June 24 through July 14, 2012
STAFF
The Institute staff consists of professional stage directors, music directors, vocal coaches, and movement specialists who studied with Dr. Balk for many years, providing a remarkable sense of continuity. They collaborate often on Nautilus projects, including fully-staged productions, developmental workshops, and other professional training initiatives.
Ben Krywosz, Stage DirectorKaren Coe Miller, Stage Director
Jerry Rubino, Music Director
Barbara Brooks, Music Director
Mindy Eschedor, Music Director
Marilyn Habermas-Scher, Movement Instructor
Ben Krywosz
Stage Director BEN KRYWOSZ serves as artistic director of Nautilus Music-Theater in Saint Paul, where he has directed productions of such works as THE LAST FIVE YEARS, GOBLIN MARKET, INTO THE WOODS, HEARTS ON FIRE, and SNOW LEOPARD. He also produces the company's Rough Cuts program, a monthly series of new operas and other forms of music-theater. Krywosz has also staged productions for The Minnesota Opera, San Francisco Opera's Merola Program, North Star Opera, Opera Roanoke, California Coast Opera, Midwest Opera Theater, Dorian Opera Theater, and West Bay Opera. His academic work includes productions of INTO THE WOODS, SATURN RETURNS, and MY FAIR LADY for Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids; WEIRD ROMANCE for Augsburg College, and COSI FAN TUTTE for the University of Iowa. He developed and continues to direct Composer-Librettist Opera Studios around the country. From 1984 to 1987, Krywosz was Project Director for Opera America's OPERA FOR THE 80s AND BEYOND program, where he concentrated on introducing the professional opera field to the work of innovative music-theater artists.
Karen Coe Miller
Stage Director KAREN COE MILLER developed a passion for working with the singing actor early in her career while on staff at The Minnesota Opera. In 1992, she co-founded the New Music-Theater Ensemble (now Nautilus Music-Theater). As co-artistic director for the Ensemble, she produced five world premieres, directed seven productions, and served as producer, director, or dramaturg for over 30 sessions of work-in-progress. She has also directed for the Minnesota Opera New Music-Theater Ensemble, The Southern Theater of Minneapolis, Geva Theatre of Rochester NY, Midwest Opera Theater, Minnesota Contemporary Ensemble, North Star Opera of Saint Paul, the Des Moines Metro Opera, Sarasota Opera, Lyric Opera of Cleveland, Northern Arizona University, Baylor University, The Ohio State University, and the University of North Texas, among others. Ms. Miller has been a staff director for the Wesley Balk Opera/Music-Theater Institute since 1986.
Jerry Rubino
Music Director JERRY RUBINO holds degrees in piano, music education, and conducting from Temple University and the University of Minnesota, and began his teaching career at Northwestern College in St. Paul in 1974. A native of Philadelphia, he was a charter member of the Philadelphia Singers and attended Curtis Institute as a cellist. He currently serves as Minister of Music at Spirit of Hope United Methodist Church in Golden Valley, Minnesota, is the artistic director of VOICE 360 and is the Assistant Conductor of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Chorale. Rubino worked for twenty-three seasons with the Dale Warland Singers, as associate conductor, director of special projects and music education, pianist, singer and arranger. In 1983, at the request of the Minnesota Orchestra and Minnesota Public Radio, Rubino formed what is now known as VOICE 360. Under his direction, they developed their own sound and style and became known for their crossover programming and performance practice based educational outreach. They toured extensively, have released a CD of gospel music and are currently recording a CD for Oxford University Press. Rubino's conducting and teaching credits include honors choirs in Australia, Taiwan, Hawaii, and Europe, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the California State Summer Arts Workshops, the Wesley Balk Institute for the Singer/Actor process, and the University of Minnesota Jazz Festival. Recent theatrical music direction includes productions of MAN OF LA MANCHA, CAROUSEL, SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM and SWING. He was named Distinguished Visiting Professor of Music at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1999, 2003 and 2004. He was named an editor for the VOICES OF DISTINCTION series with Hal Leonard in 2005 and is editing a new Christmas choral collection for Oxford University Press titled AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS due in Spring, 2010. He serves as repertoire and standards chair for vocal jazz for the North Central Division of the American Choral Directors Association, is a member of ASCAP and is requested nationally as a choral clinician, music director, pianist and adjudicator.
Barbara Brooks
Music Director BARBARA BROOKS is an active coach, pianist, and music director in the Twin Cities area. She has served as coach/pianist for several opera companies including Canadian Opera, Minnesota Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera Banff, Kentucky Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Berkshire Opera and the Wesley Balk Opera/Music Institute, as well as for university opera programs at the University of North Texas and the University of Minnesota. She also worked with Theatre de la Jeune Lune in the role of music director for their imaginative creative productions of the Mozart's operas, as well as their recent production of Bizet's CARMEN. She currently teaches at Macalester College, and is the principal pianist for the Minnesota Chorale, the official chorus of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Mindy Eschedor
Music Director MINDY ESCHEDOR is an active Twin Cities collaborative pianist whose engagements regularly include vocal coaching/accompanying, chamber music and theater work. She has served as Music Director and pianist for such Twin Cities companies as Nautilus Music-Theater, Interact Theatre, History Theater, Bloomington Civic Theater, New Breath Productions, Theater in the Round, Skylark Opera, Minneapolis Musical Theater and the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus. Mindy has been on the staff as a Music Director for the Wesley Balk Opera/Music-Theater Institute since 1999. She has music directed four full productions for Nautilus (Ricky Ian Gordon's ORPHEUS AND EURIDICE, the 2006 IVEY award-winning I AM ANNE FRANK, THE LAST FIVE YEARS and GOBLIN MARKET) as well as the 2004 Fringe Festival production of JOHN AND JEN. Mindy is also a regular performer on Nautilus' Rough Cuts series, which often features commissioned works and special projects by area composers and performers. Mindy has produced and music-directed two shows in the Minnesota Fringe Festival - SOUNDTRACK FOR THE COMMON MAN (2005) a compilation of theater songs, and THE MISTRESS CYCLE (2008), a musical by Jenny Giering and Beth Blatt. Mindy is an Artist Member of Thursday Musical, and has been a collaborative pianist in numerous vocal and instrumental recitals for Thursday Musical and the Schubert Club. She is Principal Staff Accompanist at MacPhail Center for Music.
Marilyn Habermas-Scher
Movement Instructor MARILYN HABERMAS-SCHER has been researching the relationships between voice, movement and human experience since the 1970's when she danced in the nationally touring modern dance company, The Nancy Hauser Dance Company. She brings thirty-five years of training in Body-Mind Centering TM , meditation practice, yoga, the Alexander Technique, T'ai Chi Chuan and Qi Gong to her teaching. Her performance work has ranged from opera to contact improvisation and performance art to storytelling, and has been supported by many grants and fellowships. She has taught at the Guthrie Theater, The Loft, The Minneapolis College of Art and Design, the University of Minnesota Graduate Theater Dept and Metropolitan State University. She has maintained a private practice in VoiceWork (somatically based voice training) since 1978, and also works as a hospital chaplain in Minneapolis.
