Actress and acting teacher

Chiara Cimmino is an actress and acting teacher based in New York City. Her focus is helping those she works with to find their own way onstage. She graduated from the Milan School of Dramatic Arts “Paolo Grassi” in 2007. Since then she has been working in cross-disciplinary projects, such as Lavoro Invisibile (International Women’s House – Rome) that explored the transformations of contemporary work and women’s empowerment in the workplace. She won the Award for Best Supporting Actress at the theater Palio of Chiavari (Italy, 2005) and the “Plautus Theater Award” for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Italy, 2017).  Acting credits include: theaters (The seagull, Goldoni’s The fan, Ostrovsky’s The storm, Marivaux’s Harlequin educated by love, The play that goes wrong, Expoi), films, television, web-series, and commercials. Together with Valerio Vittorio Garaffa, she developed “The Relationship Acting Method” that they now teach to actors, singers, and all other types of performers.

www.chiaravaleriomethod.com

Opera artist and Administrative Director

A singer by training, Ariel Lefebvre graduated from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. In recent years, he has worked on numerous musical and lyrical productions across Quebec and the Maritimes. Since 2016 he has been involved with Scuola “Giovanni Grasso” first as an artist and then as a management collaborator. In 2018, he participated in the Halifax Summer Opera Festival in Nova Scotia as well as the Montréal Bach Festival. In addition to pursuing his ambitions as a next-generation singing talent, Ariel has worked as an administrative coordinator for a number of cultural organizations, including the voice ensemble Les Rugissants, which is very involved in the borough of Sud-Ouest in Montréal. Looking for an active role in the socio-economic development of Montréal’s culture sector, Ariel is part of La Machinerie’s team.

Pianist and vocal coach

Esther Gonthier is recognized as one of the most versatile and sought-after pianists in Canada. During the last 30 years, she pursued a very active career both as a pianist-rehearsalist, vocalist, and concert performer. Due to her vast knowledge of the operatic repertoire, she worked on more than 130 operas to date, positioning herself as one of the most recognized experts in the world of Opera. She is regularly invited as a pianist-rehearsalist by the Opéra de Montréal, the Canadian Opera Company, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Opéra de Québec, the Lanaudière Festival, and the Orchestre Métropolitain, among others. She has assisted great conductors such as Jean-Claude Casadesus, Rafael Frübeck of Burgos, Eliahu Inbal, Michel Plasson, Charles Dutoit, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jacques Lacombe, and Kent Nagano. As a concert performer, she has been invited several times by the Grands Ballets Canadiens Orchestra and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. During her concerts, she accompanied high-caliber soloists such as Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Susan Platts, Nathalie Paulin, and Lyne Fortin, not to mention her work as a rehearsal coach with such prestigious names as José Van Dam, Kiri Te Kanawa, Federica Von Stade, and Nancy Argenta. She is also the main coach of many promising singers from the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, and other Universities all over the world.

Conductor and Music Director

Daniele Agiman is one of the most active and recognized Italian conductors in the world.

He is a regular guest of the most prestigious operatic institutions of the globe, including Japan and South Korea. He also directed in Argentina, South Africa, France, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, Georgia, Russia; in December 1992 he made his debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus and at the Brucknerhaus in Linz, under the invitation of the Wiener Kammerorchester.

Winner of the 1999 National Competition of the Italian Ministry of Education, he has held the chair of Orchestral Conducting at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Milan ever since.

Since March 2007 he is also Honorary Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Kurashiki Sakuyo University in Japan. He is frequently invited by Italian and international Universities (Bologna, Ancona, Teramo, Roma Tre, University of Milan, the Korean University of Art and Chung Ang University of Seoul), cultural associations, and research centers (Stresa Network, Società Gruppo-Analitica Italiana, ISMO) as Visiting Professor.

His most significant productions include:

• Gianni Schicchi and Cavalleria Rusticana at the State Theater of Taegu (South Korea) on the occasion of the twinning between the cities of Milan and Taegu;

• Lucia di Lammermoor in Seoul at the Sejong Opera Festival on the occasion of the A.S.E.M. (Asia–Europe Meeting);

• La Traviata at the Centennial Hall in Nara (Japan).

Together with his international career, Daniele Agiman is also deeply involved in the production of some of the most important Italian orchestras (Orchestra della Toscana, Pomeriggi Musicali, Filarmonica Marchigiana, Sinfonica Abruzzese, Solisti Aquilani, etc.) and theaters (Teatro Regio of Turin, Teatro delle Muse of Ancona, Comunale di Modena, Lauro Rossi of Macerata, Teatro Lirico of Cagliari, Pergolesi di Jesi, Municipal Theaters of Belluno, Corridonia, and Taranto on the occasion of the respective re-openings). He is also involved in the organization of many of the most prestigious seasonal concerts in Italy (among which we find Tosca for the Como Opera Season, Puccini’s Messa di gloria for the summer season of Macerata, and Madama Butterfly for the Festival of the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento).

Lately, he has been particularly involved in the discovery and dissemination of contemporary classical music, directing, among other things, many creations of new Italian composers.

His current and past official positions include:

• Artistic and Musical Director of “I Madrigalisti Ambrosiani” in the years 1995/1996

• Music Director of the Fall Opera Season of the Palazzo dei Congressi in Lugano in the years 1995/1998 (Boheme, Barbiere di Siviglia, Traviata, Rigoletto)

• Artistic Director of the Opera Atelier of the Music Conservatory “G. Verdi “in Milan in the years 2000/2002

• Principal Conductor of the Orchestra Benedetto Marcello of Teramo from 2000 to 2005

• Artistic consultant for the Italian Opera of the State Theater of Taegu (South Korea) and Kyushu City Opera (Japan) since 1995

• Music Director for the orchestral productions of the Associazione “Ab Harmoniae”

• Music Director and Artistic Consultant for the operatic projects of the “Pergine Spettacolo Aperto” Festival (Madame Butterfly, Boheme, Traviata, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto)

• Principal Guest Conductor of the Shizuoka Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2009

• Principal Conductor of the G. Rossini Symphony Orchestra of Pesaro since 2009

Director, Acting teacher and drama therapist

Born in Milan and living in Montreal since 1985, Denise holds a master in creative arts therapies, a master in drama and a Ph.D in Performing Arts.   She also trained in psychodrama, sandplay therapy and psychotherapy.

She has been invited to some local and international conferences in Europe and in North and Central America, and following her works on the cross-cultural relationships in theater, she won the IFTR-International Federation for Theater Research Award. During the last 10 years , she has been working as  drama therapist, psychotherapist and  psycho dramatist with children and adults  by using the theatre and the arts for a therapeutic and social purpose.  Presently,   she teaches theatre history, acting and commedia dell’arte at Université de Montreal and McGill University.  For the last 30 years, she has been fully involved in the artistic and mass-media field.  She produced and host some TV shows at CFCF TV 12 and CABLE 24  and a weekly show at the International Radio of Montréal. In 1991, she cofounded the Troupe Tealtro for which  she produced  three Canadian tours, wrote four plays, organised  some workshops for actors and  directed more than 50 performances at the Centaur Theater, La Licorne, Quat’Sous, etc. of plays by  Ionesco, Shakespeare,  Machiavelli, Pirandello, Goldoni,  Molière, Nelligan, Danis,  Baricco, Kundera, Benni, Pinter, Tremblay and Fo.

Mezzo soprano and professor of voice and Italian diction

Upon completion of her studies at McGill University, the Academy of Vocal Arts and the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, Annamaria Popescu embarked on a distinguished career with roles including Olga in Eugene Onegin and Suzuki in Madame Butterfly throughout Europe and North America. Most notably, she is the Canadian singer who has sung most often at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan with over 100 performances having made her debut in Les Troyens by Berlioz in 1996. Other highlights include concert repertoire in Europe and Asia with the London Symphony Orchestra to our very own Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, in repertoire ranging from works by Sir Michael Tippett’s Mask of Time to Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. She has also worked extensively on the recital stage with Michael McMahon and Esther Gonthier. Since 2010, Annamaria Popescu has been lecturing at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University as assistant professor of voice and Italian diction.

Mezzo soprano and vocal pedagogue

For many years now, mezzo-soprano Ariane Girard has earned a reputation among the best vocal pedagogues across Canada.  After more than fifteen years of career, her main professional activities now revolve around recital, sacred and orchestral music and full-time teaching of professional singers as well as aspiring young singers.  Known for the clarity and effectiveness of her teachings as well as for the rapid diagnosis of vocal problems, Ariane is often invited to give masterclasses and regularly sits on competition juries and audition panels; she also acts as an adviser for some artistic agencies. Since September 2016, she is an associate professor at the Atelier lyrique de L’Opéra de Montréal and her private studio has more than fifty students from around the world. A new mom since October 2017, she is looking forward to resume giving concerts in 2020 and a recording around the music of E. Elgar, R. Strauss and R. Wagner is scheduled for the end of 2019.

Poet, narrator and musician

Claudio Pozzani was born in 1961 in Genoa (Italy).

His poems have been translated and published into more than 10 languages and have appeared in important anthologies and magazines of international contemporary poetry.

Since 1995 Pozzani is the director of  the Genoa International Poetry Festival in Italy and he has created and organized several poetry events in Belgium, France, Japan, Finland, Germany.

He is also the director of the House of Poetry in Genoa, with over than 120 free events every year.

His last CD (poetry and music) “La Marcia dell’ombra”, has been in the top 20 of the Italian independent radio charts.

His last books are: “L’orlo del fastidio”, essay, (Liberodiscrivere, 2017) and “Spalancati spazi – Poesie 1995-2016” (Passigli, 2017).