Carol Castel

Ms. Castel's career has taken her through the theater world from musical theater to opera; from actress and singer to singing actress; from arts administrator to opera stage director. Her directing career has included over 55 opera productions in the U.S., Canada and Europe. In addition to a studio of private voice students, Ms. Castel coaches and teaches classes in acting, artistry and performance practices for the classical singer. She is currently on the faculty of OperaNUOVA in Edmonton, Canada, Spoleto Vocal Arts Symposium in Spoleto Italy and is founder of the New York Opera Studio. For more information about Ms. Castel visit her web site at www.castelopera.com or www.newyorkoperastudio.org.

Nico Castel

A multi-talented artist and scholar, Nico Castel has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Company as staff diction coach and artist for the past 36 years. Mr. Castel is the undisputed and internationally acclaimed expert on language, diction and style for singers. Currently on the staff of the Santa Fe Opera Co and on the faculties of The Juilliard School of Music, Mannes School of Music, Spoleto Vocal Arts Symposium and the New York Opera Studio, he teaches master classes in diction and style for singers at universities and opera companies throughout the world. Mr. Castel has authored 20 volumes of Opera Libretti translations as well as the "Manual for Spanish Lyric Diction". For more information about Mr. Castel visit his web site at www.castelopera.com or www.newyorkoperastudio.org.

Nicholas Di Virgilio

A Professor of Music and member of the voice faculty since 1976, Nicholas Di Virgilio (Director) retired from the University of Illinois in 2004. Mr. Di Virgilio brings a high degree of professionalism to his work as a result of his extensive experience in opera as a performer, coach, director, and educator. His own studies took place at the Eastman School of Music, the Kathryn Turney Long School for Opera Singers, the Metropolitan Opera Studio, and the Boris Goldovsky Workshop. His long list of performance credits in Europe and the United States include the televised American premiere of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Erich Leinsdorf at Tanglewood, to also include the recorded Memorial Mass for John F. Kennedy with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the recorded performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, and many roles as the leading tenor of the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and the New York City Opera.

Mr. Di Virgilio has worked with some of the finest conductors and directors in the world, including Eugene Ormandy, Molinari-Pradelli, Franco Patane, Emerson Buckley, Eve Queler, Julius Rudel, Alfred Wallesnstein, Zubin Mehta, Igor Stravinsky, Horst Stein and Seigi Ozawa; and stage directors Kirk Browning, Henry Butler, Tito Capobianco, Frank Corsaro, Patrick Tavernia, Boris Goldovsky, James DeBlasis, Frank Rizzo, Louis Erlo, Gunther Rennert, Mathew Ferruggio, Lotfi Mansouri, Jose Quintero and Aiyoyama.

At the University of Illinois, Mr. Di Virgilio's most recent productions have been Tales of Hoffman, Romeo et Juliette, Gianni Schicchi, and Suor Angelica with the University of Illinois Opera Department. He has written and coordinated an opera program, Youth Opera Preparation and Education (YOPE), which has been performed for well over 52,117 elementary school children in Illinois.

Mr. Di Virgilio enjoys his retirement, but never one to sit idle, he continues to present masterclasses and direct. In 2005 Mr. Di Virgilio directed a semi-staged version of Georg Enescu's Oedipe with Sinfonia da Camera of Urbana, Illinois. Opera Theatre of St. Louis installed his YOPE program to the educational outreach branch of the Opera Theatre. The Palm Beach Opera of Florida is beginning their first year (2006) with the YOPE outreach program. A semi-staged performance of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' for the Sinfonia da Camera in Illinois is his most recent project.