Guest Artists
The Bellingham Festival Orchestra is comprised of principal players from major American and European orchestras and exceptional musicians from other local, regional and national ensembles. We are fortunate to have this assemblage of talent as our resident Festival orchestra. These talented artists will also present chamber music and perform as soloists with the orchestra during the Festival.
| WILIAM STONE , Baritone | MARIANE COPE , Soprano | |
| JEFFREY SPRINGER , Tenor | MAYA HOOVER, Mezzo-Soprano | |
| MICHAEL DELOS , Bass-Baritone | ARNALDO COHEN , Piano |
WILIAM STONE , Baritone
William Stone has an international reputation as a singer of opera, oratorio and art song. A distinguished and highly acclaimed concert artist, Mr. Stone is frequently engaged by major opera companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, La Scala, Opéra Bastille and Theatre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels.
As a soloist, he has been featured with the major symphony orchestras of this country, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.
His relationship as concert soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Robert Shaw resulted in acclaimed performances and recordings of the great choral masterworks, including two Grammy Award-winning recordings:
Paul Hindemith’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed, and William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. Stone’s success as a voice teacher matches his outstanding artistic accomplishments as performer. He has taught concert and operatic repertoire in both studio and university settings, including an appointment at the University of Illinois. He is a also a highly respected master class teacher for singers at all levels from high school students to professional artists. In fall 2005, while continuing to pursue his performance career, William Stone joined the faculty of Temple University as Professor of Voice. A native of North Carolina, Stone graduated from Duke University and received his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.
This is Mr. Stone’s first appearance at the Bellingham Festival of Music.
MARIANE COPE , Soprano
American soprano Marianne Cope has been appearing in recent seasons to great critical acclaim and audience appeal alike. The Palm Beach Daily News recently described her as “a show stopper…sumptuous tone and beautiful pianissimos…exquisite control and extremely expressive vocalism.”
During the 2007-2008 opera season, she performed Liù in Turandot and Marzelline in Fidelio with the Palm Beach Opera, Yvette in La Rondine wuth Sarasota Opera. Also for Sarasota Opera, Marianne stepped in on opening night of Verdi’s I Due Foscari as cover Lucrezia for the third act, for which Herald-Tribune critic Richard Storm praised her “unflappable professionalism, considerable acting ability and a rich voice that soared easily over the orchestra in the final moments of this thrilling score.” Another recent highlight of Marianne’s career was winning first prize in the 2007 Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition.
In the concert and oratorio platform, her credits include a ten concert Christmas series and Mozart’s Requiem with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas.
Ms. Cope earned her BM from Indiana University and her MM from University of North Texas, both in Vocal Performance. She now resides in New York. This is Ms. Cope’s first appearance at the Bellingham Festival of Music.
This is Ms. Cope’s first appearance at the Bellingham Festival of Music.
JEFFREY SPRINGER , Tenor
Known for his warm timbre, ringing high C’s and captivating stage presence, Jeff rey S pringer is one of America’s busiest young dramatic tenors. Springer has performed across Europe and North America in theaters such as the Florida Grand Opera in Miami, Detroit’s Michigan Opera Theater, the German National Theater in Mannheim, Krefeld, Mönchengladbach, and Magdeburg in Germany, National Touring Opera of the Netherlands, Opéra de Nantes in France, Spain’s Teatro de Navarra, Tulsa Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Arizona Opera, Connecticut Opera, Manitoba Opera, and the Opera Theatre of St. Louis among others.
On the concert stage, Mr. Springer has appeared with leading orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Flagstaff Symphony, The Grand Teton Music Festival, Kentucky Symphony, Tulsa Philharmonic, Philharmonia Hungaria and Romanian State Symphony.
A graduate of Indiana University, Jeffrey Springer moved into the tenor repertoire under the instruction of the legendary heldentenor, James King.
In 2002, Mr. Springer created the role of Sacco in the much acclaimed world premiere of Anton Coppola’s Sacco and Vanzetti.
This is Mr. Springer’s first appearance at the Bellingham Festival of Music. Jeffrey Springer is represented by Columbia Artists Management Inc.
MAYA HOOVER, Mezzo-Soprano
A leading scholar and researcher of Latin American art song, mezzo-soprano Maya H oover is an active performer, teacher, clinician, music education philosopher, and author.
Her accomplishments in performance and teaching, including a long-time collaboration with pianist José Meléndez, have earned invitations to appear internationally, and led to collaborations with some of today’s leading composers.
Ms. Hoover has performed in Colombia, Bolivia, Italy, Hungary, and Peru, in addition to numerous venues in the United States. In June, she appeared at the Latin American Music Festival in Colorado as the featured soloist in three performances of Osvaldo Golijov’s Oceana.
On the operatic and concert stage, Ms. Hoover has sung roles from Xerxes (Xerxes) to Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly), and has appeared with orchestras in works from Bach to Babbitt.
Maya Hoover holds a Doctor of Music degree in Voice Performance and Literature with a minor in Music Education from Indiana University, a Master of Music degree from Westminster Choir College, a Bachelor of Music degree with a minor in Italian Language and Literature from Binghamton University, and she continues her studies with Virginia Zeani. In August 2007, Hoover joined the distinguished faculty of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
This is Ms. Hoover’s first appearance at the Bellingham Festival of Music.
MICHAEL DELOS , Bass-Baritone
With a repertoire of over 40 operatic roles, bass-baritone Michael D elos has appeared with the New York City Opera, L’Opera de Monte Carlo, Chicago Opera Theater, Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, Hawaii Opera and Vancouver (BC) Opera among others.
Mr. Delos has sung with the Detroit Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Calgary Symphony as well as the Toyko Nihon and the Osaka Symphonies in Japan. He also has appeared as a featured soloist with the prestigious Carmel Bach Festival.
During the course of his career, Mr. Delos has worked with such composers as Ned Rorem, Gian-Carlo Menotti, Peter Hallock and Bern Herbolsheimer and taken part in several world premieres of contemporary American Song and Vocal Chamber compositions.
Michael Delos received his BMus from University of Puget Sound and has served on the Puget Sound voice faculty since the fall of 1997.
Mr. Delos also serves on the faculty of the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and is bass soloist with Temple Beth Am in Seattle.
This is Mr. Delos’ first appearance at the Bellingham Festival of Music.
ARNALDO COHEN , Piano
Brazilian-born pianist Arnaldo Cohen enjoys an increasingly successful career that has taken him to the major concert halls of Europe, North and South America. He has performed with the Royal Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome under such leading conductors as Kurt Masur, Yehudi Menuhin and Wolfgang Sawallish. Cohen’s recent North American performances have spanned the United States from Oregon to Florida and from Texas to Wisconsin. Highlights include engagements with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His demand as a recitalist continues with appearances at prestigious concert series including a critically acclaimed performance at New York’s Town Hall.
His 2007-2008 engagements include a return to the Philadelphia Orchestra, Milwaukee, Seattle and Utah Symphony, among others, in addition to recital engagements in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America.
Cohen came to prominence after winning First Prize at the 1972 Busoni International Piano Competition and making his debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. For five years he was a member of the acclaimed Amadeus Trio and has performed with many string quartets, including the Lindsay and Chillingirian Quartets.
He is a frequent recording artist, with recent discs including a 2007 rendering of the two piano concertos and the “Totentanz” of Franz Liszt with the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra for BIS Records. His other two CDs on the same label, an all-Liszt solo and his pioneering CD, “Three Centuries of Brazilian Music”, have also generated critical accolades. He has also recorded for Vox and Naxos.
Cohen began his musical studies at the age of five, graduating from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro with an honors degree in both piano and violin, continuing piano studies with Jacques Klein, a disciple of the legendary American pianist William Kapell. Cohen pursued further training in Vienna with Bruno Seidlhofer and Dieter Weber. After living in London for 23 years, where he was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, Cohen recently relocated to the United States with his wife Ann, to assume a professorship at Indiana University in Bloomington.
This is Mr. Cohen’s first appearance at the Bellingham Festival of Music.
Arnaldo Cohen is represented by Arts Management Group, Inc.
| 360 201-6621 | P.O. Box 818 | Bellingham WA 98227 |