Lera Auerbach

Composer

A renaissance artist for modern times, Lera Auerbach is a widely recognized conductor, pianist, and composer. She is also an award-winning poet and an exhibited visual artist. All of her work is interconnected as part of a cohesive and comprehensive artistic worldview.
Lera Auerbach has become one of today’s most sought-after and exciting creative voices. Her performances and music are featured in the world’s leading stages – from Vienna’s Musikverein and London’s Royal Albert Hall to New York’s Carnegie Hall and Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center.
Auerbach’s exquisitely crafted, emotional, and boldly imaginative music reached to global audiences. Orchestral collaborations include the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Munich’s Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Staatskapelle Dresden, and Vienna’s ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester, among many others. Auerbach’s works for orchestra are performed by the world’s leading conductors, including Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Charles Dutoit, Andris Nelsons, Osmo Vänskä, Hannu Lintu, and Marin Alsop, to mention only a few.
Her large-scale theater works have been produced in major venues on every continent, including Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, New York’s Lincoln Center, the Hamburg State Opera, the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, the Royal Danish Theater, the Nuremberg State Theater, the Finnish National Theater, Moscow’s Stanislavsky, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing China and the NHK Hall in Tokyo.
Recent season highlights included WienModern’s 3.5-hour production of Demons & Angels with Auerbach as the conductor. Washington D.C.’s National Symphony premiered her 4th Symphony “Arctica”  – a work commissioned by the National Geographic Society. Her 4th Violin Concerto NYx: Fractured Dreams” was commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic with Alan Gilbert, and Leonidas Kavakos, and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra premiered her symphonic poem Eve’s Lament with Marin Alsop. 2022 brought the world premiere of two Lera Auerbach symphonies. The Nuremberg State Philharmonic presented the world premiere of Symphony No.5 ‘Paradise Lost’ conducted by Joana Mallwitz, and her Symphony No.6 ‘Vessels of Light,’ a commission of Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, was unveiled in Lithuania as part of the city’s Cultural Capital of Europe celebrations.
Her music is championed and recorded by today’s most prominent classical performers, including violinists Gidon Kremer, Leonidas Kavakos, Daniel Hope, Hilary Hahn, Vadim Gluzman, Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin; cellists Alisa Weilerstein, Gautier Capuçon, Alban Gerhardt, David Finckel; violists Kim Kashkashian, Nobuko Imai, and Lawrence Power, and many others.
Auerbach is equally prolific in literature and the visual arts. She incorporates these forms into her professional creative process, often simultaneously expressing ideas visually, in words, and through music. She has published three books of poetry in Russian, and her first English-language book, Excess of Being – in which she explores the rare form of aphorisms. Her next book, an illustrated work for children, A is for Oboe, published by Penguin Random House, won Audiofile Best Audiobook 2022. She is the recipient of the 2021 Marsh Hawk Press – Robert Creely Memorial Award for her English poetry manuscript “Morning Music.”
Auerbach has been drawing and painting all her life as part of her creative process. Her visual art is exhibited regularly, included in private collections, and represented by leading galleries.
Lera Auerbach holds multiple degrees from the Juilliard School in New York and the Hannover University of Music, Drama, and Media in Germany. Her teachers include Milton Babbitt, Rosalyn Tureck, Joseph Kalichstein, and Einar Steen-Nøkleberg.  The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, selected her in 2007 as a Young Global Leader, and since 2014, she has served as a Cultural Leader.  Boosey and Hawkes / Sikorski publish her music, and recordings are available on ECM, Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch, Alpha Classics, BIS, Cedille, and many other labels.

Kristina Reiko Cooper

Cellist

Cello virtuoso Kristina Reiko Cooper has won worldwide acclaim for her musical diversity, artistry, and charismatic stage presence. Her credits range from having received her Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate of Musical Arts at The Juilliard School to currently serving as visiting professor at Tel Aviv University, Israel.  Although well-known for traversing musical genres, she first established her career as a classical artist.

Hailed by The New York Times as “sensational in concert” and as a “striking virtuoso” by the Los Angeles Times, Kristina has performed as a soloist and chamber musician on many of the world’s most distinguished stages including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Suntory Hall of Tokyo, Radio France in Paris, and appearances with the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony and the Tokyo Yomiuri Symphony. Her many festival appearances include The Lincoln Center Summer Festival, Mostly Mozart, Musicians from Marlboro, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Stresa International Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Spoleto Festival USA. Kristina recently made her acclaimed solo Carnegie Hall Debut with the Tel Aviv Academy Orchestra. An enthusiast of new, popular and contemporary works, Kristina is well-known for her adventurousness. She has had many original works written and commissioned specifically for her. Among the composers that she has worked with are Phillip Glass, Mario Davidovsky, Josef Bardanashvili, and Roberto Sierra. As a chamber musician, Kristina received the Walter M. Naumburg Chamber Music Award first prize. She has been a member of many renowned ensembles, including the internationally acclaimed Quartetto Gelato, Opus X, and Intersection. She was also the musical director of The Israel Chamber Music Society and is on the board of the America Israel Cultural Foundation.

Kristina has an extensive discography of CD and DVD recordings, including many best-sellers. She has been featured in a few widely broadcast DVD’s including Quartetto Gelato–A Concert in Wine Country, and a solo recital DVD in Steinway Hall through Amadeus Press. Kristina has been heard often on National Public Radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and NHK in Japan as well as in television broadcasts for CNN, PBS, CBC Television, CBS’s 60 Minutes. Kristina received her bachelors and masters degrees in music and her doctorate of musical arts from The Juilliard School where she studied with Joel Krosnick, Robert Mann, and Felix Galimir. She is currently a visiting professor at Tel Aviv University, and plays on the 1743 “Ex-Havemeyer” Guadagnini Cello and the 1786 “Bonaparte” William Forester Senior cello. Kristina’s most recent release is the acclaimed Around the World with Love multi-media project and CD which adds yet another gem to her already brilliant array of musical programs. Kristina is also available for student outreach programs.

Constantine Orbelian

Conductor

For more than 30 years, four-time Grammy-nominated pianist and conductor Constantine Orbelian has been a central figure in Russia and Eastern Europe’s musical life. Orbelian has served as Music Director of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia of Russia, the Chief Conductor of the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra in Lithuania, and General and Artistic Director of the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater in Yerevan, Armenia, and in 2021, he was appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of the New York City Opera.

The California-based conductor tours and records with American stars such as Renée Fleming, Sondra Radvanovsky, Lawrence Brownlee, and Stephen Costello, and he made numerous celebrated recordings for Delos with Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Appearances in the US have included numerous performances at the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center, Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, and the Mostly Mozart Festival. Orbelian has conducted historic live telecasts from Moscow’s Red Square with such artists as Hvorostovsky and Anna Netrebko, viewed live around the world by 198 million people and subsequently issued on Deutsche Grammophon. Orbelian has also released recordings on Philips, Warner Classics, and Finlandia.

A tireless champion of Russian-American cultural exchange, in 2004, Orbelian was awarded the coveted title “Honored Artist of Russia," a title never before bestowed on a non-Russian citizen. In 2012, the Consulate in San Francisco awarded him the Russian Order of Friendship Medal, which singles out non-Russians who have contributed to the betterment of international relations with the Russian Federation and its people.

Zalmen Mlotek

Chorus Master

Zalmen Mlotek is an internationally acclaimed conductor and accompanist whose
musical prowess encompasses the Yiddish folk and theater worlds. As Artistic Director of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (nytf.org), he brought the award-winning Fidler Afn Dakh (Fiddler on the Roof) to New York. At this theater, the nation’s only professional Yiddish theater, he has helped to revive Yiddish classics, bring leading creative artists to the Yiddish stage, and instituted English subtitles. He has worked extensively with several choruses: conductor of the Workmen's Circle Chorus, The New Yiddish Chorale, and the American Symphony Chorus, where he prepared the chorus for Maestro Julius Rudel. Mr. Mlotek has given master classes and performed in London, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Cracow, Amsterdam, Moscow, St Petersburg, Kiev, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Eilat as well as all over the United States and Canada, and he has been a guest lecturer at Columbia University, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University, Hebrew Union College, the University of California at Berkeley, and Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv. Mlotek received his training as a classical pianist and conductor at The Juilliard School and the Tanglewood Music Center. Among his most notable teachers and mentors was Leonard Bernstein.

Elizaveta Ulakhovich

Soprano

Soprano Elizaveta Ulakhovich was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She attended the Music College N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. She was a member of the 2017 class of the People's Artist of the RSFSR E.S. Gorokhovskaya, where she graduated summa cum laude. As a Young Artist with the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, under the direction of Honored Art Worker D.Vdovin, Elizaveta won several awards, including Third Prize of the 9th International Competition S.Monyushko "Ubelskaya swallow” in Minsk, Belarus, and a special award of the 32nd international competition "Ismaele Voltolini" in Buscoldo, Italy. She was also involved in the world-premiere productions of the monoopera Cormorant, Samson and Delilah, based on Elena Skulskaya’s novel, and Tallinn and M. Weinberg's opera Idiot. Samson and Delilah was broadcast on Estonian national radio and television. She also performed over 100 concerts on many stages of Russia, including the Beethoven Hall of the Bolshoi Theatre and Philharmonic Hall of St. Petersburg. After moving to New York, Elizaveta was the winner of the Third Prize in the Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition, the finalist of the “Getting to Carnegie” competition, and given a special award of the Opera at Florham competition. In 2020, Elizaveta signed a contract with Lombardo Associates Artist Management. Last summer, she performed the leading soprano role of Matella in Handel’s Silla for Chicago Summer Opera. Elizaveta made her New York City Opera debut in the summer of 2022. She is very thankful for her voice teacher Michael Paul, her many artistic mentors, and her family for all of their support.

Amy Maude Helfer

Mezzo-soprano

Amy Maude Helfer, mezzo-soprano, is a versatile singing actor of opera, operetta, and musical theatre, especially noted for her “plangent mezzo” and “gorgeous voice.”
Opera/oratorio: Rosina with NYCO at Bryant Park, Carmen at Narnia Festival, Dinah (Trouble in Tahiti) at Boheme Opera NJ, Baba (Rake's Progress) with String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Vera (Consul) and Nancy (Albert Herring) at Bronx Opera, Witch (Hansel & Gretel), Berta (Barber), and Mercédès at Opera Theater of CT, Cherubino and Artist-in-Residence at Dayton Opera, Cenerentola at Quisisana, Hansel with Boston Lyric Opera–New England, alto soloist (Haydn Lord Nelson Mass; Stroope American Rhapsody) at Carnegie Hall.
Operetta/musical theatre: Petra (Night Music) at Union Avenue Opera, Phoebe (Yeomen) at Winter Opera St. Louis, Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd). NY G&S Players: Iolanthe, Phoebe, Tessa (Gondoliers), over 50 performances as Pitti-Sing (Mikado) and over 90 performances as Kate (Pirates) in NYC and on national tours.
Upcoming: Sister Margaretta (The Sound of Music), Zulma (L’italiana). Lotte Lenya Competition semifinalist. High holiday cantorial soloist. For Mom. www.amymaudehelfer.com

WooYoung Yoon

Tenor

A frequent guest of the New York City Opera, tenor WooYoung Yoon made his role debut as Edgardo this season in their production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Highlights this season include Mozart’s Requiem for the Evansville Philharmonic before returning to NYCO for All Is Calm. Last season he joined Maestro John Nelson for Christus am Oelberg with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, made his Carnegie Hall debut as the tenor soloist in Mozart’s Regina Coeli, debuted Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Knoxville Opera and New York City Opera, and performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Lubbock Symphony. Recent performances include the title roles in Les contes d’Hoffmann as a guest with Opera Theater Rutgers, and La damnation de Faust with Maestro Nelson and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica. A 2018 Merola Young Artist, he returned to San Francisco Opera the following season for a recital in the Schwabacher Recital Series, before joining the New Jersey State Opera as Rodolfo in La bohème. As a young artist at the Trentino Music Festival, he made his role debut as Don José in Carmen. He reprised the role in 2019 for the Martina Arroyo Foundation. Among his numerous awards, he is a 2022 Opera Index Awards winner, a 2019 Grand Prize Winner in the Orpheus Competition, and a Metropolitan Opera National Council Eastern Regional Finalist.

Christopher Job

Bass-baritone

Praised for his “commanding sonority” (Opera News) and described as “handsome, agile, and with a voice to match” (Boulder Daily Camera), bass-baritone Christopher Job is a “rising star on the American opera scene” (Grand Junction Free Press). In 2019 Job made his début with Los Angeles Opera as Dr. Grenvil in La Traviata and sang Sciarrone in Tosca with Bravo! Vail Music Festival. He also returned to Carnegie Hall for Handel’s Messiah, which he recently recorded live for the New Choral Society in New York.

Mr. Job has been engaged by The Metropolitan Opera since the beginning of his career, making his house début for their production of The Nose under the baton of Valery Gergiev. Other notable engagements with the esteemed opera house include the role of Sciaronne in Tosca, Sir Gualtiero Raleigh in Roberto Devereux and their productions of Don Carlo, The Enchanted Island, The Nose, Janáček’s From the House of the Dead, and Lulu created by world-renowned artist and director William Kentridge. Additionally, Job has joined the company for productions of Cendrillon, Roméo et Juliette, La fanciulla del West, La clemenza di Tito, and Tosca. He can also be seen on seven of their “Live in HD” broadcasts, including as Brühlmann in Werther and in their production of Macbeth.

Motl Didner

Diction Coach and Whisperer

Matthew “Motl” Didner (Whisperer and Yiddish Coach) is the Associate Artistic Director of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. Associate Director of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (Winner of Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards) directed by Joel Grey. Co-director of The Golden Bride (Drama Desk Award nominated: Outstanding Revival of a Musical and Outstanding Direction of a Musical). Other directing credits include The Sorceress, Fyvush Finkel Live! (Drama Desk Award nominated: Outstanding Musical Revue), Robert Brustein’s The King of Second Avenue, The Megile of Itzik Manger, The Pushcart Peddlers, and The Marriage Contract. Motl has appeared on stage in Gimpel the Fool and with The Folksbiene Troupe. As a Yiddish coach, he has worked on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, An American Pickle starring Seth Rogen, The Immigrant at George Street Playhouse, and New York City Opera’s Angels in America. Motl was an inaugural Translation Fellow at the Yiddish Book Center and teaches Yiddish language classes and theater workshops at the Workers Circle. Motl has crßeated 4 seasons of the hit educational series 15 Minute Yiddish (more or less) and authored The Big Book of 15 Minute Yiddish (more or less).

Stephanie Lynne Mason

Whisperer

Stephanie Lynne Mason is honored to be a part of A Concert for Sugihara. Most recently seen reprising her role as Hodl in Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish directed by Joel Grey, she was also in the ensemble in the most recent Broadway revival directed by Bartlett Sher. At National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene she was seen as Gussie in Amerike, the Golden Land and Di Kishefmakherin as Mirele. Other favorite theater credits include Dyanne in the National tour of Million Dollar Quartet as well as playing Louise in Gypsy. Love to my bashert, Drew.