A Breath of Air

Andrew White

Andrew R. White, B.M., M.M., A.D., D.M.A., teaches private voice as well as classes in diction and vocal literature at the University of Nebraska, Kearney at the rank of Professor. Previous faculty positions include Indiana University of Pennsylvania, University of Akron, Hiram College, Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music, and Ashland University. Operatic appearances include Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, Endymion in Calisto, and Claudio in Beatrice and Benedict. Gilbert and Sullivan roles include Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, Pooh-bah in The Mikado, and Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe. Roles in musicals include Harold Hill in The Music Man, Billy Bigalow in Carousel, and Emile de Becque in South Pacific. He won first prize in the VARN and Richardson competitions; other prizes include the NATSAA District Competition, the Alpha Corinne Mayfield Opera Award, and the Darius Milhaud Award.

Andrea Chenoweth Wells

Andrea Chenoweth Wells, D.M.A. and soprano, is a two-time regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions. She has appeared with orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States, including regular appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Opera, and Dayton Opera. Career highlights include her Carnegie Hall debut singing Verdi’s Requiem and touring Japan with Maestro Neal Gittleman and the Telemann Chamber Orchestra. She has sung numerous operatic roles, including Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Atalanta in Handel’s Xerxes, the First Lady in Mozart’s Magic Flute, Kitty Hart in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and the Foreign Woman in Menotti’s The Consul.

Albert Rudolph Lee

Albert R. Lee is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Equity, Belonging, and Student Life at the Yale School of Music. He has made a career as a classical vocalist in opera, oratorio, recital, and liturgical music having appeared with Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, the Collegiate Chorale of New York City, Caramoor International Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the London Symphony.

John Etsell

Based in Southeastern Michigan, pianist John Etsell collaborates with musical artists from all around the world. He is currently Staff Pianist at Detroit Opera and an adjunct professor at Adrian College. He has been on faculty at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy, and The Institute for Young Dramatic Voices in Reno NV. Equally active in the instrumental realm, Estell is a member of the Lumino Trio (luminomusic.com), which has been described as “just the sort of high-execution, high-ambition ensemble that Detroit’s chamber music world so desperately needs” (Avant Music News). Estell holds degrees in Piano Performance from Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Nevada, Reno, and received a D.M.A. in Collaborative Piano at the University of Michigan. He espouses a creative, open-minded, and improvisatory approach to performance informed by scholarship, personal sensibility, and intuition.

Eric Charnofsky

Eric Charnofsky enjoys a multi-faceted career as a pianist, composer, and lecturer. As a collaborative pianist, he has performed throughout North America, has concertized with members of major American orchestras, and has performed as an orchestral keyboardist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra, among others. A graduate of The Juilliard School where he majored in piano accompaniment, Charnofsky also holds degrees in solo piano performance and composition from California State University, Northridge. Originally from Los Angeles, Charnofsky has taught music history, music theory, and collaborative piano at the collegiate level in Cleveland. He has worked as a classical radio announcer, pre concert lecturer for the Cleveland Orchestra, Associate Faculty member at the Music Academy of the West, rehearsal pianist for Lyric Opera Cleveland, convention accompanist for the National Flute Association, and he appears on recordings on the Capstone, Albany, and Crystal labels. His compositions have been performed in several major U.S. cities, and he has received composition commissions from Pacific Serenades, the Chamber Music Society of Ohio, the Cleveland Chamber Collective, and others.

John Benjamin

Pianist John Benjamin has spent a great deal of his musical life as a collaborative musician, chamber musician, coach/accompanist, and opera and choral accompanist. He also regularly assumes the roles of church organist, choral director, musical theater conductor, and cast member in opera and musical theater. Benjamin has been on the piano faculty at the University of Dayton since 2000. In addition to extensive performing, he teaches piano in private and group settings. Before coming to UD, he was on staff at the University of Akron and Butler University. He holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music and the University of Akron. Benjamin also serves as director of traditional worship at Epiphany Lutheran Church in Centerville.