Jerusalem Lyric Opera Studio

Sofia Mazar

Artistic Director, Vocal Coach, Musicologist

The Israeli pianist and musicologist Dr. Sonia Mazar is an acclaimed accompanist, vocal coach and a lecturer, and one of the leading figures in the field of Opera in Israel. She is Assistant of Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she was granted the Europe Forum`s award for researching Italian Opera of Ottocento. Sonia is recipient of the Center for the Study of Italian Culture and the Corinaldi Fund Individual Research Grant.

Dr. Mazar is initiator and co-founder of the Jerusalem Lyric Opera Studio, the premiere world opera training program providing intensive and individually tailored instruction by a renowned faculty of artists to emerging artists. At the 2019 Sonia became a Musical Director of the Jerusalem Lyric Opera Festival.

Sonia is a member of the teacher`s staff of the Music & Dance Academy in Jerusalem since 1997, where she serves as a lecture and a vocal coach. In addition, she serves as a member of the musical stuff at the New Israeli Opera. Her activity as teacher includes lectures and masterclasses in Europe and Israel and many of her students have become distinguished singers.

Dr. Mazar has also worked for Israeli Festival, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva, the Israel Camerata and other. She has also officiated at many music festivals and Masterclasses, and she performs regularly in recitals both in Italy, Israel, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania and Belgian including Moscow International House of Music, Turin University, Brussel Museum, Brahms House, Jerusalem Theater and other.

André Bücker

Artistic Director and General Manager of the Staatstheater Augsburg

André Bücker studied theatre, film and television studies, history & philosophy at the University of Bochum. From 2012 to 2015, he directed Richard Wagner`s Der Ring des Nibelungen at Anhaltisches Theater Dessau, with great success both regionally and internationally. Since 2018, he has been the Artistic Director and General Manager of the newly founded Staatstheater Augsburg

Markus Hollop

Casting & Artistic Production Officer, the Grand Théâtre de Genève

The Berlin born bass Markus Hollop studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich in the singing class of Professor Josef Loibl. While still a student, he was a prizewinner of the international Carl Maria von Weber singing competition, the international singing competition of the Münchener Konzert Gesellschaft and received scholarships from the Deutsche Studienstiftung and the Nürnberger Meistersängerwettbewerb.

Very young he started an international career, which took him to the most important opera houses and festivals in Europe, Asia and the USA, examples being the Bavarian State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the State Opera and the Komische Oper Berlin, the Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Opera Covent Garden, the Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the opera houses in Turin, Rome, Bologna, Palermo and Naples, the Japanese operas Nomori and Nikikai (Tokyo and Yokohama), the Opera Pacific (Los Angeles) , the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the Festival de Radio France and the Ravenna Festival.

He has worked with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Kent Nagano, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sebastian Weigle, James Conlon, John Eliot Gardener, Asher Fisch and sang in productions by the directors Andreas Homoki, Robert Carsen, Peter Konwitschny, Peter Stein, Damiano Michieletto, Luc Bondy, Philippe Arlaud and many more.

Focusing mostly on the German romantic repertoire, especially by the composers Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, another particular concern for him has been contemporary music, since his debut at the 1st Munich Biennale for Modern Music Theater in 1988, aged only 21 years.

For the recording of Busoni`s "Doktor Faust" under the baton of Kent Nagano, he received a 2001 Grammophone Award ("Grammy") in the "Best Opera Recording" category.

Since the 2016/17 season, alongside his work as a singer, Markus Hollop works as “Chargé de production artistique et casting” at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

Peter Lodahl

Music director of the Copenhagen Philharmonic

Danish tenor Peter Lodahl studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus and at the Royal Opera Academy in Copenhagen. Upon completion of his vocal education, he took on his first engagement at the Kiel Opera where his first roles included Decio in Vivaldi’s Ottone in Villa, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Lord Percy in Anna Bolena, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Cassio in Otello and Don Alfredo in Eduard Künneke’s Lady Hamilton. He then moved on to the Komische Oper in Berlin to further expand his repertory with roles such as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Alfredo in La Traviata, Lenski in Eugene Onegin and Rodolfo in La Bohème. He received the nomination for the “Young Artist Of The Year” award by the opera magazine Opernwelt and less than two years later he joined the ensemble of the opera company of his home country, the Royal Danish Opera, where he won over audiences and critics alike as Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Alfredo (La Traviata), Duke (Rigoletto), Romeo (Roméo et Juliette), Alfred (Die Fledermaus), Fenton (Falstaff), Rodolfo (La Bohème) and An Artist / A Negro in Lulu. Further successes include Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppeawith the Royal Swedish Opera Stockholm, Tamino at the Berlin State Opera, Don Ottavio at Hamburg’s State Opera, Ein Jüngling in Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten with Den Norske Opera in Oslo, Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff at the Göteborg Opera as well as the title role in Mozart’s Mitridate at the Drottningholms Slottsteater. On the concert podium he appeared in Stuttgart’s Liederhalle with soprano Diana Damrau and he enjoys a frequent collaboration with
 conductors such as Giancarlo Andretta, Michael Boder, Anthony Bramall, Frans Brüggen, Dan Ettinger, Simon Gaudenz, Paul Goodwin, Michael Hofstetter, Manfred Honeck, Konrad Junghänel, Patrick Lange, Shao-Chia Lü, Kazushi Ono, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Günter Neuhold, Marc Piollet, Christoph Poppen, Markus Poschner, Carlo Rizzi, Henrik Schäfer, Michael Schønwandt, Peter Schreier, Andreas Spering, Carl St. Clair, Andreas Stoehr and Arnold Östman. Being a versatile concert soloist, Peter Lodahl’s concert repertory includes Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, St John and St Matthew Passion, a wide selection of Cantatas, Mozart’s Reuqiem, Missa Brevis and Mass in C minor, Handel’s Messiah, Jephta and Joshua, Haydn’s Creation and The Seasons as well as his Missa in tempore belli and Stabat Mater, Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mahler’s Las Lied von der Erde and Bartok’s Cantata Profana. He further appeared at New York’s Alice Tully Hall in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, in Mozart’s Requiem with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s St John Pasison with Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and in concert with the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Frankfurt and Kaiserslautern. Peter gave his debut with Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels performing Leukippos in Strauss’s Daphne besides taking part in productions of Der Rosenkavalier and Les vêpres siciliennes in Copenhagen, followed by a New Year’s Concert with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and another concert featuring Donizetti’s seldom performed Requiem with the Copenhagen Philharmonic. After appearing as Lenski in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Copenhagen Opera Festival, Peter Lodahl’s engagements in the season 2015/2016 included a new production of Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot at Madrid’s Teatro Real, his highly-acclaimed rendering of the role of Jay Gatsby in the European Premiere of Harbison’s ”The Great Gatsby” at Dresden’s Semperoper, as well as a new production of Strauss’s Daphne at the Hamburg State Opera. In Hamburg, Peter furthermore appeared as Artist/Negro in Berg’s Lulu and went on performing Das Liebesverbot at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Particularly noteworthy is his rendering of the title role in Enjott Schneider’s Marco Polo, a newly composed opera sung in Chinese and explicitly written for the two opera houses in Guangzhou and Beijing. These appearances were further completed by several concert projects including the world premiere of Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen’s Juleoratoriumwith the Århus Sinfonietta and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Noord Nederlands Orkest. In the frame of the Grafenegg Academy 2018, Peter performed the role of “Der Offizier” in a semi-staged version of Ernst Krenek’s one-act opera Der Diktator opposite Christopher Maltman in the title role. Without a doubt, one of the most challenging and exciting projects is represented by Christian Jost’s world premiere of Dichterliebe recomposed at the Konzerthaus Berlin based on Schumann’s famous song cycle, with the composer himself conducting the Berlin-based Horenstein Ensemble. A recording of the concert has recently been released by Deutsche Grammophon.

Ethan Schmeisser

Principal Conductor of the JLOF, Artistic director of the Romanian National Opera

Ethan Schmeisser, conductor and pianist, was born in Israel. He graduated cum laude from the conducting program at the Tel Aviv Music Academy and completed his second degree under the guidance of the late Mendi Rodan. He has received the AICF scholarships. He has conducted the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Camerata Jeruslaem, the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra, the Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra IBA, Barrocade and other orchestras ensembles in Israel. He has conducted at the Perugia Music Festival in Italy, the opera houses of Odessa, Lucca, Shanghai and Fuzhuo in China. He has worked as a harpsichordist and pianist for opera productions and concerts with many local orchestras including the the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He has founded the Bononcini Ensemble and Venice female voice ensemble with whom he performed in many concerts in Israel. He was the Chorus Master and Head of Music at the Israeli Opera. At the Israeli Opera he conducted many productions in the opera house as well as at the Akko Festival and in the Israeli Opera’s community productions throughout Israel. He also performs as pianist and music director for many Israeli Opera productions including Die Zauberflote (Mozart) for the entire family, the Saturday Opera Highlights concert series and more.

Patrick Baton

Conductor

Patrick Baton studies at the University of Liege, Belgium (MA and teacher’s degree in Philosophy and Letters), and specializes in Italian language and literature at the University of Siena in Tuscany, Italy.

At the Royal Music Conservatory of Liège, he obtains a number of prizes, among which those for piano, harmony writing, harmony practice on keyboard, history of music, and those of choir conductor and orchestra conductor (First prize with a distinction in the Master Class of Roger Rossel, Prize of the Vocation). He is awarded an ‘excellence’ prize for singing -melody and opera- at the Music Academy of Eupen, Belgium, in the class of Walter Meessen. He also attends the course of Lucien Jean-Baptiste at the Conservatory of Toulon, France (Gold medal and, in addition, First Prize in the proficiency level for conductors in the specialization lyrics and opera, together with master classes in interpretation given by the French tenor Jean Giraudeau).

As a choir conductor, he was chosen as assistant by Philippe Herreweghe for the ‘Choeur Philharmonique de Liège’ during two years. He also works on choir direction with Laszlo Heltay (Academy of St Martin in the Fields) and Michel Piquemal, and on the present-day practice with Guy Reibel. As an orchestra conductor, he attends the proficiency courses of René Defossez, Alexandre Myrat, Daniel Gazon. He studies in France and Germany with Sergiu Celibidache. After the Budapest competition, where the Russian conductor Youri Simonov had been impressed by his outstanding performance, the two men worked together in Hungary.

In 1991 Patrick Baton is laureate of the Masterplayers International Conductors Competition in the Schauspielhaus of Berlin, where he conducted the Berliner Sinfonie Orchester. In 1994 he is awarded the St-Petersburg Special Composers’ Prize at the first International Sergei Prokofjev Competition for conductors. This leads him on to regular performances as a conductor in Russia, and he becomes the first guest conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Northern Caucasus in the South of Russia (Kislovodsk). He gives performances in Belgium (Orchestre National de Belgique), France, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Italy, Israel.

Patrick Baton regularly works with the ‘Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège et de la Communauté française de Belgique’: they have now been producing together for six seasons running a cycle of concerts that enjoy a tremendous success under the general title ‘L’Orchestre à la portée des enfants’ (The orchestra at a child’s level) , with the cooperation of the ‘Jeunesses musicales` (Youth Music) and with the participation of the actors Marie Gillain, Benoît Poelvoorde, Bruno Coppens, and of the singer Maurane, and also with the Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie. In 1996, Patrick Baton conducted this orchestra in the finals of the International Adolphe Sax contest organised in Dinant, Belgium, which is the birthplace of Sax. He also performs for the’Festival de Wallonie’ and a number of other festivals: Val-Dieu, Aubel, Roisin...

Since his debut with the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in 1993 (la Traviata), he very often conducts there: Tosca (Puccini) with the Belgian baritone José van Dam (recorded on Philips CDI video), la Traviata once again (in a production of Martha Domingo), Don Pasquale (Donizetti), Stiffelio (Verdi), the ballets Spartacus (Khatchaturian), Casse-Noisette (Tchaikovsky), Coppélia (Delibes). Baton, who is genuinely eclectic, conducts the Viennese operette and the musical with equal success: Hello Dolly! (Hermann), Candide (Bernstein), Fürstin Czardas (Kalmann), L’Homme de la Mancha (Leigh/Wasserman, French adaptation by Jacques Brel) with José Van Dam as Don Quijote (Liege, Brussels; CD audio live, Forlane; transmission by Arte television). He makes his debut with the ‘Opéra d’Avignon et des Pays du Vaucluse’. He joins that opera house again as a guest conductor and conducts the French première of the American musical Titanic (Yeston), which will be remembered as an unqualified success. He conducts the Carmina Burana (Orff) at the Arts Festival of Tel Aviv, a concert that was broadcast by the National Television of Israel.

In concert he accompanies numerous opera singers as Julia Migenes, José Van Dam, Alain Fondary, Jules Bastin ...

As artistic director of the Orchestre Artemis, he is in charge of the Summer Opera Festival (la Traviata) in several prestigious historic sites of Belgium (the castle of La Hulpe, the Palace of Princes-Bishops in Liege, the castle of Ooidonck).

He conducts at the ‘Opera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria’ (Rossini’s Cenerentola) and, in Italy the ‘Orchestra Haydn Bolzano-Trento’, the ‘Orchestra della città di Grosseto’, the ‘Orchestra Sinfonica di San Remo’ in a serie of concerts in Liguria, Lombardy and Tuscany. Since 2001, he’s regular guest conductor at the Philharmonic Orchestra of Monte-Carlo (2001-2016). During three seasons he was on tour with the World Chamber Choir, at the Opera de Rouen, at the Great Theatre of Luxemburg (Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Francis Poulenc), the Niedersachser Jugendchor Hanover (Brahms "Ein deutsches Requiem"). He has recorded for different producers: Philips, Forlane, Syrinx and Cyprès.

Patrick Baton has been officially in charge at the Liege Royal Conservatory of Music since 1996 at the conductor’s rostrum and as a teacher in the conductors` training course. He’s teaching orchestral conducting at the Conservatoire Régional d’Amiens (France), and at the Ecole Supérieure Danse et Musique-Conservatoire de Lille (France, 2017-2018)

Matthias Rexroth

Voice Teacher

Matthias Rexroth is a first-prize winner of two international vocal competitions: the 37th Francesco-Viñas in Barcelona and the 19th Belvedere-Competition in Vienna. Shortly after he became the “Rising Star“ of the Kölner Philharmonie and took part in a tour of major European concert houses. Since then he has been considered to be one of the most versatile male altos. His international career as an opera singer includes the title roles in Stefan Herheim’s Giulio Cesare at the Norwegian National Opera, Gluck’s Ezio with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Telemann’s Der geduldige Sokrates with René Jacobs at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music and the Staatsoper Berlin, Monteverdi’s Ottone at the Hamburg State Opera as well as Britten’s Oberon at Staatstheater Darmstadt, Handel’s Athamas at the Aalto Theater Essen, Handel’s Ottone and Admeto at the Handel Festival Halle (the latter granting him a nomination for “Best Singing Actor” in the frame of the German Faust prize in 2007), Armindo in Handel’s Partenope under Christophe Rousset and Unulfo in Handel’s Rodelinda under Nikolaus Harnoncourt at Theater an der Wien, as well as Ozia in Almeida’s La Giuditta at Frankfurt Opera. At the Rossini Festival in Bad Wildbad, he took part in the world premiere of the Hölderin/Sophocles – fragments Kolonos expressly composed for him by Wolfgang Rihm. His collaboration with Nikolaus Harnoncourt includes roles such as Handel’s Hamor in Jephtha, Didymus in Theodora, and Purcell’s Ode for St Cecilia’s day at the Wiener Musikverein and the Styriarte in Graz. His concert activity includes appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic under Riccardo Muti and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia under Fabio Luisi, as well as many other internationally renowned orchestras such as Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Frankfurter Museumsorchester, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, RadioTelevisione Española Madrid, Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Freiburger Barockorchester, Concerto Köln, Bachakademie Stuttgart. He is a regular and welcome guest at the festivals of Schwetzingen, Innsbruck, Ludwigsburg, Rheingau, Baden-Baden, and Shanghai. Recent engagements include his debut as Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus at the Aalto Theater Essen and at the Daegu Opera House in South Korea, Alfred Schnittke’s Faust Kantate under Vladimir Fedossejew with the ORF- Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra as well as Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, both at the Wiener Musikverein, a European tour with Bach’s Mass in B minor with Akademie für Alte Musik. Further successes comprise Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Teseo, Cesti’s L’Orontea under Ivor Bolton (recorded and released by Oehms Classics), Purcell’s King Arthur and Martini’s L’Impresario delle Canarie at the Semperoper Dresden, Cavalli’s Veremonda at the Schwetzinger Festspiele, as well as Bach’s St John Passion with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Handel’s Messiah with the Bachfest Leipzig. Since the spring of 2014, he is a Professor at the Opera Academy/Akademia Operowa at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw. He is regularly invited to give masterclasses nationally and internationally, e.g. in New York, San Francisco, Daegu, Novosibirsk, and Israel. Many of his students are successful young singers of the new generation, engaged at the opera houses in Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Warsaw, London, Zürich, Paris, and Milan. Born in Nurnberg, Matthias Rexroth studied at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe, the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and privately with Marilyn Horne.

Luisella Germano

Vocal Coach at the Theater an der Wien, “La Monnaie“ Opera house (Brussels). the University of Music

Born in Turin (Italy), Luisella Germano graduated with honors in Piano at the Conservatorio Statale “G.Verdi” in Torino (State Conservatory of Music in Turin). After receiving a scholarship from “De Sono” Associazione per la musica in Torino (De SonoAssociation for Music in Turin), she specialized in chamber music with “Trio di Trieste” at the Accademia Ducale in Genoa, and “Trio di Milano” at the High Music School in Fiesole (Florence). Before turning her attention to the operatic repertoire, Ms. Germano won many prizes in several international competitions as a soloist and as part of chamber ensembles. After graduating with honors from the highly prestigious Accademia Teatro “La Scala” in Milan, as “vocal coach”, she worked at the Opera houses in Frankfurt, Nice, and Turin (2003 to 2012). In 2012 won an audition at the Vienna State Opera as “vocal coach”. She worked there as responsible for the Italian repertoire from 2012 till 2020. After 2020 she worked regularly as a guest at “Theater an der Wien”(Vienna), at “Teatro Massimo” Palermo (Italy), at „Teatro Regio“ Torino (Italy), at “La Monnaie“ Opera house (Brussels). From 2006 till 2017 she also regularly worked with the RAI Symphony National Orchestra as “vocal coach” and pianist. During the summers of 2016 and 2017, she served on the artistic staff at the Salzburger Festspiele (Salzburg Opera Festival) as a vocal coach and musical Assistant. Ms. Germano has worked alongside conductors such as Alain Altinoglu, Marco Armiliato, Semyon Bychkov, Jesus Lopez Cobos, James Conlon, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Myung-Whung Chung, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Ivanovič Fedoseev, Michele Mariotti, Riccardo Muti, Gianandrea Noseda, Juraj Valčuha, Zubin Mehta, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Evelino Pidó, Pinchas Steinberg, Jeffrey Tate. From 2016 on she worked several times with M° Riccardo Muti as “vocal coach” and “fortepiano player” for the Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy. Since 2018 Ms. Germano has held a collaborative pianist position at the “Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien” (the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna) –Department of Vocal Studies.

Larisa Tetuev

Soprano, Voice Teacher

Since arriving in Israel in 1990 from the former Soviet Union, soprano Larissa Tetuev has established herself as the leading Israeli soprano with a formidable international career. Having begun her musical studies as a pianist, Ms. Tetuev participated in the Israel Vocal Arts Institute and was immediately recognized as a promising talent, receiving scholarships for professional study abroad. The soprano-lirico made her debut with the New Israeli Opera in the title role of Marenka in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride and participated that same season in the visiting Kirov production of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, conducted by Valery Gergiev. The following season, Ms. Tetuev sang her first Contessa Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, stepping in for an ailing colleague on short notice and emerging with a huge success. Some of her earlier roles, performed in Israel, include Fiordiligi in Cosí fan Tutte, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Micaela Carmen, Violetta in La Traviata, and the title role in Cilea’s Adrianna Lecouvreur.

In the 1997-98 season Ms. Tetuev made her United States debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the Fort Worth Opera. Such was her success that she was immediately re-engaged by that company and sang there in the tile role of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, and later reprised her Contessa Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro. Ms. Tetuev sang her first ever Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello in the autumn of 2000 with the Portland Opera to critical acclaim.

Ms. Tetuev has performed under the baton of leading conductors such as the late Gari Bertini, Asher Fisch, Alexei Gergiev, Yuri Aharonovich, and Zubin Mehta. Her concert-stage repertoire with includes Stabat Mater of Rossini, Pergolesi and Dvorak, C Minor Mass by Mozart, the Faure Requiem, and Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder. The Verdi Requiem and the Beethoven 9th Symphony. In January 2000, she appeared in the New Israeli Opera’s "Viva la Voce" series in Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, under the baton of Yuri Aharonovich, to outstanding reviews. In The autumn of the same year, Ms. Tetuev appeared in Leeds, Manchester, and in London, at Queen Elizabeth Hall, with the Shostakovich Symphony No. 14. and in 2001 she was invited to Durban for a Verdi gala. Continuing in the same tradition, the reviews were superlative in every case.

Early in her career, Larissa Tetuev had the auspicious honor of being the first-ever non-Czech singer to perform the title role in Dvorak’s Russalka in Prague at the Prague State Theater under the baton of Irje Belohelavek and was invited to repeat her wonderful portrayal of this role when the Prague State Theater travelled to Japan with the production the autumn of 1999. Ms. Tetuev was engaged for another Micaela (Carmen) in Capetown and appeared with the Philharmonic of Luxembourg, under the baton of Yuri Aharonovich, in Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, with whom she traveled to reprise the work in Brussels.

Ms. Tetuev sang her first Liu in Turandot in 2000 at the Roman Amphitheater of Caesarea with the Israel Opera as part of a new "International Operatic Festival". She was engaged to sing Gil Shochat’s Song of Songs, in the framework of the prestigious Israel Festival 2000. The next season she returned to the Israel Opera and the "International Opera Festival" in Caesarea with her Israeli debut of Desdemona in Otello. in 2002, she traveled with the production to the Italian open-air festival "Varese Ligure". Again, she received rave reviews and was invited to return for a production of Le Nozze di Figaro in the summer of 2003.

In January 2002 Ms. Tetuev debuted in the title role in Norma at the Ft. Worth Opera, in a production made for her after the audiences had so adored her previous engagements that the opera offered her to appear in the opera of her choice. She then traveled to New York to appear with the American Symphony Orchestra in a production of Rachmaninov’s Francesca di Rimini. That season she returned to the Israel Opera for Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus.

The artist’s 2002-2003 season included debut performances in Peter Grimes, and Simon Boccanegra, both to rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, and a reprise of Eugene Onegin. She re-created the role of Madame Butterfly at the NIO in a production chosen especially for her and appeared with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in Rossini’s Stabat Mater in the prestigious Liturgica Festival. This was only after being invited to appear in Budapest at a gala diplomatic function where she sang arias from La Wally, Tosca, and Madame Butterfly. In a combined JSO/NIO production, Ms. Tetuev completed the 2002-2003 season with another Benjamin Britten work, this time the War Requiem followed immediately by Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and finally concluded the season with her first Verdi Requiem.

In 2003-2004 Ms. Tetuev began the season with the opening concert of the Dvorak Requiem in a September 11th Tribute in Jerusalem with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Leon Botstein. The season followed with numerous concerts, in Israel and abroad, continuing her acclaim-winning portrayals of Verdi and Puccini repertoire. She début Odabella in Attila and the title role in Tosca. She returned to the Israel Opera-Tel Aviv to reprise Russalka, one of her signature pieces,

The 2004-2005 season included a reprise of Tosca in the U.S., a Zefirelli-directed production of Pagliacci at the Israel Opera (for which she also received rave reviews from the maestro himself for her Nedda) the newly commissioned Journey to the End of the Millenium by Israeli composer Bardanasvhilli and a reprise of Elvira in Don Giovanni with the New Haifa Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Noam Sheriff.

During the 2005-2006 season Ms. Tetuev debuted the title role in Manon Lescaut, made a reprise of Beethoven`s 9th Symphony, and appeared as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera. Franco Zeffirelli asked her to step into the La Traviata production that he directed at the Israel Opera in light of their past collaboration. Ms. Tetuev concluded the season with a Rachmaninoff recital as part of the prestigious Israel Festival and was invited to a gala performance with the London Royal Philharmonic, Michael Hankinson conducting. Larissa Tetuev, in addition to being Israel’s leading diva, is also invited to sit on juries of vocal competitions and to give master classes for the Israel Vocal Arts Institute.

The 2007-2008 season included a return to the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra for its opening season, this time for the Shostakovich From Jewish Folk Poetry, and later in 2007 roles at the Israel Opera Tel Aviv-Yafo included Leonora in Il Trovatore, Antonia in Les Contes Hoffman, and Giorgetta in Il Tabarro, which was directed by the world-renowned Gian Carlo Del Monaco

As the leading soprano at the Israel Opera for thirteen years and with a list of roles exceeding 30 operas, the 2008-2009 season included appearances in Boito’s Mephistopheles and another Bardanashvilli’s Journey to the End of the Millennium in Rome. She also toured Los Angeles with concert repertoire. The 2009-2010 season includes the World Premiere of Gil Shohat`s A Child Dreams, and Tchaikovsky`s Pique Dame. In 2010-2011 she performed Shostakovich’s, Lady Macbeth. She also performed in Italy and the USA on recital tours.

Ms. Tetuev’s teaching credits include master classes for Ms. Trish McCaffrey’s studio at the Manhattan College of Music, the Israel Opera Studio in Tel Aviv, and winter sessions at the Israel Vocal Arts Institute.

Marina Levite

Soprano, Voice Teacher

Marina Levite immigrated to Israel from Lviv in Ukraine at the end of 1978. She completed her studies at the Tel Aviv Music Academy and her master`s degree at the University of Indiana at Bloomington. Marina Levitt has performed in Israel, the US, France, Mexico, and Ireland. She performed with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, with the Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, and with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and appears in prestigious Festivals like the Mozart Festival in France and the Wexford Festival in Ireland.

She sang in the Czar`s bride (Rimsky Korsakov) with the New York Opera Orchestra, the First Lady in the Magic Flute with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the button of maestro Zubin Mehta. At the Israeli Opera, she has performed Magenka in the Addicted bride, Mimi in La Boheme, Marguerite in Faust, Nedda in Pagliacci, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Antonia in Les Contes Hoffman, and others.

Her repertoire also includes chamber music and baroque music. In addition to her soloist career, Prof. Levitt is a part of the teacher staff of the vocal department at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance