Guest Artists
International Soprano - Master Clinician
Soprano Emily Hindrichs, born in New Orleans, made her European concert debut in 2008 as the Angel in Händel's Jephtha with the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart under Helmuth Rilling. One year later, she debuted as Queen of the Night at the English National Opera. Engagements followed with the Seattle Opera, the Seattle Symphony, the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
From 2013-2015, Hindrichs was a soloist at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, making role debuts as Oscar (Un Ballo in Maschera), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), and Musetta (La Bohème), as well as reprising her Königin der Nacht. In her breakout performance in the 2014 International Händel Festspiele production of Riccardo Primo, she was hailed as "the discovery of the evening" (Opernnetz). The same season, she was celebrated in the title role of Stravinsky's Le Rossignol, returned to Oper Frankfurt for performances of Die Zauberflöte, and made her London concert debut at the Barbican Centre, singing Reinhold Glière's Concerto for Coloratura Soprano.
In 2015 Hindrichs joined the ensemble of Oper Köln, where she has made notable role debuts as Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Teresa (Benvenuto Cellini), Cunegonde (Candide), and Rose Maurrant (Street Scene). In her first collaboration with Ensemble Musikfabrik, she gave the world premiere performance of Adela in Liza Lim's Tree of Codes, heard at both Oper Köln and the HELLERAU Tonlagen Festival, followed by an appearance with the ensemble at the ACHT BRÜCKEN Festival in Unsuk Chin's Cantatrix Sopranica. Later that year, Hindrichs made her house debut at Komische Oper Berlin in Barrie Kosky's acclaimed production of L'Enfant et les Sortilèges. 2018 marked an important role debut for the soprano: as Marie in Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten, Hindrichs "left no musical wish unfulfilled, rose to every challenge, never weakened" (Die Deutsche Bühne).
In the 2018-19 season Hindrichs returned to the Aalto-Theater Essen (Die Zauberflöte) and made her debut as Ishmaela in Olga Neuwirth's The Outcast at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. At Oper Köln, she made debuts as Wanda in Offenbach's La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, as Ottilie in Im weißen Rössl, and as Rose Maurrant in Kurt Weill's Street Scene. In the 2019-20 season Hindrichs made her house debut with the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar in Peter Konwitschny's new production of Lanzelot (Paul Dessau). In 2021 and 2022 followed role debuts as Marguerite in Faust at Oper Köln and Royal Danish Opera Copenhagen, as Clémence in Kaija Saariajo's L'amour de loin at Oper Köln, a role debut as Olympia in Barrie Kosky's Les Contes d'Hoffmann at Komische Oper Berlin, and the world premiere of Liza Lim's Annunciation Triptych with the WDR Sinfonieorchester under the direction of Cristian MÄcelaru. The 2022-23 season brought role debuts as Donna Clara the Infantin in Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg, Anna in Katie Mitchell's Miranda, and the world premiere of Arnaud Petit's much-lauded La bête dans la jungle. 2023-24 marked a return to Marie in Die Soldaten in a new touring production under François-Xavier Roth and Calixto Bieito at the Kölner Philharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and the Philharmonie de Paris, the world premiere of Frank Pesci's The Strangers, and a role debut as Elettra in Idomeneo. In 2024-25 she debuted as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, the Fifth Maid in Elektra, and in the world premiere of Philippe Manoury's Die letzten Tage der Menschheit at Oper Köln, as well as reprising Teresa in Benvenuto Cellini for her house debut at Semperoper Dresden. This season, Hindrichs makes role debuts as Freia in Das Rheingold, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Helmwige in Die Walküre, Zabelle in George Benjamin's Picture a Day Like This, and reprises Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro.
Hindrichs was a recipient of a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, a Sullivan Foundation Award, the winner of the Les Azuriales Opera Competition in France, and a New England regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions. She holds degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of Exeter, and a doctorate from the New England Conservatory. She completed her musical formation as a Max Kade Scholar at the Middlebury College German for Singers program, as a member of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, and as Tanglewood Music Center Vocal Fellow.
Drummond Walker
Heroic Tenor - Guest Clinician
Drummond Walker won the Beryl Searle Scholarship to Trinity College London, to study voice with John Wakefield. He joined The New Sadler’s Wells Opera Company before moving in 1984 to Germany to pursue his career as a soloist. His classic apprenticeship in which he sang both comic and lyric roles in musicals, operettas and operas began at the Landestheater Detmold. He went on to become the operetta tenor at Bielefeld, and then the Heldentenor at Eisenach. He has sung major roles in opera houses throughout Europe: Tannhäuser, Florestan (Fidelio), Hoffmann, Max (Der Freischütz), Pedro (Tiefland), and in operettas such as The Land of Smiles, Fledermaus, Wiener Blut, The Gypsy Baron, The Gypsy Princess and Night in Venice. Drummond works regularly with Maestro Gustav Kuhn at the Tyrolean Opera Festival Erl in Austria. In June 2009 he sang the role of Johannes in “The Book with Seven Seals” at the Miscolz Opera Festival, Hungary.
DAWN PIERCE
Soprano - Master Clinician, Coach, IPAI Advisory Board
Mezzo-soprano Dawn Pierce is a native of Olean, New York, and currently an assistant professor of voice at Ithaca College. Praised as both an exceptional performer and an empowering teacher, Ms. Pierce is devoted to promoting a deeper understanding of artistry and self-expression. Reviewers laud her as “vocally impressive and dramatically convincing,” while students describe her teaching as “creative,” “energetic,” and “inspiring.”
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On the operatic stage, she recently performed Olga in Eugene Onegin with Opera Carolina, Marthe in Faust withLyric Opera Baltimore, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana with Opera Tampa, and Madelon and Bersi in Andrea Chenier with Nashville Opera. This summer she will sing the title role inCarmen at the Southern Illinois Music Festival. She earned a Performing Artist Certificate and a Master's in Opera Performance from the AJ Fletcher Opera Institute and holds Bachelor's degrees in Vocal Performance and Music Education from Ithaca College. In her free time,Dawn enjoys making jewelry, reading, dancing, pilates, and weight training.