Mezzo-soprano Crystal Lau in Ravel's Opera l'Enfant et les Sortilèges
Baritone Christopher Truong is L'Horloge in Ravel's Opera L'Enfant et les Sortilèges
FAVA 2025 in France
June 2 to July 7
Faculty
Stage Direction
Margaret Jumonville
Margaret Jumonville is an opera stage director who cultivates bold dramatic work and consent-forward spaces. She is currently the Company Artist Assistant Stage Director at Minnesota Opera. Directing credits include: Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Opéra Louisiane), Hansel und Gretel, Alcina, Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, Giulio Cesare, La voix humaine (Chicago Summer Opera), La Clemenza di Tito, Suor Angelica, Così fan tutte, Mansfield Park (Butler Opera Center). As an Assistant Director, she has assisted on productions at Minnesota Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Charlottesville Opera, Opéra Louisiane, Chicago Summer Opera, Opera Steamboat, and Opera NEO. She received theatrical training in Suzuki Method for Actors and Viewpoints with the SITI Company. Margaret holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame, Duquesne University and the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Voice and Interpretation
Hubert Weller, Bass-baritone
Born in Montreal, Canada, the French-German Bass-baritone studied voice at the Conservatoire d’Aix en Provence, then at the CNIPAL in Marseille, and acting at the Cours Florent in Paris.He made his debut in the French capital in 1988 at the Comédie Française as an actor-singer in Esther by Racine and also in La Cagnotte, a vaudeville by Labiche. Other appearances in various operas and operettas followed during six years with the Company Opéra Eclaté, touring in France and Spain.He has sung more than a numerous different roles in many Offenbach’s operettas in Paris with the Philipppe Ermelier Company. For 25 years, he is also a successful singing teacher, working with singers from various horizons: opera, baroque music,operettas, melody, musicals, but also from the Moulin Rouge and the Lido.
Voice and Stage Direction
Dr. John A. McGuire, Tenor and Stage Director
Dr. John A. McGuire is an active teacher, director and performer. Dr. McGuire has been on the faculty of the William Lewis School of Opera as an Opera Director and Professor of Applied Voice in both France and Austria. Directing credits include, Les Contes D’Hoffmann, La belle Hélène, La Périchole, Leçons de Francais Au Étudiants Américains, The Impresario, and Le Nozze di Figaro. John has performed with several opera companies and orchestras throughout the United States and Europe. Most recently he performed the role of Emperor Altoum in Virginia Opera’s production of Turandot. Some of his other leading operatic roles include Tamino, The Magic Flute, Idomeneo, Idomeneo, Sultan, Zaide, Pedrillo, The Abduction from the Seraglio, Lippo, Street Scene, Martin, The Tender Land, Ferrando, Così fan tutte, Don José, Carmen, and Rodolfo, La Bohème. Dr. McGuire is on the music faculty of Christopher Newport University (CNU) as an Assistant Professor of Voice and the Director of Opera CNU. Operas he has directed for Opera CNU include Die Fledermaus, The Old Maid and the Thief, Così fan tutte, The Whole Truth and Gianni Schicchi. Dr. McGuire is also a member of CNU’s Torggler Summer Vocal Institute faculty where he conducts Master Classes, Private Lessons and presents an Opera Workshop seminar. He has taught voice at the University of Texas at Austin, Northwestern University, and maintains a private voice studio
Master Class Guests
Frederique Added, Soprano
The Parisian soprano Frédérique Added has graced concert stages in Paris, Dijon, Perigueux, Limoges, Nancy, Strasbourg, Salzburg, Minsk, Lodz, Warsaw and throughout the USA. Her vast knowledge of the Song Repertoire includes works by: Debussy, Poulenc, Rosenthal, Fauré, Duparc, Satie, Hahn, Chausson, Berlioz, Aboulker.
Isabelle Cals, Soprano
Isabelle Cals studied at the Centre de Formation Lyrique of the Opera National de Paris. She has sung in many of Europe's major opera houses and concert halls, including: Opéra National de Paris, La Scala, Salzburg Festival, Amsterdam Opera, the Barbican Center, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Monnaie de Bruxelles, Chorégies d'Orange, Il Teatro Regio di Torino, Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Châtelet.
She began her career as a high mezzo-soprano, singing such roles as Giulietta (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), Béatrice (Béatrice et Benedict), Ascanio (Benvenuto Cellini), Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), Hélène (La Belle Hélène), Concepción (L'Heure espagnole), Carmen (title role). She then changed to the soprano repertoire with Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), La Voix humaine, Tatiana (Eugen Onegin), Madame Lidoine (Dialogues des Carmélites), Armide (title role), the Governess (The Turn of the screw), La Chute de Fukuyama world creation), Alice Ford (Falstaff).
Conductor/Coach
Jiaqi Chen, Collaborative pianist intern
Janice Fehlauer
Janice Fehlauer is a sought-after opera conductor/coach and collaborative pianist who has worked at The Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Fort Worth Opera, UNT Opera Theater, UH Moores Opera Center, Taos Opera Institute, and the Houston Symphony Chorus.
She began her musical training in her hometown in British Columbia where she received Associate Diplomas from the Royal Conservatory of Music in both piano and violin. She holds degrees in music from the University of British Columbia and the University of North Texas, and a doctorate from the University of Houston.
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Pianists
Dario Martin, Pianist coach/Assistant conductor
A native of Havana, Cuba, Dario Martin is a versatile pianist with an international career in solo performance, chamber music, and collaborative piano. He has won first prizes in international piano competitions in Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, and the United States. Dr. Martin’s active performance career has brought him to concert halls in Austria, Costa Rica, Cuba, England, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Spain, and the United States. Dr. Martin currently works as a Collaborative Pianist at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
Abigail Silverberg, Collaborative pianist intern
