Christine Brandes

Christine Brandes is a noted soprano and performs at many of the world’s most distinguished festivals and concerts. She has sung principal roles for the following opera companies: San Francisco, Seattle, Washington National, Houston Grand, Minnesota, New York City Opera, Philadelphia, Glimmerglass, and Portland, among others. She is an associate professor of voice and opera at SFSU, director of the UC Berkeley University Baroque Ensemble and assistant conductor of the Oakland Civic Orchestra.

Patricia Craig

Patricia Craig renowned operatic soprano, serves on both the faculty of the New England Conservatory and the San Francisco Conservatory. Her performing career spanned three decades in leading opera houses around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, where she made her debut in 1978 and returned in a variety of leading roles. Craig teaches at the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Austria, the Chautauqua Institute, and the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI). She serves on the board of both Opera Boston and AIMS.

Khori Dastoor

Khori Dastoor enjoyed a vibrant operatic career as a lyric soprano on stages throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, before returning to her native California as an artistic administrator. A former Opera San José principal artist, she currently serves as artistic planning director. She is also program officer and grants administrator at the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI), responsible for initiatives encompassing arts, music, and archaeology, and was recently named the director of the San Francisco District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Carrie Hennessey

Carrie Hennessey is known for her soaring soprano and richly nuanced characters, performing in opera and concert appearances around the world. Recent engagements include her debut with the Houston Symphony and NYC debut in Poulenc’s French melodrama La voix humaine, as well as European appearances at Reduta Hall in Bratislava, Rudolfinum Hall in Prague, the International Mahler Festival in Jihlava, Czech Republic, Concertgebouw in Bruges, in Ypres, Belgium and at the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Germany.

Ofer Dal Lal

Ofer Dal Lal moved to the Bay Area from Israel five years ago and has made a name for himself as conductor of San Francisco Bay Area Chamber Choir, Mission Peak Chamber Singers, and WomenSing. He serves on the board of Livermore Valley Opera and has served on the faculty of California State University East Bay, teaching choral conducting for graduate and undergraduate students. Mr. dal Lal first came into prominence as the musical director and conductor of the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir.

Michael Morgan

MichaelMorgan, is music director and conductor of Oakland Symphony and serves as artistic director of Oakland Youth Orchestra, conductor emeritus at Sacramento Philharmonic, artistic advisor to the Peoria Symphony and teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has been guest conductor for most major U.S. orchestras, as well as New York City Opera, St. Louis Opera Theater and Washington National Opera. He makes many appearances in schools throughout the year and is highly regarded as a champion of arts education and minority access to the arts.

José Luis Moscovich

José Luis Moscovich is general director of West Bay Opera and previously served as music director of San Francisco Camerata, principal guest conductor of Bay Area Concerto Ensemble, and music director of San Francisco Women’s Chorus. He has appeared with Concerto Orchestra, ARTEA Orchestra, Marin Chamber Orchestra, Nova Vista Orchestra, Opera Santa Barbara, Opera Idaho, and Teatro El Círculo Opera. He wrote the libretto and conducted the premiere of Corpus†Evita†by Carlos Franzetti, the recording of which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005.

Michele Patzakis

Michele Patzakis is a Los Angeles native and celebrated performer, director, producer and educator. She received critical acclaim as a leading soprano with companies such as the Zurich Opera, Spoleto Festival, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Toulouse, New York City Opera, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Ms. Patzakis graduated in May 2019 with a DMA from the USC Thornton School of Music. In October of 2018 the Loren L. Zachary Society honored Michele, a former Zachary competition winner, for her years of service to the organization as a competition judge and artistic director.

Andrew Whitfield

Andrew Whitfield is Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor at Minnesota Opera. In May he made his debut with the company conducting three performances of La traviata. Prior to moving to the Twin Cities, Whitfield lived in the Bay Area where he served as Resident Conductor and Chorus Master at Opera San José. In addition, Whitfield has been a frequent assistant/cover conductor at the San Francisco Symphony and has conducted the Fremont Symphony Orchestra, the Merced Symphony, Magik*Magik and the Monterey Bay Symphony. Whitfield holds a M.Mus. in Orchestral Conducting (with departmental honors) from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied with Michael Morgan.

James Toland

James Toland is JTVA’s Founder and General Director. For more information, visit his bio.