José Luis Moscovich is an instructor for Opera DEI. He has been General Director of West Bay Opera since 2006. For the preceding decade he was music director and conductor of the San Francisco Camerata, the only professional orchestra in the US devoted exclusively to the music of Latin American composers. He was also principal guest conductor of the ARTEA Orchestra and the Bay Area Concerto Ensemble. He has also appeared with the Marin Chamber Orchestra, the UCSF Orchestra, the Nova Vista Orchestra, and a number of other ensembles. Recently, he has also conducted productions at Opera Santa Barbara and Opera Idaho. He has conducted West Bay Opera’s productions of Macbeth, Nabucco, Falstaff, Carmen, Fidelio, Norma, Salome, Il trittico, Despertar al sueño, Le nozze di Figaro, Madama Butterfly,Yevgeny Onegin, Faust, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Il trovatore, Die Zauberflöte, L'elisir d'amore, Tosca, Otello, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Samson et Dalila, Dido and Aeneas, La vida breve, Turandot, Der Freischütz, Orfeo ed Euridice, Der fliegende Holländer, Cavalleria rusticana, and Pagliacci .He has also conducted at the Teatro El Círculo opera house in Rosario, Argentina; taught master classes in opera performance in Beijing, China and at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and lectured for the Wagner Society of Northern California. He was assistant conductor of the San Francisco Choral Society. He wrote the libretto and conducted the premiere of Corpus Evita, an opera by Carlos Franzetti, later conducting the recording of that work for Amapola Records, nominated for a GRAMMY in 2005. His other recording with the Camerata is a CD of Latin American orchestral music, for Klavier Records. He was trained as a clarinetist and conductor in his native Argentina, where he studied at the National Conservatory in Rosario. Selected by the American Symphony Orchestra League, he also trained under Lorin Maazel, and Maurice Abravanel.
Richard Harrell is an instructor for Opera DEO. He has previously directed I due Foscari, Carmen, La traviata and Tosca for WBO. He currently serves as the Associate Director of the Orfeo Foundation, based in Amsterdam, which promotes the careers of young opera artists through career counseling, advanced training, and audition opportunities. He is also Director of Heroes’ Voices, a service organization that brings the healing power of music to veterans. Previously, he was the Director of the Juilliard Opera Center, the Director of the San Francisco Opera Center, Artistic Advisor and Head of Faculty for the Training Program of the New National Theatre in Tokyo, Artistic Consultant and Principal Stage Director for the Bangkok Opera, Director of the Opera Program for the San Francisco Conservatory and faculty for the Opera Studio of the Netherlands. He has been stage director for more than 60 productions for companies including the Bangkok Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, the Juilliard School, Opera Company of North Carolina, Opera Festival di Roma, Opera San Jose, Sacramento Opera, San Francisco Conservatory, the San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program. A frequent judge for vocal competitions, he annually adjudicates for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He has been a voice teacher, and guest Master Class instructor at universities and training programs including Yale, Indiana University, Polish National Opera Studio, Chautauqua Institution, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Opera Works, Loyola University, Mannes School of Music, and the University of Florida. Mr. Harrell performed as a soloist with such companies as the Washington Opera, Baltimore Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Skylight Opera Theatre, Lincoln Center Theatre Company, Opera Omaha, New Jersey Symphony, Wheeling Symphony, Richmond Symphony and National Symphony. He recordings include the role of Bernardo on the album of West Side Story conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
Hans Niewenhuis is a special advisor to Opera DEI. He was a resident stage director for the Netherlands Opera from 1977 -1984 and made his directing debut with this company with The Old Maid and the Thief (Menotti). His international career started in 1981 with the staging the USA premiere of Philip Glass’ Satyagraha for the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Art Park Festival (Lewiston, NY). He has directed more than 100 productions around the world.
For L’Opera de Nice he staged new productions of Il turco in Italia and Der Zigeunerbaron and for the Canadian Opera Company he directed The Return of Ulysses, The Tales of Hoffmann, La Traviata, Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame and several world premiere productions. He also worked extensively with the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble.
For San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program and Western Opera Theater he staged Carmen and The Magic Flute. Further credits include Salome for Opera Colorado, Fidelio for Opera Omaha, The Magic Flute for the Festival Auvers-sur-Oise(France), Bluebeards Castle for Yale Opera, Cabildo (composed by Amy Beach, 1932) for Lincoln Center and Die Fledermaus for the OK Mozart Festival (Oklahoma) and Opera McGill in Montreal. In Thailand he directed the world premiere of Ayodhya by Somtow Sucharitkul for the Bangkok Opera to international acclaim.
During the last three decades Hans Nieuwenhuis has devoted himself to aspiring young opera singers: he has taught and directed for the San Francisco Opera, Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Yale University, the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble in Toronto, the conservatories in Yinchuan and Chengdu in China,the Tchaikovsky Conservatorium in Moscow and Opera Studio of the National Theatre in Tokyo.
He has been a regular jury member at the Vienna Belvedere Competition, the Marmande Competition in France, the Arena di Verona Competition in Italy, the Jeunes Ambassaseurs Lyrique in Canada, the Klaudia Taev Competition in Estonia, the Young Singers Competition in Izmir, Turkey and several other international competitions.
Nieuwenhuis was founder and, from 1992-2011, General Director of Opera Studio Nederland. The Opera Studio, funded by the Dutch government, offered an extensive training program for a select group of young singers from around the world. Currently Mr. Nieuwenhuis is General Director of the Orfeo Foundation, an international organization established to promote collaboration between young artists programs around the world and to advising young opera singers.
In 2012 Hans Nieuwenhuis was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for his work in opera, theater and music.
José María Condemi is a special advisor to Opera DEI. His directorial work, which has been presented by companies in North America and abroad, encompasses an eclectic range of styles and repertoire and has been consistently praised for its creatively theatrical and innovative approach.
Notable engagements include Carmen, Madama Butterfly, Faust, Tosca, Così fan tutte, Un Ballo in Maschera and the world premiere of The Secret Garden (San Francisco Opera), Ernani and Tristan und Isolde (Lyric Opera Chicago), Aida (Houston Grand Opera), Luisa Miller (Canadian Opera Company), Orphee et Eurydice and La bohème (Seattle Opera), Frida (Michigan Opera Theater), Ainadamar and Don Giovanni (Cincinnati Opera), Tosca (L’Opera de Montreal), A Streetcar Named Desire (Kentucky Opera), Carmen (Central City Opera), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Atlanta Opera), Cendrillon and Rigoletto (New Orleans Opera), The Elixir of Love (Opera Theatre of Saint Louis), Maria Padilla (Minnesota Opera), Florencia en el Amazonas (Opera Colorado and Pittsburgh Opera), Simon Boccanegra (Teatro Colón/Buenos Aires), Tosca and María de Buenos Aires (Florida Grand Opera), La traviata (Wolftrap Opera) and Carmen (Lyric Opera of Kansas City.)
Mr. Condemi is in demand as a trainer of young artists and has been a master teacher and stage director for the San Francisco Opera Center, Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, Houston Grand Opera Studio, University of Cincinnati, Opera Theater of Lucca and the New National Theater Young Artists Programme in Tokyo. Originally from Argentina, Mr. Condemi received an undergraduate degree in Opera Stage Direction at the Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires) and completed a Master of Fine Arts in Directing at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He was also a first-time Adler Fellow in Stage Direction at the San Francisco Opera and a Fulbright Fellow. Upcoming directing engagements include new productions of Rigoletto (Central City Opera), Tosca (Cincinnati Opera) and Frida (Michigan Opera Theater)
Condemi is the Carol Franc Buck Distinguished Chair at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He was also the Artistic Director of Opera Santa Barbara from 2010 until 2015
Ragnar Conde is a special advisor to Opera DEI. He is the General Director of Escenia Ensamble, A. C., a performing arts company in Mexico City supported by the Mexican Government through México en Escena grants, since 2015. A native of México, he has produced and directed over 70 Performing Arts projects in México, United States, France, Switzerland, Italy and Columbia. Mr. Conde has served as teacher, coach and stage director in several institutions and companies that include SIVAM, ARGOS, Artepost Productions, San Benito Abad Theater, Universidad del Valle de México, Alas y Raíces para los niños, Nickelodeon, Artescenica, ITESM-CEM, National Fine Arts Opera Company, Zacatecas Opera Company, the Madrigalistas Choir, Solists Ensemble, Pro Opera, FIGAROSY, the Centro Histórico Children's Choir, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, West Bay Opera, Golden Ceiba Productions, Mobile Productions, Morela Opera Company, Xcaret Park, Skylight Music Theatre, Pro-Musica and Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra. In film, he is the co-writer of Sin Retorno, an international feature film (Mexico-Colombia), where he worked also as Acting Coach and Second Assistant. He also worked as Acting Coach in Balls, a Colombian feature film. Mr. Conde also adapted the script for the film Siete Años de Matrimonio, featured in Mexico in 2012, and wrote the script for the film Enamorándome de Abril. Mr. Conde has taught classes in acting, dance, corporal expression and arts. He has extensive experience working with children in professional staging for theatre, opera and concerts, and in coaching acting with opera singers. He has also worked in design, production management and stage management in several national and international projects. Mr. Conde was the Appretince Stage Director selected for the Merola Opera Program for 2011 at San Francisco Opera Center. He worked as stage director in the world premiere of Viva Verdi in 2012, the 200 years celebration of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth, at the Hallenstadion, Zürich, under the artistic advice of Lofti Mansouri.
Niels Muus is a special advisor to Opera DEI. He is a Viennese conductor with Danish and American roots. He was a principal conductor at the Tiroler Landestheater, Innsbruck and conductor and casting director at the Volksoper Wien. Recognized as an expert in the field of opera, Niels Muus has conducted some major productions worldwide. Among others, notable was a televised production by RAI of Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'amore", Rossini`s "L`Assedio di Corinto" for the Culture Olympics in Greece and Dvorak's "Rusalka" for the international H.C. Andersen Year in Moscow.
Niels Muus is an internationally renowned specialist for the music of W.A.Mozart. He is currently co- director of the MOZART PROJECT – an annual collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a symphonic conductor, Niels Muus has given performances in concert halls such as Berliner Philharmonie, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Academia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Chicago Symphony Hall, National Arts Center Ottawa, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Tokyo Opera City.
Since 2013 Niels Muus is professor and director of the international highly prestigious OperaMasters Program at the MUK (Musik and Art University Vienna).
He gives regularly master classes with institutions such as Conservatorio Monteverdi (Bolzano), Netherlands Opera Studio (Amsterdam), Opera Studio New National Theater Tokyo, Opera Academy Korean National Opera, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava and State Opera of Stara Zagora.
Our productions are made possible, in part, by the generous support of our key partners:
