The Dallas Opera

  • My Cart
  • Contact
    • Home > Hart Institute

    Emily Senturia

    (USA)

    Ms. Senturia made her mainstage debut with Houston Grand Opera in 2018 conducting Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, followed by her Kennedy Center debut leading the same opera for Washington National Opera. In the summer of 2018 she makes her West Coast debut leading Mata Hari for West Edge Opera. Emily Senturia will make her Hawaii Opera Theatre debut in the spring of 2019 leading La traviata. After graduating from the Houston Grand Opera  Studio, Ms. Senturia joined the HGO music staff during which time she conducted performances of L’elisir d’amore, The Little Prince, and The Magic Flute. Recently, Ms. Senturia has been on the music staff at The Atlanta Opera (Sweeney Todd), Opera Philadelphia (O17 Festival and O18 Festival), and at Wolf Trap Opera where she has conducted two Studio Spotlight programs.

     

    2018 Hart Institute Concert Performance Selections

    Maria Sensi Sellner

    USA

    Maria Sensi Sellner is recognized for her artistry and versatility as a conductor of opera, orchestras, and choruses. Praised as “mightily impressive,” she was the first three-time winner of the American Prize for Opera Conducting and serves as the Artistic & General Director of Resonance Works Pittsburgh, which she founded in 2013. Recent engagements include the Center for Contemporary Opera, Syracuse Opera, Symphoria, Hubbard Hall Opera, cover conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (assisting Manfred Honeck, Sir Mark Elder), and conducting staff for the world premiere of David Lang’s “the public domain” at Lincoln Center.  Previous positions include Acting Music Director of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh (chorus for the Pittsburgh Symphony), interim faculty at Carnegie Mellon University, and Director of the Akron Symphony Chorus.

     

    2018 Hart Institute Concert Performance Selections

    Audrey Saint-Gil

    France/USA

    French conductor, Audrey Saint-Gil graduated summa cum laude in solo piano concurrent with her PhD in Greek Philosophy. Her career and operatic passion began at the Théâtre du Capitôle, Toulouse, followed by appointments as Head Vocal Coach of the Ecole Normale, Paris and as assistant conductor to Bertrand de Billy in Vienna. A US resident since 2007, Ms Saint-Gil was engaged as assistant conductor at NYCO, WNO, Cincinnati and Ravinia Festivals, and frequently with LA Opera alongside James Conlon and Plácido Domingo. She is the French Opera specialist at Philadelphia’s AVA and guest vocal coach at the ROH, Covent Garden and Bayerische Staatsoper. Current projects include conducting La Traviata, Narnia Festival, Italy; Bizet at HGO and recitals in Salzburg, Copenhagen and San Francisco with her partner, Christopher Maltman.

     

    2018 Hart Institute Concert Performance Selections

    Sarah Penicka-Smith

    Australia

    Dr. Sarah Penicka-Smith is a freelance conductor and vocal coach. She is Director of Music at St Andrew’s College, Principal Conductor with Macquarie Singers, Artistic Director of Opera Prometheus and Pacific Pride Choir, and a partner of Penicka-Smith Arts & Event Management, along with her wife Melanie.  From 2005-2017, Sarah was Music Director of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir, where she worked on a range of pioneering projects. She has worked with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs since 2005 as a chorusmaster and workshop presenter, and conducted orchestras that include the University of Sydney Intercol Orchestra, Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, Kuringai Philharmonic Orchestra, and Penrith Symphony Orchestra. Sarah is an alumna of the Symphony Australia Conductor Development Program and holds a PhD from the University of Sydney.

     

    2018 Hart Institute Concert Performance Selections

    Priscila Bomfim

    Brazil

    Priscila Bomfim is Assistant Conductor and Pianist at Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, and was the first woman to conduct in this Opera season. Worked at Bidu Sayão Opera Academy, preparing young opera singers in this theater, Ms. Bomfim also performed concertos with the Orquestra Sinfônica da Bahia, with Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile, Youth Symphony Orchestra of Saint Petersburg, Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais, and Orquestras Sinfônicas de Santo André e Cesgranrio, under the guidance of renowned conductors.  As a pianist, Ms. Bomfim has performed with international artists and singers. Priscila was born in Portugal, where she won her first piano contest as a nine-year- old child. She graduated and achieved her Master’s degree at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

     

    2018 Hart Institute Concert Performance Selections

    Sonia Ben-Santamaria

    France/United Kingdom

    Sonia Ben-Santamaria is the first female conductor to be associated with the Royal Opera House Jette Parkers young artists programme 2017/2018. Highlights of her season includes shadowing Sir Antonio Pappano on Shostakovitch’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, leading the Youth Opera Company chorus on Barrie Kosky’s Carmen and conducting the presentation of The Monstrous Child. Originally Spanish but French born, Sonia trained at the Conservatoire de Toulouse, the Royal Academy of Music, the National Opera Studio, London, and was subsequently offered a position at the English National Opera as trainee repetiteur and vocal coach.  Sonia is the proud founder of Glass Ceiling Orchestra, a socially engaged chamber orchestra which promotes equal opportunities, female conductors and composers. Future engagements include Un Ballo in Maschera for Opera Holland Park.

     

    2018 Hart Institute Concert Performance Selections