2023 vocal competition finals judges
Elizabeth Hynes
Elizabeth Hynes, who holds the Stephen H. Crocker Endowed Professorship in Music at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, has been a member of that faculty since 1995, and served as Chair of the Vocal Arts/Opera Department from 2005-2012. Ms. Hynes was awarded Ramo Music Faculty Award in 2015. Ms. Hynes taught at the renowned Aspen Music Festival and School from 2003-2020, and is now Faculty Emeritus. She was elected to the Aspen Music Festival Corporation in 2005 and has twice served as a New Horizons Faculty, endowing three students for three years study at the Aspen Opera Theater Center. Ms. Hynes has also taught at the Oberlin in Italy program in Arezzo, Italy. With a national reputation as a vocal teacher and mentor, Ms. Hynes adjudicates regularly for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and is in demand as a master class presenter around the country. Her students are consistently among winners of major competitions, and appear frequently with professional opera companies and orchestras throughout the United States. Throughout Ms. Hynes’ career, she has been recognized for her interpretation of Mozart roles, appearing frequently as Susanna, and Pamina.
José Luis Moscovich
José Luis Moscovich has been General Director of West Bay Opera since 2006. He has conducted over 40 operas ranging from the baroque to the contemporary. At West Bay Opera he has premiered productions of Samson et Dalila, Turandot, Salome, Fidelio, Pikovaya Dama, Otello, and others. He was music director of the San Francisco Camerata, principal guest conductor of the ARTEA Orchestra, assistant conductor of the San Francisco Choral Society, and guest conductor for Opera Idaho, Opera Santa Barbara, and Teatro El Círculo Opera in Argentina, among others. His recording of Carlos Franzetti’s opera Corpus Evita, for which he wrote the libretto, was nominated for a GRAMMY® 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 Zürich Opera, Spoleto Festival, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Toulouse, New York City Opera, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and the Théâtre 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.
James Toland
After more than three decades teaching private voice in the San Francisco Bay Area, James Toland moved to Riverside, California to take a position as Professor of Voice and Opera Studies at California Baptist University. Assisting in the development of an opera program at the Collinsworth School of Music, Mr. Toland continues his work on the development of JTVA as well as maintaining a private voice studio.
During the 1980s, Mr. Toland was the artistic director of Oregon’s Eugene Opera where he staged opera for more than a decade. His innovative and highly comedic productions of The Barber of Seville and Cosí fan tutte were featured on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." Prior to working in Eugene, he was the company manager of Texas Opera Theater, the touring arm of Houston Grand Opera.
Mr. Toland's keen interest in, and study of, world languages facilitate his work with singers, both individually and in groups. Particularly interested in the specifics of diction, Mr. Toland has undertaken to write a book with the working title "Phonemes First." The book will seek to inform, in easy-to-understand language, how the precision of good diction enables beautiful and healthy singing.
Frederica von Stade
Described by the New York Times as "one of America's finest artists and singers," Frederica von Stade continues to be extolled as one of the music world's most beloved figures. Known to family, friends, and fans by her nickname “Flicka," the mezzo-soprano has enriched the world of classical music for three decades. Miss von Stade's career has taken her to the stages of the world's great opera houses and concert halls. She began at the top, when she received a contract from Sir Rudolf Bing during the Metropolitan Opera auditions, and since her debut in 1970 she has sung nearly all of her great roles with that company. In addition, Miss von Stade has appeared with every leading American opera company, including San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Los Angeles Opera. Her career in Europe has been no less spectacular, with new productions mounted for her at Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, and the Paris Opera. She is invited regularly by the finest conductors, among them Claudio Abbado, Charles Dutoit, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, Leonard Slatkin, and Michael Tilson Thomas, to appear in concert with the world's leading orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, Washington's National Symphony, and the Orchestra of La Scala.