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    • Home > Hart Institute > 2019 Participants > Faculty 2019

    Ana de Archuleta

    Ana de Archuleta
    Ana de Archuleta

    Ana De Archuleta is a strategic and dynamic arts entrepreneur, quickly establishing herself as one of the most sought-after leaders in the operatic field. Founder of A.D.A. Artist Management, her focus has been to identify exciting new talent, nurturing the careers of the finest performers who excel in a variety of genres and repertoire, from emerging to internationally renowned artists. Ana’s vast background in the arts has played a major role in her success as an arts and culture leader. Throughout her life she has been involved in many facets of the performing arts as an instrumentalist, dancer, operatic stage manager, assistant director, opera chorister, and an operatic soloist. She is an active business member of Opera America, lending her expertise to many committees and panels. A board member of the new Olga Iglesias Project, helping and promoting the native lyric artists of Puerto Rico, also she is on the Advisory Board of Seagle Festival, and she co-chaired Women’s Opera Network Steering Committee, and a was a panellist for the National Endowment of the Arts 2017 Arts Works Opera Grants. A sought-after mentor to Resident Artists of many performing arts organizations, Ana frequently offers her insights into the business aspect of the opera world via master classes and one on one consultations. She has presented her seminar on the “Business of Opera” at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Yale Opera, Washington National Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera among others. Additionally, she has been invited to judge multiple vocal competitions including the Metropolitan Opera National Council, Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Voice Competition, Shreveport Opera’s Mary Jacobs Smith Singer of the Year Competition, and Florida Grand Opera’s Young Patronesses of the Opera Vocal Competition.

    Charlotte Lee

    Charlotte Lee is the President and Founder of Primo Artists, one of the world’s leading international artist management agencies.

    Based in New York, Primo Artists has a selective management roster comprising violinists Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Nicola Benedetti and Randall Goosby; pianists Beatrice Rana and Seong-Jin Cho; conductors Cristian Măcelaru, James Gaffigan, Gemma New and Christian Reif; and composers Wynton Marsalis, Valerie Coleman and Joel Thompson.

    Charlotte grew up playing the violin as Concertmaster of the New Jersey Youth Symphony before starting her career in the music business over 25 years ago at Universal Classics. She joined IMG Artists in 1998 and worked there for 17 years where she was Director of Orchestral Booking and a Senior Vice President managing artists such as Itzhak Perlman and Nicola Benedetti.

    In 2015, Charlotte founded Primo Artists which has established itself as one of the most modern agencies in the field and the only agency that offers artist management, social media management and public relations to artists and institutions around the world. Beyond its distinguished artist management roster, Primo Artists handles PR representation for Lincoln Center, Sphinx Organization, American Composers Orchestra and many composers, instrumentalists, vocalists and ensembles.

    An active advocate, Charlotte is also the founder and leader of the Performing Arts Managers and Agents Coalition and was a principal in leading the U.S. industry-wide lobbying effort that led to the enactment of the Shuttered Venue Operators Grants program, providing $16.5 Billion in relief, the largest public rescue of the arts and entertainment industry in U.S. history.

    Charlotte received the 2022 Western Arts Alliance Service Award in recognition of her advocacy, contributions and leadership on the Shuttered Venues Operators Grant. Musical America twice named Charlotte a “Top 30 Professional of the Year”: In the 2015 Inaugural Edition recognizing influencers in the classical music business and in the 2021 Edition applauding heroes of the industry who saved the day during the pandemic.

    Elizabeth Askren

    Conductor and HIWC Alumna & Faculty – The Dallas Opera

    Elizabeth Askren
    Elizabeth Askren

    Praised for “inspiring virtuosic achievements from the pit” (Opera Today) and “palpable happiness” (Le Monde) from the artists with whom she collaborates, Elizabeth Askren empowers musicians around the world as a conductor, educator, and cultural activist.

    An OPERA America 2024 Opera Grant winner, Askren performs regularly with leading opera houses and orchestras, including The Dallas Opera, with which she enjoys a privileged relationship, and Hawaii Opera Theatre, of which she is the company’s first ever Principal Guest Conductor. She is also the Music Director of Paola Prestini and Brenda Shaughnessey’s Sensorium Ex, a Ford Foundation-funded multi-modal opera exploring issues at the intersection of AI, disability, and the human voice. Askren is the Founder and Artistic Director of Transylvanian Opera Academy (TOA), Romania’s first opera studio. Created in 2017, TOA has been featured on national television, radio, and press while partnering with the Paris Opera’s Academy, TEDx, and Opera for Peace. She is also the creator and host of MaestraMagic!, a children’s edutainment series distributed by The Dallas Opera.

    A master teacher at both The Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute and at the Paris Opera’s Academy, Askren made history by judging the Paris Philharmonic’s inaugural La Maestra Competition for Women Conductors. She is invited regularly to speak about leading and entrepreneurship in the arts, mentoring young artists, and cultivating humanity in the age of AI through outlets including PBS Newshour, NPR, Radio France Internationale, and The Ford Foundation/How Institute.

    Nicole Paiement

    Nicole Paiement
    Nicole Paiement

    Nicole Paiement has gained an international reputation as a conductor of contemporary music and opera. Her numerous recordings include many world premiere works.

    Maestro Paiement’s 2012 Dallas Opera debut conducting Peter Maxwell Davies’ 1979 thriller, The Lighthouse earned rave reviews. Subsequently, Paiement was appointed Principal Guest Conductor at The Dallas Opera. Paiement has since returned to Dallas to conduct performances of Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers, as well as the critically acclaimed and highly anticipated world premiere of Joby Talbot’s opera Everest, Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and Douglas Cuomo’s Arjuna’s Dilemma. In 2018, Paiement conducted the US premiere of Michel Van Der Aa’s Sunken Garden and most recently in 2022 conducted Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers.

    Founder and Artistic Director of San Francisco’s Opera Parallèle, Paiement has conducted many new productions, including: world premieres of Lou Harrison’s final version of Young Caesar, Dante De Silva’s commissioned opera Gesualdo, Prince of Madness (presented as a graphic opera), Luciano Chessa’s commissioned opera A Heavenly Act, the commissioned chamber version of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby, the premiere of the re-orchestration of Terence Blanchard’s Champion in collaboration with SFJAZZ Center; West Coast premieres of John Rea’s re-orchestration of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck and Philip Glass’ Orphée; Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts; Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar; Francis Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias; Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel; American Premieres of Adam Gorb’s Anya 17 and Tarik O’Regan’s Heart of Darkness; the San Francisco Bay Area return of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking; a new production of Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse; Philip Glass’ Les Enfants Terribles; and Jonathan Dove’s Flight.  In 2017/18 Paiement conducted a new double bill of Jake Heggie’s At the Statue of Venus and Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti in collaboration with SFJAZZ, as well as Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince. Opera Parallèle made its debut at Phillip Glass’ Days & Nights Festival in the 2018/19 season with Glass’ In the Penal Colony. That season also featured Paiement conducting the world premiere performances of Today it Rains, a commissioned opera by Laura Kaminsky based on the life of Georgia O’Keeffe, and the return of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince. In 2021, Paiement was conductor for the company’s groundbreaking film project, Everest – A Graphic Novel Opera. The 2021/22 season saw Paiement lead the West Coast premiere of Lembit Beecher’s Sophia’s Forest, and complete Glass’ Cocteau trilogy with a new production of La Belle et La Bête at SFJAZZ.

    Ms. Paiement is a very active guest conductor. In 2019, she made her debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago with Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, as well as performances with the Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival (2016 – 2018) and a debut at Seattle Opera with Mason Bates’ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. Other prior engagements include Talbot’s Everest with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Puts’ Silent Night at The Atlanta Opera and Washington National Opera for the world premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’s The Dictator’s Wife. In 2019 Paiement also conducted the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s If I Were You with Merola Opera Program, San Francisco. Mo. Paiement made her debut at Opéra de Montréal with the Canadian premiere of Benjamin’s Written on Skin in January 2020 and with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in November 2020.

    In 2022, Mo. Paiement returned to The Dallas Opera for a new production of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, and made her UK premiere with the English National Opera conducting It’s a Wonderful Life by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer. Paiement also returned to the UK in June 2023 to conduct Talbot’s Everest with the BBC Symphony at the Barbican Center, London. Also in the 2022/23 season Mo. Paiement returned to L’Opéra de Montréal with Ainadamar by Golijov and made her concert debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo, Italy. For Opera Parallèle, Paiement conducted the premiere of a new chamber orchestration of the Moravec/Campbell opera The Shining in June 2023.

    The 2023/2024 season will include the world premiere of The Emissary (by Kenji Oh & Kelley Rourke) with Opera Parallèle in October 2023  followed by Birds & Balls at SFJAZZ in April 2024. Paiement also returns to the Dallas Opera in March 2024 for Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, as well as a debut with the Volksoper Vienna in June 2024, conducting both a symphonic concert and The Gospel According to the Other Mary by John Adams. Paiement will also return to L’Opéra de Montréal in the 2024/25 Season.

    Paiement has served as the Artistic Director of the BluePrint Project at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) where she has commissioned, premiered, and recorded works from many living American composers. At SFCM, she holds the Jean and Josette Deleage Distinguished Chair in New Music. Paiement previously served as the Director of Ensembles at the University of California – Santa Cruz (UCSC), where she was awarded the UCSC Eminent Professor Award in 2014. She received the Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professorship in 2015 in recognition of her outstanding contributions and achievement in artistic scholarship and teaching.

    Paiement was awarded American Composer’s Forum’s “Champion of New Music Award” for her outstanding contributions to contemporary music in 2016. In addition to being a leader in the world of contemporary opera, Ms. Paiement is also a specialist in early 20th Century French music and regularly conducts music from the Baroque and Classical repertoire.

     

    Mariana Fonseca

    Mariana Fonseca is a culture focused executive leader in Digital and Marketing. Most recently she served as Vice President of Digital Customer Experience and Loyalty at Virgin Voyages where she team responsible for curating the most irresistible digital experience of any travel brand to support driving growth and brand loyalty.

    Born in Mexico City, Mariana was always drawn to interests and industries dominated by men. While attending the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, she was one of only five women in her Civil Engineering class and upon graduation, she was one of just a very few women working in construction.

    Mariana later graduated with an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. While there, she served as president of the Hispanic Club and was named a recipient of the Mary S. Rosenthal Outstanding Female Student Award. In 2010, she joined American Airlines and has since held leadership positions in finance, alliance strategy, corporate planning and technology.

    At both American Airlines and Virgin Voyages, Mariana has developed a reputation as a champion of impactful results. Responsible for transforming the airline’s digital and delivery practices, she was also hyper-focused on driving adoption of a product culture and empowering teams to be more customer-centric.

    Creating opportunities for others – especially women of color – remains an important part of Mariana’s story. Since 2014, she’s served on the Corporate Advisory Board of Notre Dame’s Mendoza School of Business. She also sat on the Audit Committee for
    the Texas Women’s Foundation and on the Board of the Dallas Opera. Through those positions she advocated for hiring diversity, advancement and representation.

    Mariana and her husband, Pablo, live in Aventura, FL. They have three children: Paula, Mateo and Sabina.

    Carlo Montanaro

    Founder of OperaWebinar and Music Director at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw from 2011 to 2014, Italian conductor Carlo Montanaro was discovered by Zubin Mehta, who recommanded him to the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, where he improved his skills under Leopold Hager, Erwin Acél and Yugi Yuasa for three years.

    Since 2001, Montanaro has conducted opera and concerts in major venues including Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Fondazione Arena in Verona, Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Teatro Comunale in Florence, Fondazione Arturo Toscanini in Parma and Teatro Verdi in Trieste (a collaboration which led to a Japanese tour with the Orchestra). Titles included Lucia di Lammermoor, Nabucco, Aida, Tosca, La Sonnambula, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Madama Butterfly and La Bohème.

    He conducted two works in the 2004-2005 season at Teatro Comunale in Florence, as well as various symphonic concerts with Fondazione Arena Verona, Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana, Teatro Cilea in Reggio Calabria and Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He conducted Il Trovatore and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the State Opera of Stuttgart, as well as Il Barbiere di  Siviglia with Fondazione Arturo Toscanini.

    Highlights between 2006 and 2008 include a great public and critical success conducting Un Ballo in Maschera with the Israeli Opera of Tel Aviv (new production), his American debut in Colorado with Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, I Dialoghi delle Carmelitane in Bilbao to great critical acclaim, and Madama Butterfly at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

    In 2008 he made his debut at La Scala with La Traviata, and he opened the Macerata Summer Festival with Carmen directed by Dante Ferretti. He conducted Il Corsaro at Festival Verdi in Parma and made his debut at Hercules Halle in Munich in a concert with the Weimar Staatskapelle and Erwin Schrott.

    His 2009 opened with Madama Butterfly at the New National Theatre in Tokyo, followed by his return to Opera Colorado in Denver for Così fan tutte and a highly praised new production of Simone Boccanegra at Megaron in Athens, where he was then invited again to conduct Aida. He opened the 2009/10 Season at Canadian Opera conducting a new production of Madama Butterfly, and he conducted Mefistofele in Frankfurt, Verdi’s Requiem at Musikverein in Graz, Roméo et Juliette in Verona, La Traviata in Munich and Aida in Hamburg with great reviews from public and critics.

    In 2011 he debuted with Carmen at Semperoper Dresden to great success, and he was reinvited to conduct Il Barbiere di Siviglia and a new production of Un Ballo in Maschera. Further highlights: Don Quichotte and Attila at Seattle Opera, a new production of Turandot in Warsaw, Lucia di Lammermoor in Bilbao, Aida, Manon Lescaut, Turandot and Macbeth in Hamburg, La Bohème at Teatro Comunale di Firenze, L’Amico Fritz and a new production of Adriana Lecouvreur in Frankfurt, La Traviata in Warsaw and in Cincinnati.

    In September 2012 he returned to Musikverein in Graz to conduct a concert version of Verdi’s Giovanna D’Arco, and since then he conducted Falstaff in Hamburg, Tosca and L’Elisir d’Amore in Munich, Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Tokyo, Don Carlo, Verdi’s Requiem and Turandot in Warsaw, La Bohème in Seattle, Don Carlo in Frankfurt, Il Corsaro in Budapest, Norma at the Festival in Peralada. In season 2013/14, Madama Butterfly in Nagoya and Hamburg, La Traviata in Oviedo, La Bohème in Budapest, The Consul in Seattle, a concert version of Attila in Warsaw, Carmen, L’Elisir d’Amore and Tosca in Munich, Tosca and Il Trovatore at the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg, as well as concerts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra del Santa Cecilia in Rome.

    In season 14/15 he successfully debuted at Opéra Bastille in Paris with Il Barbiere di Siviglia. After that, he was on the podiums of the Hungarian National Philharmonic (Verdi’s Requiem) and Seattle Symphony for a series of concerts. He then conducted a new production of La Fanciulla del West in Hamburg, Rigoletto and La Traviata in Warsaw, Mefistofele in Budapest, Simon Boccanegra in Frankfurt, Rossini’s Stabat Mater in Budapest and Pécs, Nabucco in Seattle.

    Highlights in the recent seasons include the debut at Opéra de Monte-Carlo (Tosca), at Korean National Opera (Tosca and La Bohème), at Sydney Opera House (La Bohème, Lucia di Lammermoor and Werther) and at San Francisco Opera (Carmen and La Bohème), as well as Rigoletto and Madama Butterfly at Warsaw Opera, Maria Stuarda, Madama Butterfly, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto and L’Elisir d’Amore in Seattle, a new production of Rigoletto in Frankfurt, La Traviata at Dallas Opera and in Melbourne, Lucia di Lammermoor at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Rigoletto at Opéra de Montréal, Un Ballo in Maschera at the Hungarian State Opera, La Traviata and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Opéra de Paris, La Bohème at Hamburgische Staatsoper, La Traviata and Nabucco at Deutsche Oper.

    In concert, he appeared with Cincinnati Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and he conducted Mozart’s Requiem at Teatro Regio di Parma.

    Most recently he conducted Il Turco in Italia and Lucia di Lammermoor with Teatro di San Carlo, Ernani, La Juive and Madama Butterfly with Opera Australia, Tosca with Opéra de Paris, Les contes d’Hoffmann with ABAO Olbe. In concert, he made his debut with the Fort Worth SymphonyOrchestra.
    Future engagements include Madama Butterfly at Palm Beach Opera, Nabucco at the Deutsche Oper, La traviata at Seattle Opera, Tosca at Oper Frankfurt.