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Wednesday, June 9, 5:30 pm - Thomas Wolf
At a private home, Stonington, CT
America the Beautiful - a Celebration of the American Opera Singer
In this listening lecture, Mr. Wolf celebrates the singular contribution of the American operatic artist.

Wednesday, July 21, 5:30 pm - Simon Holt
At a private home, Pawcatuck, CT
The Audition Process
Salt Marsh Opera singers will assist Mr. Holt in a mock audition and discussion.

Thursday, September 23, 5:30 pm - James Kuslan
At a private home, Stonington, CT

OR

Thursday, October 21, 6:00 pm - James Kuslan
Co-sponsored by the Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, 2 Library Lane, Old Lyme, CT

Open to the public

Bacchus goes to the Opera
Mr. Kuslan will discuss how much play alcohol and other potations get in the operatic and operetta repertoire, and will include some anecdotes about singers whose penchant for grape or grain made for on- and off-stage fiascos.

Thomas Wolf
Lyric Tenor
Thomas Wolf is a native of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He received his Bachelor of Music and his Master's of Music Degrees from Cleveland State University and subsequently studied with Nancy Stokes-Milnes in New York City. Other teachers have included the late Cornelio Cairati of Zürich, Switzerland and Patricia Göhl of Munich, Germany.

He has performed on several stages in the United States and abroad, and is especially appreciated for his vocal and dramatic portrayals of Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Mr. Wolf has also received acclaimed for performances as Pelléas in Pelléas et Melisande, Lionel in Martha, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Alfredo in La Traviata. A frequent visitor to the recital platform and a proficient linguist, Mr. Wolf possesses a repertoire of some 350 songs in seven different languages. He made his European recital and operatic debuts in 1991 in Germany. On the occasion of his recital debut, Mr. Wolf's singing led the Münchner Merkur, Southwest Germany's largest newspaper, to comment on, "a particularly beautiful and warm tenor voice, wonderfully controlled throughout a very wide range and with an almost baritonal foundation." The same writer further averred, "His considerable musical and interpretive abilities are beyond any question." Mr. Wolf has also been much in demand on the concert stage, performing the Masses of Mozart, the great Passions of Johann Sebastian Bach and especially Uriel in Haydn's The Creation, the role in which he made his debut at Carnegie Hall.

Thomas Wolf has coached extensively the art song and operatic repertoires and lectures frequently for professional organizations and universities in New York City including Columbia University, the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall. His great knowledge of the 18th and 19th century works for the operatic stage and of vocal ornamentation is widely recognized. Mr. Wolf is also a frequent guest on the famed Opera Quiz heard internationally every Saturday afternoon during the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. He is also the author of scholarly musical articles, some of which have been published in Germany and France. Thomas Wolf is a founding Board Member and was for ten years Executive Director of American Singers' Opera Project. Mr. Wolf is also an Independent associate with Usana Health Sciences.

Simon Holt
Salt Marsh Opera Executive and Artistic Director
Simon Holt, Salt Marsh Opera's Executive and Artistic Director, is a graduate of The Royal College of Music, London and Goldsmith's College, University of London and prizewinner at The Royal College of Organists in London. His credentials include four diplomas - two in performance and two in teaching.

Mr. Holt has been Music Director of the Bristol Cathedral School Choral Society, the Bromsgrove Choral Society and the Birmingham University Chorus and Orchestra, with venues including The Royal Albert Hall, Symphony Hall, Birmingham and Bristol Cathedral. He also became Music Director at Bristol Cathedral School.

As an organist, he has performed in Westminster Abbey, York Minster, Selby Abby, St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, Reading Town Hall and the cathedrals of Norwich, Carlisle, Portsmouth, Wells, Canterbury, Rochester and Gloucester. Mr. Holt has toured extensively in Europe performing at St. Mark's in Venice, Sacré Coeur and Notre Dame in Paris and venues in Holland, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium and Switzerland. He has appeared several times on British and American radio and television.

In 1999 he and his family moved to Stonington, Connecticut, where he is Director of Music and Organist at Calvary Church. He founded and serves as Executive Director of Calvary Music School and Director of the Stonington Choral Society. He is the Director of The Anglican Singers, a New London, Connecticut based chorus, and is Director of Music in School at St. Thomas Choir School in New York City.

Mr. Holt has conducted numerous operas, operettas and musicals throughout his career. He is a sought-after organ recitalist in the eastern United States and has recorded and produced several CDs. Mr. Holt has been Salt Marsh Opera's Music Director since its inception in 2000, became its Artistic Director in 2005 and Executive Director in 2008.

James Kuslan
As artistic producer, James Kuslan is creating a series of vocal CDs for Deutsche Grammophon to feature some of the German classical record company's most glamorous stars. Mr. Kuslan has been a voice scout in the U.S. for DG and wrote the marketing copy and headlines for its 2009 and 2010 release books. He also contributed the essay that accompanies the recent DVD release of the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Lucia di Lammermoor starring Anna Netrebko. Among his credits as a writer of liner notes is London's 20 CD collection, Opera Made Easy, which highlights the artistry of Luciano Pavarotti.

A graduate of Yale University's School of Drama and a frequent lecturer on topics operatic and theatrical, he wrote completely original dialogue for Salt Marsh Opera's performances this past Fall of Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus. For the Greater Middletown Chorale, he will be lecturing on Mendelssohn's Elijah prior to GMC's May 2 performance of the great oratorio. He also enjoys working as a speechwriter. Most recently, in this capacity, he fashioned the opening remarks given by Laura Walker, President and CEO of New York's WNYC and WQXR radio stations, for the roast given at New York's Cooper Union for talk show personality, Leonard Lopate, celebrating his 25th anniversary with WNYC. Mr. Kuslan serves as an artistic advisor to Salt Marsh Opera on the Program Committee of its Connecticut River Advisory Board.