FOUNDER
Arlene Shrut
Founder & Artistic Director
Arlene Shrut, is a collaborative pianist with a flair for the visionary: combining tradition with transformation. This two-fold passion guided Arlene to become Founder and Artistic Director of New Triad for Collaborative Arts, a 501C3 non-profit educational and arts service organization dedicated to providing classically-trained musicians with professional presentation skills that lead to more accessible concerts. New Triad's innovative interdisciplinary training helps artists dramatically increase both the expressiveness and visual impact of their performances.
Dr. Shrut is a Senior Coach at the Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts of The Juilliard School as well as a Vocal-Piano Recital Faculty Coach at the Manhattan School of Music. An admired keyboard performer hailed as a "strong and sensitive pianist" by The New York Times, Arlene has performed in major venues in America, Canada and Europe, and recorded for Dorian, Albany, Summit, Centaur and Orion labels. Arlene also launched The National Association of Accompanists and Coaches and taught on the faculties of Syracuse University and Mannes College. During the summer of 2009, her teaching and performing was featured at Vancouver International Song Institute, Operafest on Martha's Vineyard and Resonanz Festival. In the summer of 2010, she also joined the Atlantic Music Festival faculty and guested at Songfest in Malibu.
Arlene's ongoing activities in the operatic realm include serving as official pianist for international competitions sponsored by The Loren Zachary Society, The Gerda Lissner Foundation, The Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation and the Giulio Gari Foundation. She was coach/pianist for Arizona Opera's last complete Ring cycle and has performed in many gala concerts sponsored by the America Wagner Society. Arlene was a member of the coaching staff at the Aspen Opera Theater Center for fourteen summers, where she taught seminars on Mozart and German opera. Arlene was honored in 2003 as inaugural "Coach of the Year" by Classical Singer Magazine.
^ TOP ^
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Arlene Shrut, President, is Founder and Artistic Director of New Triad. She also serves on the faculties of The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music.
^ TOP ^
Michael B. Cox, Vice President, is a Senior Managing Director and founding partner of the Seabury Group, LLC, a boutique investment bank and consultancy firm specializing in the aviation industry. Prior to Seabury, Mr. Cox was a Director at Price Waterhouse and Vice President and Treasurer of Continental Airlines.
^ TOP ^
George C. Doomany, Treasurer, is Managing Director of Andlinger & Company, Inc. and former Senior Managing Director of Mandarin Partners, LLC.
^ TOP ^
Jamil French, Esq. Jamil French, an investment management attorney with Axiom Global Inc. Prior to joining Axiom, Jamil was a Managing Director for Talent, Branding and Communications at Credit Suisse and Associate General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Sandell Asset Management Corp.
^ TOP ^
Dr. Kate Nesbit is a professional singer and former manager of a mystery bookstore in New York City.
^ TOP ^
ADVISORY BOARD
Richard Adams, VP Emeritus Manhattan School of Music
David Bennett, Executive Director, Gotham Chamber Opera, NYC
Steven Blier, Co-Founder and Co-Director New York Festival of Song
William Bolcom, International Composer, premieres include Metropolitan Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera
Eric Booth, Teaching artist and national consultant on arts learning and arts organization leadership and former Artistic Director of Mentoring at The Juilliard School
Katherine Ciesinski, International Opera and Recital Singer, Head of Voice Studies, Moores School of Music , University of Houston
Denise Coleman, non-profit consultant
James Dunlop, Esq. formerly an associate at King & Spalding in the Intellectual Property group and specializes in trademark counseling.
Mary Barker Evans has extensive experience both in the business world and as a performing artist. She also was the founder of Houston Opera Theater, and has served in management positions of multiple Houston charities.
John Forconi, Chairman of the Accompanying Department, Manhattan School of Music
Margo Garrett, Collaborative Piano Faculty, The Juilliard School and U of MN
Steven Gross, International opera and musical theater conductor. Former Music Director, Theater des Westens, Berlin
Bert Harclerode, Executive Director, Chamber Music Sedona
Dimitri Hvorostovsky, International Opera and Recital Singer
Mark Kaczmarczyk, Director of Opera & Musical Theater of Ithaca College and Founder, Detroit Oratorio Society
Susan Lochner, Professional singer and teacher of English as a Second Language in the Hawthorne School District in New Jersey. She was a founding member of New Triad and served on its Board of Directors from 2003-2010.
Karin Laine McMillen, is an opera singer who has worked in arts non profit organizations including Interlochen Center for the Arts and New England Conservatory.
Derek Mithaug, Executive Director Suburban Community Music Center (NJ)and President, Mithaug Artists. Former Director of Career Development and Co-Director of the Mentoring Program,The Juilliard School
Joan Morris, Cabaret artist and faculty member, University of Michigan
Peter Oundjian, Conductor and Artistic Director, The Caramoor Festival
Mark Riggleman, Director of Education, Chicago Lyric Opera
Paul Sperry, Director of Joy in Singing and Faculty member Manhattan School of Music
Arnold Steinhardt, First Violinist Guarneri String Quartet
Jennifer White is a professional choral and opera singer and has ten years of experience in Executive Search for the Alternative Investment community.
^ TOP ^
NEW TRIAD FACULTY
Michael Batshaw, Psychology of Partnership
Michael Batshaw is a New York City based psychotherapist, author and nationally recognized relationship expert. Mr. Batshaw is a featured relationship authority for Psychology Today where he writes a blog for their website entitled, Before you get Engaged: Questions to contemplate if you are thinking of marriage. In addition to Psychology Today, his expertise on a variety of relationship issues has been featured in Redbook Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Encore Magazine, sheknows.com, lifescript.com, thedailybeast.com, and bettyconfidential.com, among others. Mr. Batshaw graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with honors in Philosophy, completed his Masters of Science in Social Work at Columbia University, and did his post-graduate training at the Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy. Michael Batshaw is on the faculty of the New York Open Center, offering seminar courses on overcoming the obstacles to true intimacy. He is the author of two books, 51 Things You Should Know Before Getting Engaged (Turner, 2009) and Before Saying "I Do": The Essential Guide to a Successful Marriage (Turner, 2011).
Mr. Batshaw is also a professional opera singer and trained with teachers from The Julliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music and the Academy of Vocal Arts. In 2003, Mr. Batshaw made his Carnegie Hall debut as the tenor soloist in the Berlioz Requiem. Mr. Batshaw's solo engagements have included Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony", Mozart's "Requiem" and Rossini's "Stabat Mater" among others. He continues to study voice with Bill Schuman of the Academy of Vocal Arts. Mr. Batshaw performs in the New York area and beyond in concerts and recitals, as his schedule permits. Michael Batshaw can be reached at contact@michaelbatshaw.com or directly through his website: michaelbatshaw.com.
^ TOP ^
Alyssa Dodson, Body Awareness & Stage Deportment
As a professional dancer, Alyssa Dodson has performed with many distinguished dance companies. They include the Martha Graham Dance Company, Pilobolus, The Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre, The Mark Morris Dance Group, and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. Ms. Dodson has worked as an assistant choreographer for Pilobolus’s version of the Nutcracker commissioned by the Ballet du Rhin of Mulhouse, France. Ms. Dodson has been on the staff of Tanglewood since 1999 teaching yoga, movement and placement to singers, instrumentalists and conductors. In December of 2002, Ms. Dodson taught the singers of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist program. As a dance teacher, Ms. Dodson has taught the Martha Graham Technique at NYU Dance Education Department, Cap 21, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and participated in numerous master classes worldwide.
^ TOP
Adam Marks
Praised as an "excellent pianist" with "titanic force" (New York Times), Adam Marks combines a commitment to contemporary music with innovative programming designed to reach new audiences of all types. In 2008, Mr. Marks made history as the first American laureate of the prestigious Orleans Competition for music composed since 1900 in Orleans, France. A frequent recitalist, Adam has performed extensively throughout the United States, as well as Europe. As a soloist, Adam has appeared with the Manchester Symphony Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Brandeis-Wellesley Symphony Orchestra. Other notable venues include the Salle Cortot in Paris, Zankel and Weill Halls at Carnegie, Miller Theatre in New York, the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, Chicago Cultural Center, Montalvo Arts in California, and the New World Symphony Stage. As a teacher, Marks has presented lectures and masterclasses at Yale, Juilliard, Mannes, University of Northern Iowa, Carthage College, and Manchester College.
Collaboration is a crucial element in Marks’ career. As the pianist and Director of Artistic Programming for Chicago’s Fifth House Ensemble, he designs and presents programs for concert stages, cultural institutions, and educational facilities alike. Other endeavors include performances with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Beattie, performance artist Connie Beckley, video artist Jenny Perlin, and many others.
Mr. Marks currently serves on the faculty of Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He holds degrees from Brandeis University and the Manhattan School of Music. He is currently a candidate for the Ph.D at New York University. His teachers include Anthony De Mare, Sara Davis Buechner, Donn-Alexandre Feder, Evan Hirsch, and Lois Banke. Adam Marks is a Yamaha Artist.
^ TOP ^
Ellen Rievman, Stage Presence
Ellen Rievman has a performing career spanning nearly three decades. For twenty-four years, as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, she performed in over 100 productions alongside some of our generation's greatest opera stars. Since leaving the Met in 1995, she has worked with singers to coach the drama, explore the text, and to incorporate these skills with gesture, movement, stagecraft, and physical eloquence. She is a Senior Associate at The TAI Group, a boutique consulting firm in New York, working with business clients internationally, is a core consultant of New Triad for the Collaborative Arts, and is on faculty of Martina Arroyo's summer workshop, Prelude to Performance. She has been featured in interviews in Dance Magazine, Classical Singer Magazine and Opera News. A partial list of her accomplishments includes teaching Master Classes and directing for Apprentice Artists of the Santa Fe Opera, Sarasota Opera, National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) National and Regional Conventions, Metropolitan Opera Guild, Manhattan School of Music, the Juilliard School, Mannes College of Music, UNC, Greensboro, New York Singing Teachers' Association (NYSTA) National Symposium and Classical Singer Magazine. As a director, she has staged scenes, directed cabaret acts, produced and directed opera evenings of contemporary composers, directed concerts and recitals, and worked with the Manhattan School of Music's Baroque Aria Ensemble in their annual productions.
^ TOP ^
Stephanie Sundine, What Conductors and Directors Expect/ Creating a Vibrant Opera Chorus/ Young Artists Express the Text through Music
Stephanie Sundine's career as a soprano took her to three continents and many of the world's leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Opéra de Paris, Radio France, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Oper Leipzig, and Welsh National Opera in major roles in new productions with some of opera's most prominent directors and conductors. Her repertoire as a singer extended from Mozart and Beethoven through Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Strauss, Dvorak and Janacek. Her portrayal of Emilia Marty in Janá?ek's The Makropulos Case is available on video.
Stephanie Sundine began directing opera in 1998 after retiring from her distinguished singing career. Her recent directing credits include Aida and La Fanciulla del West with Utah opera, La bohème with Indiana University Opera Theater, Lucia di Lammermoor and Pearl Fishers with Opera Carolina, Pearl Fishers with Atlanta Opera and Madison Opera, Rigoletto with Ft. Worth Opera and Opera Santa Barbara, La traviata with Indianapolis Opera and Opera Santa Barbara, as well as numerous productions with Sarasota Opera: L'Arlesiana, La rondine, Pearl Fishers (including a revival of that production), Falstaff, Ariadne auf Naxos, Macbeth, Tosca, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci, La bohème and Madama Butterfly.
Ms. Sundine has directed Madama Butterfly with Toledo Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Delaware and Harrisburg Opera. For Syracuse Opera she has directed Aida and Macbeth, and she returned to Opera Delaware to direct Otello. Upcoming engagements include a return to Utah Opera for Tosca, Ernani with Opera Boston, and Rigoletto with Sarasota Opera.
Ms. Sundine has been a guest stage director and acting teacher in the Boston University Opera Department, and has given master classes at Catholic University, Southern Methodist University, the University of Delaware, and the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, among others. She has adjudicated several competitions including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, the Connecticut Alliance for Music, and the Dicapo Opera Vocal Competition in New York City. In 2011, she will be a judge for the Jensen Foundation in New York.
^ TOP ^
Arlene Shrut, Musical Dynamics of Partnership, and Must Have Mozart
(Refer to Founder's Bio)
^ TOP ^
Debra Wiley, Acting the Aria/ Enacting the Song
Debra Wiley is an internationally acclaimed acting teacher and coach, stage director, and singing voice specialist. She teaches ongoing master classes in Europe and has taught and directed performers in the U.S. at institutions that include The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College of Music, New York University, Marymount Manhattan College, Harlem School of the Arts, Henry Street Settlement, the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, and the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute. In her private studio in Manhattan, Debra teaches the techniques of singing and acting and specializes in integrating the two. Recent master classes and residencies include The Danish Actors Union, Songfest, The Danish State Theater School, Chamber Music America, New Triad's Audience Engagement pilot though Juilliard's Professional Mentoring program, NYU Steinhardt, Disney Theatrical Productions and Mannes.
As a performer, Debra has been featured with professional companies across many disciplines (opera, theater, musical theater, cabaret) and studied with some of the finest and most famous teachers and directors of our time, including Lee Strasberg, Ed Kovens, Herbert Berghof, Wesley Balk and August Everding. She earned her Master's degree from NYU in both Acting and Opera. She can be contacted by email: singeractorstudio@verizon.net.
^ TOP ^
STAFF
Troy Finamore, Art Director
Troy Finamore is an award winning Art Director with over 20 years of experience producing high-profile business-to-business and business-to-consumer projects both on the agency and corporate side. He is skilled in many media, including: print, web, interactive, animation, sound design, illustration, photography and fine art. His work has been published in The AdAge Encyclopedia of Advertising and Lurzer’s Archive Magazine. In 2002, his work won two AdWeek Icon awards and two WebAwards. He currently runs his own design firm, Finamore Design, in Brooklyn, NY.
^ TOP ^
Meryl Sher, Marketing Consultant
Miss Sher is a dramatic soprano and sings such roles as Brünnhilde, Turandot, Tosca, Abigaille, Leonora in Il Trovatore and Leonore in Fidelio, Aida, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, among others. She has worked for over 27 years as Executive Assistant to Presidents of many diverse companies including music publishing, corporate companies and investment banks. She was Chairman of Beauty Beyond Size, a non-profit company devoted to empowering women through seminars, workshops and special events. Meryl is a volunteer for New Triad as writer, editor and word processor for all marketing materials, letters, newsletter and website documents.
^ TOP ^
Arlene Shrut, Artistic Director and Acting Executive Director
President, is the Founder and Artistic Director of New Triad for Collaborative Arts and serves on the Faculties of The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music.