SOLOISTS

Soprano Gail Springer performs in both classical and contemporary realms. A regular soloist with Serenata of Santa Fe, she has also appeared as soloist with Canticum Novum, Santa Fe Pro Musica, the Desert Chorale, and the Santa Fe Symphony, and has premiered and performed new works by Ron Strauss, Jeanne Singer, Kelvin McNeal, Kevin Zoernig, and Bruce Odland, among others. She can be heard on a recent recording of Ron Strauss' composition, Matapolvos: Suite for Soprano, English Horn, Viola and Cello, with text by Eduardo Galeanno. Ms. Springer is Professor of Performing Arts at the College of Santa Fe, and has served as music director for over twenty-five productions at the Greer Garson Theater.

Mezzo-soprano Monika Cosson-Sheppard has appeared with the New Orleans Opera, Gulf Coast Opera, and the Santa Fe Opera.  She has toured and recorded with the Gregg Smith Singers in New York and performed and recorded with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale.  She has also been a featured soloist with the Santa Fe Community Orchestra, Canticum Novum Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Fe Men's Camerata, the Sangre de Cristo Chorale, and Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico.  A resident of Santa Fe, she is an active member of the Church of the Holy Faith, serving as soprano section leader with the choir, cantor for Taizé Services, and director of the Royal School of Church Music Children's Choir.  Ms. Cosson-Sheppard is a student of Nina Hinson.

Tenor Andre Garcia-Nuthmann is the Coordinator of Music and Theater at New Mexico Highlands University, where he has taught since 1990. He has sung frequently with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale and has been a soloist with the Santa Fe Symphony and Santa Fe Pro Musica. His numerous opera roles include Lenski in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Vasek in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, and Alcino in Arthur Benjamin’s The Prima Donna. In 2007 he sang the role of Spridione in the Santa Fe Opera’s production of Donizetti’s The Night Bell, and the following season he sang in their production of Billy Budd.  Recently Andre was a guest soloist in Haydn’s 275^th birthday celebration in Eisenstadt, Austria. The highlight of the festival was a live broadcast of Haydn’s Harmoniemesse from St. Thomas Cathedral in Vienna. He will be joining the festival again later this summer. Andre coaches with Regina Sarfaty Rickless.

Bass-baritone Javier Ortiz is a graduate student at the University of New Mexico, where he studies with Marilyn Tyler. He attended UNM for his baccalaureate degree and performed leading roles in Le Nozze di Figaro, The Magic Flute, Cosi fan tutte, Don Pasquale, Martha, Mozart and Salieri, The Old Maid and the Thief, Le Convenienze ed Inconvenienze Teatrali, and the title characters in Giulio Cesare and Eugene Onegin with the UNM Opera Theater. He has appeared in concert at UNM as soloist in Handel's Messiah, Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem, and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy. He has sung solos in Bach's Missa Brevis in G Minor, Mozart's Litaniae Lauretanae, and Faure’s Requiem with Canticum Novum, Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzer with the Albuquerque Chamber Soloists, Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Albuquerque Philharmonic, Mozart's Requiem with New Life Symphony Southwest, and the Lord of the Rings Symphony with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. With Santa Fe Theaterwork he appeared as Jacob in The Threepenny Opera, as a pilgrim in the premiere of Guadalupe! and as Brother Lucas in the zarzuela La Dolorosa, as well as appearing in five other non-musical productions.  He appeared with Teatro Nuevo Mexico and the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra as Capo in the zarzuela La del Manojo de Rosas and as General Putifar in La Corte de Faraon.  He also played the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast with Musical Theater Southwest.  Mr. Ortiz appeared in the sailors’ chorus and marine sextet in Billy Budd at the Santa Fe Opera. He recently won first prize in the male performance division of the 2010 Annual Vocal Artistry Art Song Competition, and has been invited back to Amsterdam in Septem-ber as a finalist for Opera Studio Nederland after passing through several rounds of auditions. 

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Pianist Peter Vinograde holds B.M., M.A., and D.M.A. degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Zenon Fishbein.  His numerous distinctions began with first prize in the J. S. Bach International Competition in 1971, followed by his New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall and an N.E.A.-sponsored Lincoln Center recital at Alice Tully Hall.

Mr. Vinograde has developed a reputation as an outstanding interpreter of J. S. Bach and of modern composers. He gives recital tours annually across the U.S., Canada, and Asia. His most recent Asian appearances have included three China tours (one solo, one with the Macao Orchestra, and one with flutist Lydia Yang) and recitals in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand with violinist Midori. As a chamber musician he has appeared at the Bard, Bargemusic, Caramoor, and Wolftrap Festivals. He has also performed with Midori at the Cape Cod and Mostly Mozart Festivals.

Most recently, Mr. Vinograde played the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Southwest Symphony in Utah, presented a Bach Birthday Concert on the St. Andrews Series in New York, and toured Canada with flautist Lydia Yang.  In June he will perform Mark Zuckerman’s On the Edges at New York City's Symphony Space as part of the American Composers Alliance Festival. Last season’s performances included the American Music Festival at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., and solo and chamber performances in Macao, Singapore, and Beijing. 

Mr. Vinograde teaches at the Manhattan School of Music and at Lehman College (CUNY). In conjunction with his class, Bach for Pianists, at the Manhattan School, this season he presented the Goldberg Variations in lecture/recital form and gave repeat performances at Oberlin and Juilliard.

Mr. Vinograde gave the world premiere performances of Nicolas Flagello's Concerto No. 3 (1962) with Nicholas Palmer and the Owensboro (Ky.) Symphony and Hal Campbell’s Piano Concerto (1997) in Utah, where he also performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Southwest Symphony at Zion National Park in an outdoor live concert. He has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and on CBC-TV's The Journal. His recordings appear on the Albany, CBC, Linfair (Decca) and Phoenix labels and include premieres of works by Alfred Fisher, Nicolas Flagello, Michael Matthews and Mark Zuckerman.  Other CDs feature works by J. S. Bach, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, and Scriabin. His latest CD of works for flute and piano by Beethoven, Copland, Hue, Franck, and Roussel was just released on the Linfair (Decca) label with flutist Lydia Yang.

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John Marchiando joined the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Trumpet in 2006 after previously holding positions with the Phoenix Symphony and the Arizona Opera. He has performed as Guest Principal Trumpet with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and Santa Fe Symphony and has also appeared with such other notable ensembles as the Santa Fe Opera, Summit Brass, Santa Fe New Music,

the Toledo Symphony, the Michigan Chamber Brass, and the Dodworth Saxhorn Band. A committed music educator, Marchiando has given masterclasses and clinics worldwide and currently serves on the

brass faculty of the University of New Mexico and the Rafael Méndez Brass Institute. He has also held positions on the faculties of the University of Toledo and Arizona State University.

Active also as a soloist, John has appeared as a recitalist and with orchestras and bands across the globe, including appearances with the Summit Brass, the Denver Municipal Band, and the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the International Trumpet Guild Conference, the CBDNA National Conference and the Associação de Docentes da Unicamp in Brazil. John can be heard on recordings on the Accord, Centaur, Summit, and Stemming record labels and has also done projects for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System. As a music producer, John has completed several projects for

Summit Records, including the two live performance recordings by the Summit Brass as well as the University of New Mexico Wind Symphony release “Fascinating Ribbons,” featuring tubist Sam Pilafian.

John received degrees from the University of Michigan (B.M. '92, M.M. '95) and most recently completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Arizona State University (2004). He has been extremely fortunate to study with some of the greatest trumpet virtuosi in the world, including David Hickman, Armando Ghitalla, Charles Daval, Raymond Mase, Chris Gekker, and Ramon Parcells.