Opera Institute

Faculty List
(subject to change)

Daniel Abraham (Chorus Master) is director of choral activities and co-chair of the Department of Performing Arts at American University. He is a choral/orchestral conductor and musicologist, a specialist in 17th- and 18th-century music, and Music and Artistic Director of the Bach Sinfonia and Bach Sinfonia Voci. His period-instrument performances include many modern premieres of baroque and classical period works, performances at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Concert Hall at Strathmore, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and before two national meetings of the American Musicological Society. His credits include various national broadcasts (television/radio) including the Kennedy Center Honors Gala (PBS), as a chorus master for Christmas in Washington (TNT), on Performance Today (NPR), as well as commercial recordings on Dorian Records of Handel, Bach, Biber, Rossi, and Carissimi. He is a frequent clinician, adjudicator, and festival ensemble conductor, has published in Choral Journal, and has produced editorial work for The Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Edition (OUP), and Cambridge University Press. He has been a grant panelist for the Maryland State Arts Council and is the current President of the MD/DC State Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. Conducting studies with Helmuth Rilling (Stuttgart Bach Collegium, Gächinger Kantorei, Oregon Bach Festival) and Paul Traver (University of Maryland); additional training with William Weinert (Eastman School of Music) and David Hoose (Boston University).

Linda Allison (Voice Instructor), mezzo-soprano, has sung extensively throughout the Washington area and the East Coast, as well as in Europe. Her appearances have included the Kennedy Center, Phillips Collection, Renwick Gallery, IN Series, Strathmore Hall, Washington National Opera and the Holland Festival in Europe. She chairs the American University voice department and maintains her own voice studio in Washington, DC.

Scott Crowne, D.M.A., (Vocal Coach/Accompanist) enjoys an active career as a performer, coach, and teacher in the Washington DC metropolitan area. He received his DMA and MM from the University of Maryland, where he was a student of Rita Sloan and John Greer. There he performed in numerous concerts and recitals as a vocal accompanist, chamber musician, continuo artist, and orchestral pianist. He spent three years as a répétiteur with the Maryland Opera Studio, assisting with the preparation and performance of opera scenes and full operas. He regularly collaborates with the Army Field Band in chamber music concerts and performs frequently at the Arts Club of Washington. Other recital performances have taken place in venues across the United States as well as in Europe. As a staff accompanist, he has participated in venues such as Washington National Opera's Opera Camp for Kids and Family Opera, the Miami Festival in Salzburg, the Aspen Music Festival, the Brevard Music Center, and the National Orchestral Institute. He has participated in master classes for Martin Katz, Steven Blier, Jerry Hadley, and Delores Ziegler. His undergraduate studies were done at The Catholic University of America from which he graduated Summa Cum Laude and studied with Jim Litzelman.

Suzanne Jackson (Period Movement Instructor) is a professional singer and certified yoga instructor and the creator of YogaSing, ChakraWakening, and YogaWakening programs and DVDs. She specializes in teaching singers how to incorporate yoga techniques into their art form. Many students have shared that YogaSing provided an added dimension to their performing careers. Suzanne regularly presents YogaSing and “The Art of Wellness for Singers” workshops both in the United States and abroad. Suzanne holds a master’s degree in voice performance from the University of Maryland and for 15 years she has performed as a resident singer with Washington National Opera and Baltimore Opera. Currently, she is the Director of the Awakening Arts and Yoga Center where she teaches private voice, piano, and yoga instruction. Suzanne lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and three children.

Wayne N. Kemp, D.M.A., (Vocal Coach Accompanist) is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor of Voice at Shenandoah University. He also teaches voice privately, and with the Levine School of Music. He has performed many operatic roles in such operas is Carmen, Don Giovanni, Gianni Schicchi, and Hansel and Gretel with companies including Baltimore Opera, North Texas Opera, Opera Theater of Northern Virginia, and Wolf Trap Opera. He received his Bachelor of Music in piano and vocal performance from Shorter College, his Master of Music in vocal performance from North Texas State University and his D.M.A. in Vocal Pedagogy from The Catholic University of America.

Daniel J. Miller (Vocal Coach Accompanist) has performed extensively throughout the greater Washington area as well as other cities in the United States and Europe. He is currently a staff accompanist at Shepherd University, where he works with both vocalists and instrumentalists and accompanies the Masterworks Chorale. He also teaches piano and is staff accompanist at Foxcroft School. His professional experience includes extensive recital performances as well as choral, opera, music theater, and studio accompanying. Mr. Miller holds a Master of Music degree in Piano Accompanying from Shenandoah Conservatory, where he held a graduate assistantship position coaching and accompanying singers in the opera workshop program.

Patrick O’Donnell, D.M.A., (Opera History Instructor and Head Vocal Coach Accompanist) is currently on the faculty of the Levine School of Music in Washington, DC, as piano teacher and vocal coach. He also serves as faculty accompanist for student recitals and competitions at the Levine School, including the annual Prism Concert held at the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center and the Showcase Concert at La Maison Française of the French Embassy. He has accompanied master classes featuring visiting artists such as Paul Sperry, Michael Cordovana and others. Dr. O’Donnell was one of the master coaches and a featured guest artist this past summer at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he collaborated with mezzo-soprano Louise Urban and baritone Dominic Cossa. At the festival, he coached and accompanied singers in opera workshop recitals and performances. He served for two seasons as assistant artistic administrator for Virginia Opera, as well as children’s chorus director and the music director for one of Virginia Opera’s touring programs. Dr. O’Donnell was an active participant with Virginia Opera’s Spectrum Resident Artist Program as a coach and accompanist working with singers in concert and opera venues throughout Virginia. He also served as music director for the world premier of Seymour Barab's “Cinderella,” and has collaborated on the development of “Oh, Freedom!” and “I Hear America Singing,” which have been performed at more than 500 schools and communities from Delaware to North Carolina. He earned his BA from Yale University, his MM in Piano Performance from The University of Maryland, and his DMA in Chamber Music and Vocal Accompaniment with Martin Katz at the University of Michigan.

Cindy C. Oxberry, (Drama Teacher and Opera Scenes Stage Director), a native of New York, is an opera director who earned her Bachelor's degree in Opera Theater at the Hartt School and her Master's degree in Voice from the Manhattan School of Music. As a performer she sang many roles with companies such as New York City Opera, Texas Opera Theater, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Omaha, Central City Opera Festival, Skylight Opera Theatre, and Boston Lyric Opera. Frequently Ms. Oxberry works as Assistant Director for Washington National Opera and has worked with directors including David Edwards, Stephen Lawless, Peter McClintock, John Pascoe, Marta Domingo, Emilio Sagi, Mariusz Trelinski, and acclaimed director, Marthe Keller. These productions included Fedora, La Rondine, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rigoletto, Un Ballo in Maschera, Turandot, Il Trovatore, Aïda, Vanessa, The Tales of Hoffmann, Pique Dame, Luisa Fernanda, Samson et Dalila, Lucia di Lammermoor, l’Italiana in Algeri, and Madama Butterfly. She has also worked with Utah Opera, Opera Colorado, and Los Angeles Opera. Ms. Oxberry was invited by Plácido Domingo to direct the celebration marking his 40th Anniversary of professional singing. For this milestone, she directed Fedora for the International Opera Company of Mexico at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Ms. Oxberry directed Washington National Opera’s Opera Camp's production of Brundibár in the summer of 2005. She has also directed The Music Man for Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre and an "illustrious production of The Mikado" for The Savoyards of DC. Ms. Oxberry is delighted to return, in her ninth year on the faculty of Opera Institute.

Millicent Scarlett (Voice Instructor) soprano, hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Described as "an operatic soprano in the making" by the Toronto Star in 1994, she has fulfilled this prophesy. In 1995 she was a winner in the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition and performed with Maestro Pavarotti in 1996. She has been a Metropolitan Opera National Council for the Mid-Atlantic region finalist from 1994-2000, and was a National Semifinalist in 1999. Most recently she was heard in the role of Electra in Mozart's Idomeneo with Opera Lafayette. She was also in the production of "Fatal Song or the Great Opera Murders" held at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park, MD. The Post wrote, “all were excellent, Scarlett was outstanding." She was also heard at the Kennedy Center with Donald McCullough and the Master Chorale of Washington in Let my People Go, a spiritual journey along the Underground Railroad. Millicent currently resides in Maryland and is on faculty at George Washington University as Professor of Voice.

Dana Nichole Scott (Italian Diction Instructor and Vocal Coach Accompanist) has extensive experience as a vocal coach accompanist and rehearsal pianist with companies including Opera for the Young, Peabody Conservatory, Harbor Hopera Company, Kennedy Center, and Light Opera Company. Ms. Scott performs as a piano soloist as well. She currently teaches privately. Ms. Scott received her Bachelor of Music in piano performance from New England Conservatory and her Master of Music in vocal accompanying from Peabody Institute. 

Billie Whittaker, (Vocal Coach, Accompanist) is presently on the faculty of the Levine School of Music in Washington, DC, as a vocal coach and accompanist.  She has served as Faculty Accompanist at several universities, including Penn State University and Southern Illinois University Carbondale. For these schools, she collaborated with students and faculty in the areas of instrumental and vocal accompaniment, choral accompaniment and chamber music.  Additionally, she performed the functions of Rehearsal Pianist and Keyboardist for musicals, operas and operettas, such as Le nozze di Figaro, Big River, The Crucible, and Ruddigore. Summer projects have included positions as Staff Accompanist at the Interlochen Summer Arts program and Collaborative Pianist at the Brevard Music Center, with the Janiec Opera Company.  Ms. Whittaker holds a Masters degree in Piano Performance with Collaborative Piano emphasis from The University of Arizona, and a Bachelors degree in Collaborative Piano from Arizona State University.

American University Department of Performing Arts is a proud sponsor of WNO Education programs.