Intensive Opera Audition Training Masterclass with Prof. Cheryl Studer

Cheryl Studer is a Grammy Award winning American dramatic soprano who has sung at many of the world's major opera houses. Studer has performed more than eighty roles ranging from the dramatic repertoire to roles more commonly associated with lyric sopranos and coloratura sopranos, and, in her late stage, mezzo-sopranos. She is most admired for her interpretations of the works of Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner. Since October 2003, Cheryl Studer has a lifetime professorship from the Bavarian State and teaches at the University of Music in Würzburg. She is also honorary Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Cheryl Studer conducts a yearly series of Master Classes and opera workshops at her own North Aegean Music Festival in the island of Lesbos, Greece. Studer conducts Master Classes internationally (USA, Greece, South Korea, China, Spain, Italy and Germany) and is often jury member for voice competitions, including the Concurso Internacional de Canto Julián Gayarre, ARD Wettbewerb, Maria Callas Grand Prix, and Internationale Schubert-Wettbewerb Dortmund.

Janice Alder-Alford, Mezzo Soprano, A.R.C.M.: Voice Studio, Training in Body Work & Style made her debut at the Vienna State Opera at only 24 years old. Here she performed many comprimario roles being chosen to sing Bersi in the new production of Andre Chenier with Placido Domingo and Gabriella Beneckovacap. Contracts followed for the Salzburg Festival, also for Decca in a recording with Mirella Freni and Renata Scotto (Norma - Bellini). Later her repertoire included Brangaene, Octavian, Amneris and Carmen in theatres eg. Dortmund, Straßbourg, and Paris. She also worked with such producers as John Dew, Phillipo Sanjust and Jean Claude Martinoty and conductors Nello Santi, Horst Stein, and Sir Charles Mackerras. Janice began her studies at the Royal College of Music, London and continued it with a scholarship in Vienna with Christa Ludwig and Erik Werba. Prior to signing her studio contract with the Vienna State Opera, she won prizes at the ARD-Competition in Munich and Concours International de Chant de Paris in France. Participation in the masterclasses gave her contact not only with Herbert von Karajan and Mario del Monaco but also with Janet Baker, Pierre Bernac, Hannelore Kuhse and Giulietta Simionato. Her repertoire has been performed in many major concert halls e.g. the Royal Albert Hall, London, Musik Verein Vienna, and the Philharmonie, Berlin. Due to a serious riding accident, Janice's operatic career was curtailed. Through the understanding of the singer's professional life, she has developed to a sought-after vocal teacher based in Berlin. Together with her husband, Jonathan Alder, she has been giving masterclasses since 1995 (in Walter Kaminsky Stiftung, Munich particularly). She is on the board for the German National Singing Competition.

Jonathan Alder, BA Cambridge, Pianist began his career in music as a boy soprano at Westminster Abbey, London. He studied not only piano, but also horn, singing, later as a counter-tenor, and composition. Having completed his studies at the Kings College, Cambridge, he gained a place for Piano Accompaniment at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London. Here he won the Overseas League Prize for accompaniment. Over the years he has become an accompanist with an international reputation. He has regularly performed with such artists as Christa Ludwig, Lucia Popp, Placido Domingo, Hans Sotin, Francisco Araiza, Gwyneth Jones, Pierre Fournier, and Viktor Tretjakow. Concerts have taken him throughout Europe, Asia, and America. He has been sought after for many Festival appearances such as Baden-Baden, Verona, Cervantino (Mexico) Salzburg and Hohenems. Numerous radio and CD recordings prove his high reputation. In 1989, he was offered a professorship for Lied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and in 1993 at the Universität der Künste, Berlin. Since 1989, Jonathan Alder has been performing regularly with the Berlin members of the philharmonic orchestra – not only with Sir Simon Rattle but also Claudio Abbado.

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