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    Barbara Dragan

    Poland

    Barbara Dragan born into a family of scientists and engineers, started playing the violin at age five and graduated from a music high school 13 years later. While studying violin and oboe, she passed her final exams in advanced mathematics and physics. She is currently studying with Prof. Steven Sloane and Harry Curtis at the Universität der Künste Berlin (International Conducting Academy). Prior to her studies there, she was a student at the Frédéric Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Dragan has taken part in many masterclasses, including those led by Colin Metters, Jorma Panula, Sian Edwards, and Antony Hermus. She is an award recipient of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship (TACF) and the German DAAD Scholarship. Dragan has conducted several professional orchestras, such as the Magdeburgische Philharmonie, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Bochumer Symphoniker, Polish Radio Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Vienna Festival Orchestra, Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Beethoven’s Academy Orchestra, Zagreb Chamber Orchestra and Frédéric Chopin University of Music Symphony Orchestra.

     

    Chelsea Gallo

    USA

    Chelsea Gallo, currently a Detroit resident, debuted during the 2019/2020 season with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where she has also been engaged as cover conductor, assisting visiting conductors and presenting pre-concert lectures. Additionally, Gallo is the music director of the Detroit Community Orchestra and conducting faculty for the various training programs of the Wu Family Academy. Recently, she was a winner of the prestigious Turn the Spotlight Fellowship and became music director of the University of Michigan Life Sciences Orchestra. She has undertaken guest appearances with the Slovak Sinfonietta, Hartford Opera, and Lithuania State Symphony, among other ensembles. While pursuing her conducting degree in Vienna, Austria, Gallo was music director of the Cosmos Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble selected to assist NASA with artistic missions including the Orion EFT-1 launch and the Hubble Space Telescope 25th Anniversary Celebrations.

    Elinor Rufeizen

    Israel

    Elinor Rufeizen, both a conductor and a clarinetist, recently graduated from The Juilliard School with a master’s degree in orchestral conducting. She has appeared in New York at Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, and the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre; in Cleveland at Severance Hall; and in Paris at the Cité de la Musique. Her 2019/2020 engagements included debuts conducting The Juilliard Orchestra, Metropolis Ensemble, and St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. A 2020 semi-finalist at the Siemens Hallé International Conductors Competition, Rufeizen was also a finalist for a position as assistant conductor for the Dallas and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras. She has served as an assistant conductor for John Adams, Barbara Hannigan and Marin Alsop, and was invited to participate in the Tanglewood Music Festival. She is a recipient of the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship and Charles Schiff Conducting Award. Rufeizen studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

    Susannah Wapshott

    United Kingdom

    Susannah Wapshott studied Music at Manchester University, followed by scholarships to the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. She began working at Scottish Opera as a junior répéiteur in 2008 and is now on the permanent music staff, having worked on more than 40 productions. She made her conducting debut with Carmina Burana at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has since been assistant conductor at Scottish Opera for Katya Kabanova, Greek, The Trial, Orfeo ed Euridice, and Macbeth, and music director/pianist for the critically acclaimed small-scale tours of Carmen, La traviata, Rodelinda, and Macbeth. Also, as Scottish Opera’s associate chorus master, she has prepared the chorus for Rigoletto, Edgar, The Marriage of Figaro, L’amico Fritz, Il trovatore, and Orfeo ed Euridice (BBC Radio 3 broadcast). Wapshott was recently appointed music director for the Helensburgh Oratorio Choir and was invited to conduct the Grampian Youth Orchestra. She was music director for Edinburgh Grand Opera (2014-2017), conducting L’elisir d’amore and La bohème.

    Jenna Wolf

    Jenna Wolf is currently the Publicity and Digital Media Manager at Lenny’s Studio, a renowned female-founded public relations and digital firm, which collaborates with an acclaimed roster of artists and organizations. Previously, she worked in Development and External Relations for Minnesota Opera, and has consulted on fundraising and communications strategies with arts organizations throughout the United States. Jenna was an inaugural member of Arts Midwest’s Future Leaders Network, and has served on the board of the Tempo Young Professionals Organization. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, and a Master’s degree in Music from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, both in Horn Performance.

    Dmitry Vdovin

    Dmitry Vdovin, founder and artistic director of the Bolshoi Theatre Young Artist Program since 2009, is hailed as the world’s leading vocal coach. He was artistic director and teacher at the Moscow International School of Vocal Art which made it possible for leading opera teachers and specialists from Russia, USA, Italy, Germany and Great Britain to come to Moscow to work with the most talented young singers. He has also been resident guest teacher at the Houston Grand Opera Young Artists Program (HGO Studio) and Opernhaus Zürich. He is regularly asked to serve as a jury member on international music competitions. Among his students are leading soloists in the greatest opera houses, such as the Bolshoi, La Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, amongst others.