAEL EGEL
Artistic Director, Des Moines Metro Opera
Corey Bix
Robert L. Larsen
Tenor at Vienna Volksoper, Conductor, pianist, stage director,
Metropolitan Opera, Utah Opera, editor, and college professor,
Bard Music Festival, Aspen Music Founding Artistic Director of Des
Festival, Greek National Opera, Moines Metro Opera
Santa Fe Opera.
Brad Cresswell
Sarah Larsen
Mezzo-soprano with Seattle Opera,
Classical Music Director: WGTE Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass
Radio; formerly tenor with Lyric Opera, Sarasota Opera, Wolf Trap
Opera of Chicago, and credits on Opera.
Deutsche Grammophon, Philips,
New World, Innova, and Carlton
Classics record labels.
Christopher McBeth
Artistic Director, Utah Opera
Douglas Duncan
Founding Managing Director,
Des Moines Metro Opera
Michael Egel
John Michael Moore
Baritone. Metropolitan Opera,
Glyndebourne Festival Opera,
Minnesota Opera, Welsh National
Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera,
Artistic Director, Des Moines Minnesota Orchestra, Philadelphia
Metro Opera
Chamber Society, Chicago
Robert Goodloe
Chamber Musicians.
Veteran baritone at the
Gayletha Nichols
Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera National
Theodore Green
Council Director
Tenor. Royal Swedish Opera, Beverly O’Regan Thiele
Toledo Opera, Minnesota Opera, Soprano with Washington National
Vancouver Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera, Metropolitan Opera,
Michigan Opera Theatre, Boston Badisches Staatstheater, Karlsruhe,
Lyric Opera, Central City Opera, New York City Opera, Lyric Opera
Des Moines Metro Opera, of Chicago, Glimmerglass Opera,
Minnesota Orchestra, Opera Fort Worth Opera, DMMO,
Theater of St. Louis.
Chicago Symphony.
Carolyne Hall
John Osborn
Assistant to Artistic Director Principal Tenor, Metropolitan
Francesca Zambello, Glimmerglass Opera, Houston Grand Opera,
Opera
BBC Proms, Salzburg Festival, La
Patrick Hansen
Conductor, pianist, coach and
stage director. Brevard Music
Center, Opera Festival of New
Monnaie (Brussels), L’Opéra de
Paris, New York City Opera, La
Scala Milan.
Joseph C. Perniciaro
Jersey, Pittsburgh Opera, Des Assistant Professor of Voice and
Moines Metro Opera, Lyric Opera Director of Opera, Fort Hays State
of Chicago, Memphis Opera, University
Juilliard Opera Center. Director of
Opera, McGill University.
Rita Harvey
Marc Schreiner
Tenor. Houston Grand Opera,
Lincoln Center Festival, Edinburgh
Broadway actress, singer and Festival, Salzburg Festival,
performer in Phantom of the Opera, Nashville Opera, Minnesota Opera,
Fiddler on the Roof, Frankenstein: Des Moines Metro Opera, Syracuse
The Musical, The Prince and the Opera, Toledo Opera, Lake George
Pauper.
Opera, Opera Memphis.
Craig Irvin
Susanne Sheston
Baritone with Chicago Lyric Chorus Master, Santa Fe Opera,
Opera, Minnesota Opera, Los Utah Opera, Utah Symphony
Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Chorus.
Company, Philadelphia Opera,
Wolf Trap Opera.
Kimm Julian
Baritone. Assistant Professor of
Music, Minnesota State University.
Richard Walters
CEO, Hal Leonard Publishing,
Inc.
PRODUCTIOPERA
RECENT PAST
PRODUCTIONS
2002 Spring A Midsummer Night’s Dream
2002 Fall The Marriage of Figaro
2003 Spring The Merry Widow
2003 Fall The Magic Flute
2004 Spring The Seagull
2004 Fall Carousel
2005 Spring The Crucible
2005 Fall Die Fledermaus
2006 Spring Così fan tutte
2006 Fall Suor Angelica / Gianni Schicchi
2007 Spring Albert Herring
2007 Fall Dido and Aeneas / Pagliacci
2008 Spring The Consul
2008 Fall Prima Donna / Il Campanello
2009 Spring Falstaff
2009 Fall The Marriage of Figaro
2010 Spring The Mikado
2010 Fall The Magic Flute
2011 Spring Albert Herring
2011 Fall Die Fledermaus
2012 Spring Così fan tutte
2012 Fall The Beggar’s Opera
2013 Spring Cendrillon
As a Simpson College music student, I have had
the opportunity to participate in eight operas,
three regional tours, a madrigal dinner, and a
European tour! In auditions and masterclasses I
have already benefited from Simpson’s network
of outstanding alumni, many of whom are
influential in the field of professional opera.”
THADDEUS ENNEN ’13
Bachelor of Music, voice performance major
DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
www.simpson.edu/opera
Bernard McDonald, director of opera
bernard.mcdonald@simpson.edu | 515.961.1637
800.362.2454
OPERA

Simpson College offers a renowned and
unique undergraduate opera program
that is fully musically and technically
resourced, supported by a professional
orchestra, in an intimate, purpose-built
theatre. If you are an aspiring singer,
pianist, conductor, stage manager, lighting
designer, stage director, set designer,
costume designer, or vocal coach, or if you
are interested in musical theatre and seek a
broad liberal arts education, you can do no
better than to begin at Simpson College.
All of the voice, coaching, and conducting
faculty have professional careers,
national and international credentials
as performers, and are a close-knit team
dedicated to developing the tradition of
excellence established over many decades.
Simpson College punches massively above
its weight in the number of professional
singers, artistic administrators, choral
directors, conductors, and music educators
it has produced.
WHY SIMPSON?
• Two fully-staged productions of opera or
musical theater per academic year
• Principal, supporting, and chorus roles
performed exclusively by undergraduates
• Student opera with a professional orchestra
• First-rate voice, coaching, conducting, and
piano faculty
• Dedicated one-on-one music preparation,
vocal, and language coaching
• Biannual May Term Opera Workshop in
musical preparation, stagecraft and career
development
• Visiting professional stage directors, designers,
and master teachers
• Internships and employment opportunities
with the Des Moines Metro Opera
SUCCESS
We prepare students for performing careers,
train music teachers, and lay the groundwork
for graduate studies in performance,
conducting, stage direction, musicology, music
education, and arts administration. Our alumni
can be found in all of these areas at the highest
levels of the profession. Aspects of the program
have been cited as outstanding by U.S. News
and World Report and the program in voice
as exceptional by the National Association
of Teachers of Singing. All ten of Simpson’s
2012 graduates in vocal performance attending
graduate school are receiving scholarships — in
some cases, full tuition remission plus stipend.
The Simpson College Music
Department has a special
place in the nation’s vocal and
opera community. I graduated
with a music education
degree, a ton of performance
experience, and was in the
chorus of the Des Moines Metro Opera.
I wish every talented young singer might
have the quality experience I had at
Simpson. Simpson was a great beginning
for me and continues to be for others.”
GAYLETHA NICHOLS
Director, Metropolitan Opera
National Council Auditions
DES MOINES METRO OPERA
Simpson College is the performing home of
the Des Moines Metro Opera, with which
it enjoys an historic, close partnership. It
provides Simpson students with the invaluable
opportunity to experience professional opera
on their doorstep. Every summer Simpson
students serve as interns and production staff
in the summer opera festival. Many singers
from Simpson have taken part in the DMMO
Apprenticeship Program, an opportunity
afforded usually to only the most talented
graduate students and
young professional
singers from all over
the United States.
FACULTY
BERNARD McDONALD
Director of Opera. Conducting, vocal coaching,
collaborative piano. Conductor, coach, pianist, chorus
master. New York City Opera, Glyndebourne Festival
Opera, Netherlands Opera, New National Theatre
Tokyo, Aspen Music Festival, Florida Grand Opera,
Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Opera.
BRUCE BROWN
Voice, stage direction, acting. Baritone with over
20 years’ singing at Vienna State Opera, Vienna
Volksoper, Innsbruck Opera, Paris Opera, Houston
Grand Opera, Sacramento Opera, Eugene Opera,
New Jersey Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Des
Moines Metro Opera, Chautauqua Opera.
VIRGINIA CROSKERY
Voice, vocal pedagogy, diction. Has performed in
opera and on Broadway, including Lyric Opera of
Chicago, Opera Co. of Philadelphia, Phantom of the
Opera. Has performed with most major orchestras
in the U.S., and in Italy, France, Quebec, Israel.
Recorded Victor Herbert songs for the Naxos label.
MATTHEW LAU
Voice, stage direction, music history, vocal
literature, history of American musical theatre.
Leading bass-baritone New York City Opera, Lyric
Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Boston Lyric
Opera, Atlanta Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera
Theater of St. Louis, New York Philharmonic.
TIMOTHY A. McMILLIN
Chair of the Music Department, Director of
Choral Activities. Voice, conducting, choral
methods, choral ensembles. Artistic Director,
Des Moines Vocal Arts Ensemble. Experienced
conductor and choral clinician in high demand
across Iowa and the Midwest.
KIMBERLY ROBERTS
Voice, conductor of Simpson Madrigal Singers.
Soprano with DMMO, Oklahoma Symphony,
Canterbury Chorale. Her students are represented in
opera companies and graduate programs throughout
the U.S. In 2012, five won the MET district and
regional competitions.
JIN YOUNG PARK
Music staff accompanist, pianist and organist.
Teaches piano, and accompanies opera, choral,
student recitals and auditions. Recent productions
include Dido and Aeneas, Pagliacci, Albert Herring,
The Magic Flute, The Crucible, The Consul, Falstaff,
Die Fledermaus, and The Beggar’s Opera.
JAMES POULSEN
Vocal coaching, collaborative piano. Pianist,
composer. Four pieces commissioned by the Des
Moines Symphony. Has received two ASCAPlus
awards from the American Society of Composers
and Publishers; accompanies student recitals and
auditions for DMMO.