Faculty Members
Ann Baltz | David Aks | Vida Alikani | Kevin Bylsma | Kristina Driskill | Zeffin Quinn Hollis | Kelly Horsted | Chun-Wei Kang | Lilia Kibarska | Amy Pell | Elvia Puccinelli | Suzanne Recer | Shane Schag | Eric Sedgwick | Doug Sumi | Paula Thomson
ANN BALTZ is Founder and Artistic Director of the nationally acclaimed performance training program, OperaWorks. A master teacher of performance skills and operatic improvisation for opera companies, conservatories and universities, Ms. Baltz has been heralded as one of the leading opera educators in America today. She is a frequent speaker at national conventions, including National Association of Teachers of Singing, National Opera Association, and Classical Singer. She is currently on the steering committee for OPERA America's Singer Training Forum in New York City, and a frequent panelist for OPERA America's national seminars Building a Career: Strategies for Success.
An inventive approach and reputation as the consummate pedagogue have made Ms. Baltz a much sought-after teacher and coach. Her students, many of them graduates of OperaWorks, grace the operatic and concert stages, and consistently reach the highest honors in national and international competition. Among her teaching positions, Ms. Baltz served as Director of Apprentice Programs for Orlando Opera, and Opera Pacific; Music Director for the Wesley Balk Summer Institute; and as Guest Director of the Opera Workshops at Carnegie-Melon University. Ms. Baltz is on the opera faculty of California State University, Northridge.
Her diverse professional background includes roles as assistant conductor, coach, and chorus master in more than 40 productions of operas with such companies as Minnesota Opera, Orlando Opera, Portland Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Pacific and Wolf Trap Opera. She has worked with noted conductors including Richard Bonynge, Anton Coppola, Stewart Robertson, and celebrated singers Dame Joan Sutherland, James McCracken, and Ruth Ann Swenson. An accomplished pianist, Ms. Baltz played extensively on tour with Columbia Artist Concerts, Western Opera Theater, and Minnesota Opera.
Through her deep commitment to new and experimental works, Ms. Baltz has served as Music Director and Co-creator of Composer-Librettist Studios in San Francisco, New York, and Minneapolis, as well as Music Director for New Works Projects at the Minnesota Opera Institute and Portland Opera.
In 2004, Ms. Baltz received a Red Carpet Award from "Women In Theatre" recognizing her outstanding achievements in theater in Los Angeles. She was a recipient of a prestigious grant from the National Institute for Music Theater to engage in an in-depth study of twelve operas and the Italian language.
As a writer, Ms. Baltz has contributed articles for Opera America's publications Business Advice for Singers and Making Choices. Additional articles appear in Classical Singer, and Vocals magazines. She frequently serves as an adjudicator for competitions throughout the country including the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions.
Ms. Baltz earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of New Mexico and a Masters degree in Piano Accompanying from Arizona State University. She studied at the San Francisco Opera where she received the Otto Guth Award for outstanding coach in the Merola Program.
DAVID AKS has a wide range of operatic, choral and orchestral experience. He served as Assistant Conductor to Seiji Ozawa for Tosca at Tanglewood, and been Music Director for numerous productions including The Marriage of Figaro, The Impressario, The Magic Flute, Cosi Fan Tutte The Coronation of Poppea, Trouble in Tahiti, L'Enfant et les Sortileges ,Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, The Tender Land, Suor Angelica, The Mikado, Amahl and the Night Visitors and The Medium. He has conducted several highly acclaimed Opera Highlights programs as part of the Concerts-in-the-Park series in Los Angeles. For many years Mr. Aks has taught at the prestigious OperaWorks summer workshop where he has coached, conducted and taught classes in conducting and dramatic scene analysis. He has also taught at the Altenburg Musiktheater Akademie in Germany.
Mr. Aks has held professional conducting positions in New York, Florida and Colombia, South America. He is currently Professor of Music at the California State University, Northridge where, in addition to his duties as head of the opera program, he is the former conductor of the CSUN Symphony, instructor of cello and chair of the string area. Recent guest conducting appearances have included the Fresno Phliharmonic, The Antelope Valley Symphony and the Black Sea Philharmonic in Romania.
Mr. Aks has studied at Indiana University, Oberlin College, the Minnesota Opera Institute, the Conducting Class of Franco Ferrara in Siena, Italy, and at the Tanglewood Festival (studies with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Colin Davis and Andre Previn). He is currently Artistic Director and Conductor of the CSUN Opera Theater at California State University, Northridge. Contact David Aks.
VIDA ALIKANI has been teaching yoga at OperaWorks since 2005. She encourages singers to explore the usefulness of yoga practice in supporting their personal and artistic growth.
A dancer and ballet instructor, Ms. Alikani began practicing yoga in 1998. Her interest in yoga philosophy, her love for studying movement, and her passion for teaching drew her to the instructor training program at Center for Yoga (Los Angeles), where she received her certification in 2004.
Ms. Alikani holds a B.A. in English Literature from the honors program at CSUN, and she has written articles for health and fitness magazines. Currently, she divides her time between teaching yoga and writing.
KEVIN BYLSMA, accomplished pianist and vocal coach, is well known in the Midwest for his work in art song, opera and oratorio. As head of music preparation for Toledo Opera, he had coached productions of Tosca, The Tales of Hoffmann and The Magic Flute. He served as music director of the Department of Community Programs for the Michigan Opera Theatre from 1993-97 and was vocal coach, accompanist and chorus master for OPERA!Lenawee from 1992-97.
Additional music directing credits include the Lyric Chamber Ensemble of Detroit and the Papagena Opera Company of Ann Arbor. Kevin has appeared throughout the United States, Canada and Europe as an organist, pianist and accompanist. He has toured Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic with tenor Robert Mirshak, and most recently he has appeared in master classes and recitals with soprano Diana Soviero and mezzo-soprano Irina Mishura.
Kevin has served as principal keyboardist with the Adrian and Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestras, and is the winner of a number of competitive awards, including the Robert Glasgow Organ Scholarship from the University of Michigan and the Lucille Mehaffie Young Artist Award. He currently serves as assistant organist at the historic Mariners' Church in Detroit.
Mezzo-soprano KRISTINA DRISKILL has been praised for her agile coloratura, as well as for her unique vocal colour. Of her performance as Siebel in Faust, the Houston Press claimed, "With her utter professionalism, plummy dark voice, and easy stage presence, Driskill outshines everyone else."
Ms. Driskill has also performed roles including the title role in La Cenerentola, Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Sesto (Guilio Cesare), Dorabella (Cosi fan Tutte), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Beppe (L'amico Fritz), Mercedes (Carmen), Flora (La Traviata), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Meg (Falstaff and Merry Wives of Windsor), The Witch (Into the Woods), Hodel (Fiddler on the Roof) and Mere Marie (Dialogues of the Carmelites), as well as Carmela in Dallas Opera's production of La Vida Breve with Denyce Graves. She has sung with companies including Utah Festival Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca (Italy), Opera East Texas, Opera in the Heights (Houston), OperaWorks (Los Angeles), Amarillo Opera, Orchestra X (Houston), Los Angeles Opera’s Sing Out Loud series, Lake Charles Symphony, and the Brazosport Symphony Orchestra, and has sung performances in England, Scotland, Germany, Austria, and Sweden. Ms. Driskill performed the role of The Dark Woman in the East And West Coast world staged premieres of Tony Caruso's Final Broadcast composed by Paul Salerni. She recently sang the roles of the Forrester's Wife, the Innkeeper's Wife, and the Owl with Long Beach Opera's 2009 production of The Cunning Little Vixen.
Ms. Driskill holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Louisiana State University and a Master of Music degree from Rice University and is finalizing her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from West Virginia University. She previously served as the managing director of OperaWorks and is proud to return for her third year teaching Performance Techniques and Marketing for Singers. Kristina currently teaches voice and diction for Chapman University's Conservatory of Music.
In the throes of a preeminent performing career, ZEFFIN QUINN HOLLIS has appeared as a principal artist at many of the world’s significant opera houses including Dallas Opera, New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Pacific, Opera Theatre of Pittsburg, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Delaware, Toledo Opera, New Orleans Opera, Hungary’s Szeged & Pécs National Theaters, and the Dicapo Opera Theater. His signature operatic roles include Scarpia (Tosca), Escamillo (Carmen), and Jack Rance (La Fanciulla del West); all the while being equally identifiable in the top echelon of new music working on composer’s premiers of the like of Jake Heggie, Tobias Picker, Tarik O’Regan, and at NYC Opera’s famed VOX festival of new works. In the fall of 2008, Mr. Hollis represented the USA as John Proctor in the award-winning production of The Crucible broadcast to 46 countries on Mezzo Television.
Zeffin is also an accomplished director and acting coach. His studies in acting are from the Conservatory of Theater Arts at Webster University and later with such teachers as Michael Shurtleff and Diana Castle. He is the co-founder of Singing Actors' Lab in Los Angeles, the production and group class arm of ZajacStudio. Working with the concept that all performance art is simple storytelling, the mission of SAL is to bring the best of both worlds from acting and classical singing where acting choices support the vocal technique and vice versa. As a stage director Mr. Hollis’s productions have been on the stages of Opera Las Vegas; Los Angeles’ Dell Chamber Opera; Larchmont Concert Opera; and also recently at the Off Broadway Theater, the Lambs.
Pianist KELLY HORSTED, a native of Sioux City, Iowa, enjoys an active career in NYC as an accompanist, music director and vocal coach specializing in new opera, art song, and role preparation.
An enthusiast of new music, Kelly serves as a part of the artistic team at Chelsea Opera performing Glory Denied by Tom Cipullo. Kelly was a music director for the Composers and the Voice series at American Opera Projects for two seasons. His collaboration with American Opera Projects has also included performances of Tarik O'Regan's Heart of Darkness and music direction for several readings of Paula Kimper's opera, The Bridge of San Luis Rey. He assisted preparing the cast of Patience and Sarah for the chamber opera's premiere at the Lincoln Center Festival. In November 2010, Kelly returned to American Opera Projects with its first semi-staged workshop of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, an opera-in-development by Hershel Garfein directed by Mark Morris. Kelly was pleased to perform on the 20th Anniversary concert for Friends and Enemies of New Music featuring Baritone Chris Pedro Trakas and works by Adams, Bolcom and Yarmolinsky. Other contemporary music performances include Vector 5, Cutting Edge Music, Downtown Music Productions, Five Words in a Line and the Guggenheim Museum's Works and Process series.
Dedicated to the development of singers, Kelly returned to Ann Baltz's Operaworks in California in June 2009, completing five summers as a faculty member. As a visiting lecturer, Kelly music directed Hunter College's flagship mixed bill, The Sisters of Nikolas Flagello and M. Choufleuri of Offenbach. As a coach at the Mannes College of Music, he served as music director for performances of Ned Rorem's Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters. Kelly served as staff accompanist at the International Workshops in Graz, Austria, and at the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in Brunswick, Maine.
An active performer, Kelly participated in the Wintergreen Festival headed by Larry Allen Smith, where his performances included Respighi's adaptation of Monteverdi's Orfeo as well as two Liederabends. Kelly was Assistant Conductor for Donizetti's L'Elisir D'Amore at New Jersey Opera Theatre and pianist for Menotti's The Medium with Opera Company of Brooklyn. He spent two years as faculty member at Intermezzo Opera as Assistant Conductor for L'Enfant et les Sortileges, in West Palm Beach, Florida, and as head coach for performances of Mark Adamo's opera, Little Women under the baton of Steven Osgood at the Hartt School in Connecticut. Mr. Horsted was music director for performances of Cosi fan Tutte at Merkin Concert Hall with director Janet Bookspan, and for Harrisburg, PA's Opera in the Park. He performed at Wall to Wall Bernstein at Symphony Space. Kelly was music director of the New York based opera company The CoOperative for six years. Kelly performs community outreach programs regularly as part of Trinity Church's Concerts to Go, Concerts in Motion, and as music director of La Piccola Opera with Arts Horizons.
Mr. Horsted is a gifted and versatile pianist whose other performances include appearances at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and the prestigious Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, as well as Fountainbleau, France and NBC's Weekend Today Show. He earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Eastman School of Music, where he was a fellowship recipient and 1st place winner in the Kneisel Lieder Competition.
CHUN-WEI KANG, pianist, is a native of Taiwan. She has performed in recital both as soloist and ensemble performer throughout the United States, Canada and East Asia, including concerto performances with the Kingston Symphony Orchestra. In June 2000, Ms. Kang made her first appearance on the nationally syndicated Taiwanese Television Performing Arts channel in recital with her brother, Long-Long Kang, a violinist, and in January 2003, she was broadcasted in Japan with soprano Monique McDonald. Ms. Kang has won several awards and scholarships including the Gwendolyn Koldofsky Memorial Award, which was given to "a musician who demonstrated outstanding professionalism in collaborative piano". She has also served as staff pianist in the National Music Competition in Taiwan, Canadian Provincial Festival and the Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival.
A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music with a Master's degree, Ms. Kang is a vocal coach and pianist at Manhattan School of Music, the New Choral Society in New York, and OperaWorks in Los Angeles. Most recently, she appeared on PBS Sunday Arts in a showcase for rising young opera singers, and was the Assistant Music Director for The Tailor of Gloucester at MSM.
LILIA KIBARSKA was born and raised in Bulgaria. She was a rhythmic gymnast for thirteen years, five of which were in the Bulgarian National Rhythmic Gymnastics Team. She came to the US to work for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus as a dancer and a gymnast. She earned a B.F.A. in Dance at California Institute of the Arts, during which she was invited to perform as a guest artist with Limon Dance Company. Lilia graduated CSUN with M.S. in Kinesiology and is currently teaching dance classes in the Kinesiology department. As a dancer and choreographer, she has presented work all over the great Los Angeles area for the last seven years. Lilia was the assistant choreographer for OperaWorks, 2008.
PATRICE PASTORE's career spans several diverse areas. She is a specialist in contemporary vocal music with performances at the Birch Creek Summer Festival, Grandin Festival, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Ithaca Opera, Hangar Theatre, Opera Theatre of Lucca. She has collaborated with prestigious composers including Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, George Crumb, Lukas Foss, John Harbison, Chen Yi, Libby Larsen. She has recorded for Spectrum and Golden Crest.
Ms. Pastore is also recognized for her work with improvisation, both in performance and as part of symposiums in Ireland. She is currently at Ithaca College where she is a voice faculty member and performing artist. She has also taught diction and voice at Rising Star Singers Institute, Grandin Festival, Clark University, and New England Conservatory of Music.
Her education includes M.M., New England Conservatory of Music; M.A., Tufts University; B.A., Bryn Mawr College. She has studied with Barbara Honn, Ann Baltz, Wesley Balk, Jan de Gaetani, Mignon Dunn, Joan Dorneman, Joan Heller, Susan Clickner, Phyllis Curtin, and Ellen Repp. Influential programs also include Tanglewood, OperaWorks, Musicians Club of America, International Institute of Vocal Arts, Wesley Balk Institute.
AMY PELL is a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique, class of '79, under the direction of Judy Leibowitz. Specializing in the performing arts, Amy has been on the faculty of the Juilliard School and at the Stratford Festival Theatre in Canada. She continued her Alexander studies with Patrick MacDonald, Walter Carrington, Marge Barstow and Pearl Ausubel. Amy assisted in training classes at the American Center for the Alexander Technique in New York and was a guest lecturer and visiting teacher at Boston University, York University, Columbia University, University of California, Irvine and CSUN Northridge.
Amy studied at the University of Michigan and England's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Besides teaching the Alexander Technique, she managed many Broadway productions including: Singin' in the Rain, On Your Toes, Showboat, The Petition (with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy), and Macbeth (with Glenda Jackson and Christopher Plummer). Amy assisted in producing the Cablevision/Radio City Christmas Spectacular at Universal Amphitheater and served as a consultant for the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, in connection with the opening of The Mandalay Bay Theatre and its inaugural production of the musical Chicago.
Amy was Senior Vice President of Production at Warner Bros. Feature Animation and was also the executive in charge of animation production for the film Space Jam. She served as a creative consultant for Nickelodeon Animation, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and produced an animated pilot for MTV. Amy co-produced Walt Disney Pictures' Aladdin, one of the top grossing pictures of all time.
ELVIA PUCCINELLI is active as a collaborative pianist, vocal coach, and chamber musician. A frequent recitalist at a variety of national and international venues, her broad professional experience embraces such diverse performance events as the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Chamber Concert Series, Placido Domingo's Operalia Competition, the International Viola Congress, and regional and national NATS conventions. Also an accomplished organist and harpsichordist, Dr. Puccinelli enjoys a wide variety of repertoire in her collaborations, from Baroque to Twenty-first century literature.
An alumna of San Francisco Opera's prestigious Merola Program, Dr. Puccinelli spends her summers coaching professional and emerging artists at the OperaWorks program in Los Angeles. She was twice invited to serve as rehearsal pianist for Seiji Ozawa at the Tanglewood Music Festival.
Dr. Puccinelli is on the University of North Texas College of Music faculty as Associate Professor of Music. A dedicated educator in the field of collaborative arts and a specialist in vocal literature, she has held previous appointments with Baylor University and the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California.
Dr. Puccinelli holds a Masters of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California, as well as an undergraduate degree in French, which remains an area of special interest to her. Dr. Puccinelli completed her piano and collaborative studies under Alan L. Smith, with additional studies at the Music Academy of the West, with Gwendolyn Koldofsky.
SUZANNE RECER is a pianist and coach in the Voice Department of California State University, Northridge. Her work there includes accompanying voice lessons, coaching singers, performing in dozens of voice recitals each year and acting as opera coach and pianist for the university's nationally recognized opera program.
Ms. Recer has served as the music director for the Los Angeles Music Theater Company and has been a pianist and coach for the statewide Cal State Summer Arts Programs. A native of Oklahoma, Suzanne recieved her formal training at Cameron University and California State University, Northridge. Ms. Recer has been on the faculty and music staff of both Chapman College and Glendale College where her professional activities have included piano instruction, accompanying performance classes for singers and instrumentalists as well as pianist for choral programs, opera productions, faculty and student recitals. At Cal State Northridge, Suzanne's instrumental collaboration has included many wind recitals as well as the ongoing wind master classes. Suzanne has been a faculty member of the innovative summer training program, OperaWorks, since 2000.
Ms Recer has been the pianist for many prominent master classes, including those presented by Carol Vaness, Nico Castel, Mignon Dunn, Warren Jones, Delores Ziegler, William Sharp, Andreas Mitisek, William Vendice and Ruth Welting. As a frequent recital partner, Suzanne Recer has performed for the San Francisco Opera Affiliate Artist Series as well as performed for numerous concerts for singers and instrumentalists throughout the United States.
Ohio native SHANE SCHAG has performed in recital both as soloist and ensemble performer throughout the United States and Europe, including a concerto performance with the Ashland Symphony Orchestra. He has won several awards and scholarships including the Gwendolyn Koldofsky Memorial Award, which was given to "a musician who demonstrated outstanding professionalism in collaborative piano".
He has worked in the capacity of vocal coach for Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival, and as assistant conductor for the Gotham Chamber Opera. In 2007, Mr. Schag made his debut at Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall). Now he serves as staff pianist of the Lotte Lenya Competitions in Rochester, New York and Carnegie Hall's Music Explorers concert series. Also, he has been appointed Musical Director of the revue And the World Goes Round at the Manhattan School of Music, and the one-woman show Songs My Mother Never Taught Me by Deborah Karpel.
In addition to his concert appearances, he is on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and OperaWorks in Los Angeles.
ERIC SEDGWICK is a pianist and coach at the Manhattan School of Music. He serves as accompanist for the Riverdale Choral Society and Stonewall Chorale in New York City, and also performs regularly with Broadway Concerts Direct with such artists as Marni Nixon, Leona Mitchell and Sarah Rice. Mr. Sedgwick holds a Masters degree in piano performance from Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Marc Silverman, as well as a B.A. in English Literature from Brown University.
He has won numerous awards as a solo pianist, including the Buxtehude premium for excellence in music, the Brown University Concerto competition (Brahms 2nd) and the Steinway Competition of Boston. An advocate of new music, he has premiered works by Seymour Barab, Joelle Wallach and Louis Hardin. In addition to his classical appearances, he has also played in several cabaret shows at the Duplex, Birdland and the Metropolitan Room in New York, and was assistant music director for a production of The Wild Party (La Chiusa).
American pianist and vocal coach, DOUGLAS SUMI, returned to California to join the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program at LA Opera. During his first three seasons at LA Opera he primarily served as pianist/vocal coach for the young artist singers and repetiteur for several productions including Carmen, La Traviata, Tamerlano, The Barber of Seville, Die Gezeichneten, The Marriage of Figaro, Rigoletto and Il Turco in Italia. He was also on music staff for Das Rheingold and Siegfried in LAO’s first full production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.
A California native and seasoned recitalist, Mr. Sumi has performed across the United States and in Europe and Canada. At Wolf Trap Opera Company, he was on staff as a coaching fellow for La Bohème and a scenes program of one-act operas. He has spent time in Salzburg, Austria studying German language and accompanying, focusing on lieder. Furthering his love for recital repertoire, he participated in the Cleveland Art Song Festival for two summers. In the spring of 2008, he was the pianist and coach for the Indianapolis Opera Young Artists, preparing abridged versions of Carmen and Don Giovanni. The following summer he was on music staff of Centro Studi Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy. He was Assistant Coach to English diction expert Kathryn LaBouff at the Manhattan School of Music, working on Lukas Foss’ Griffelkin. Mr. Sumi was on the coaching staff at Ash Lawn Opera Festival preparing the 2007 productions of La Bohème and The Sound of Music. In the spring of 2006, he served as pianist for New York Opera Project’s Exiles by Renee Favand.
He holds a Master of Music degree in Classical Accompanying from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied under the guidance of Warren Jones.
DR. PAULA THOMSON, Associate Professor, California State University, Northridge, has been a choreographer, tenured professor and professional movement coach in theatres and schools for the past thirty years. She has a Master Degree from York University and a Bachelor of Education from University of Toronto. She is also the recipient of a Doctorate in Psychology from the American Behavioral Studies Institute in California. Dr. Thomson studied dance at New York's Jose Limon School (with Libby Nye and Jennifer Scanlan), The Dance Circle, NYC (with Alfredo, Andra, Ernesta Corvino), Toronto's Centre of Movement (with Frau Til Thiele) and with Richard Sugarman and Sallie Whallen. She has trained extensively in Grotowski Physical Theatre with Linda Putnam and has worked with many of the major voice teachers (David Smukler, Janet Feindel, Ann Skinner) and Alexander teachers (Judith Liebewitz, Marjorie Barstow, Kelly McKevenue, Amy Pell and Ann Penistan).
Dr. Thomson's choreographic credits span dance, theatre and opera. She was Artistic Director/Choreographer for Northern Lights Dance Theatre from 1984 - 1990, creating over 22 premieres, including Callings, Tables, Life Out of Balance and Only the Drowning and she has created dance premieres for Ballet Jorgen, Canadian Children's Dance Theatre and Dance Works Co-Works. For the Stratford Shakespearean Festival she choreographed productions from 1982 - 1986 including Arms and the Man, Love?s Labours Lost, Antigone, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and Macbeth. She has worked with the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble from 1986 to 2001 where she has acted as movement coach / choreographer on numerous productions including The Old Song and Dance of Guacamayo, The Return of Ulysses, Zoe, La Callisto, Gaisone and Giulio Cesere in Egitto. For the Canadian Opera Company mainstage she has choreographed Fidelio, Bartered Bride, Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Callisto, Manon Lescaut, Il Tabarro, Cavalleria Rusticana and Beatrice and Benedict. From 1993 - 1997, Paula has worked as a movement coach / choreographer for Canadian Stage Company's Dream in High Park (Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet) and on their production of Lips Together, Teeth Apart. She continues to choreograph in the Los Angeles area (working with actor/director and husband Maurice Godin), is proud to be part of the amazing faculty of OperaWorks, and has enjoyed ongoing collaborations with OperaWorks since 2004.
Dr. Thomson has trained extensively as a psychotherapist at the Centre for Training in Psychotherapy (Toronto), American Behavioral Studies Institute (Los Angeles), with Dr. Allan Schore (Los Angeles) in his study group and with Dr. Robert Stolorow (Los Angeles) in group supervision. She is a California licensed Clinical Psychologist and works in private practice in Los Angeles. At California State University, Northridge, Dr. Thomson is involved in ongoing research studies investigating the psychophysiology of perfroming artists, athletes and patient's with functional disorders.
Dr. Thomson is Professor Emeritus, York University and Associate Professor, California State University Northridge. She has been a guest teacher at numerous schools and theatres in Canada & the United States, most notably the Banff School of Fine Arts, Stratford Shakespearean Festival, Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, OperaWorks, University of Cape Town (South Africa), Canadian Film Center, and the Julliard School of Music.