CURRICULUM VITAE 02/25/24
Stephen Sulich
Fargo, ND
www.StephenSulich.com
SSulich@earthlink.net
SSulich@CORD.edu
1. Academic Degrees
Master of Music, with distinction Indiana University School of Music
Performer's Certificate (Piano) Indiana University School of Music
Bachelor Degree Indiana University School of Music
2. Relevant Professional Experience
1980 - Present: Principal Conductor, Various American Opera Companies & Orchestras
Lyric Opera of Chicago New York City Opera
Anchorage Opera, AK Houston Grand Opera, TX
Cincinnati Opera, OH Wolf Trap Opera, VA
Lyric Opera of Cleveland, OH Fargo-Moorhead Opera, ND
Skylight Opera Theater, WI Central City Opera, CO
Opera Theater of Rochester, NY Syracuse Opera, NY
The Manhattan Camerata (NYC) Texas Opera Theater
New England Lyric Operetta, CT Nevada Opera Theater
Opera Theater of Connecticut Bel Canto Northwest Festival, OR
Pine Mountain Music Festival, MI Crested Butte Music Festival, CO
Basic Duties: arrived for rehearsal period with Full Score and Libretto translated and with artistic/musical interpretation beginning to form. Once the rehearsal period for an opera production began, worked with the stage manager and stage director, chorus master, and choreographer to coordinate orchestra, staging, vocal, dance and chorus rehearsal scheduling. Rehearsed and discussed with accompanist staff the desired tempi, interpretation, language and grammar, cuts, score editions and translation issues. Was present at staging rehearsals to conduct,
or act as accompanist, if needed.
or act as accompanist, if needed.1993 - 1999: Music Director, Anchorage Opera, Alaska
1985 - 1988: Music Director, Texas Opera Theater
In addition to duties listed above as Principal Conductor, responsibilities as Musical Director included studying opera scores and libretti for upcoming seasons to collaborate with the General Director of the opera company in casting principal and comprimari singers and chorus members, and choosing appropriate repertoire for future opera company seasons.
Acted as liaison/representative from the Artistic Staff to the Board of Directors and Opera Guild in order to assist in the alignment of artistic goals of the combined Artistic Staff, Managing Staff and Opera Guild.
Helped create programs to develop community involvement in Opera Company, including programs, workshops, and Master Classes to encourage and educate local musical talent.
Initiated and developed the Anchorage Opera "Dark Night Series" in 1995, a recital series showcasing local professional instrumentalists and singers during the run of an opera when the theater is not in use, or "dark".
1983 - 2004: Principal Coach/ Cover Conductor
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Metropolitan Opera Guild
Juilliard Opera Center
New York City Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Opera Colorado
Arizona Opera
When acting as cover conductor for an opera production, in addition to developing a complete understanding and an artistic/musical interpretation of the score and libretto of my own, I was also cognizant of the musical/artistic and interpretive ideas of the Principal Conductor to achieve the same consistency in performance for the orchestra and cast, should I need to step in and conduct a performance. Other duties included coaching and musically preparing "cover artists". Also acted as prompter during performances, giving musical and text cues from a prompter's box or a side of the stage.
Faculty Positions
Concordia College, Moorhead, MN
Assistant Professor, 2012 - 2024: Vocal Coaching and Accompanist/Recitalist
Part-Time Faculty: 2009 - 2012
Crested Butte Music Festival, Colorado
Summers: 2012 - 2015
Music Director / Children's Opera Chorus
University of Houston, Houston, TX
2010 Fall Semester
Moores School of Music, Guest Conductor, Opera
Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY.
Guest Faculty: Vocal Coach & Accompanist, 2012 Winter, 2013 Spring
Guest Faculty: Opera Conductor, Vocal Coach & Accompanist, 2009 Fall Semester
Amalfi Coast Music & Arts Festival, Vietri sul Mare, Italy.
2008-11 Summer Sessions: Faculty Vocal Coach & accompanist
2011 Conductor: Suor Angelica
Pine Mountain Music Festival, Houghton, MI
2003-07 Summer Sessions: Opera Conductor and Vocal Coach: Young Artist's Program
Guest Artist: 2010 Summer
2010 SummerGuest Artist: 2013 Summer
Houston Opera Studio/University of Houston, TX
Staff vocal coach and accompanist 1983-1985
Evaluated and adjudicated young singers in preparation and interpretations of roles in operas, opera scenes programs, and recitals. Acted as pianist/coach for young singers in preparation for a professional career in opera and concert. Auditioned applicants, screened and evaluated applicant's materials (audio recordings, DVD, resumes, etc.) in consideration for Young Artist program positions. Conducted student orchestra and singers in opera productions.
Acted as Principal Coach. Led classes in Opera Workshop setting, rehearsing and presenting performances. The importance of equalizing workload/assignment of musical literature appropriate for all students was emphasized.
Assisted each individual student in choosing appropriate recital repertoire and opera arias/roles, relevant to singer's age, voice-type, fach, experience and technique.
3. Private Study
Piano
Sophia Rosoff
New York City, NY 2000 – 2009
2000 – 2009Marion Hall
Indiana University School of Music, IN
Edith Martin
Chicago Conservatory of Music, IL
Orchestral Conducting
Christofer Macatsoris
Academy of Vocal Arts, PA
Tibor Kozma
Indiana University School of Music, IN
Lieder
Gerhard Hüsch
Indiana University School of Music, IN
Languages
Robert Cowart
New York City
Philosophy
School of Practical Philosophy
New York City 1999 – 2002
1999 – 20024. Recordings
Dinner 4 3 An Opera Film by Michael Ching, Composer and Deborah Brevoort, Librettist
Frederic Heringes, Director
Produced by FMOpera and the Decameron Opera Coalition Oct 16, 2020
Musical Director and piano soloist
Cabaret: Songs from Schoenberg to Sondheim
(Soprano, Lucy Thrasher; Piano, Stephen Sulich) Concordia label.
Twilight Fancies; Songs of Frederick Delius
(Soprano, Ruth Golden; Piano, Stephen Sulich) Koch International Classics.
STILL(e) a film by Susan Schwarzwald/First Gaze Films
Soundtrack piano soloist.
5. Awards
Otto Guth Memorial Award for Opera Coaches
San Francisco Opera, 1983
Biography
Stephen Sulich has performed as piano soloist and in collaboration with singers and instrumentalists in concerts from coast to coast and conducted opera for more than 20 companies in the United States including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera and The New York City Opera, with such artists as Dame Felicity Lott, Sir Mark Elder, Mirella Freni, Dame Josephine Barstow, Catherine Malfitano, and Renato Capecchi. He boasts a broad repertoire of almost fifty operas including: Die Zauberflöte, The Bartered Bride, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, La Cenerentola, The Rape of Lucretia, The Makropolis Affair, Capriccio, and Carmen.
He is currently on the full-time faculty at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota since 2012. In the past, he has been a faculty member at the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival 2008 - 2011 in Vietri sul Mare, Italy, where he conducted Puccini’s Suor Angelica (2011), The Eastman School of Music in 2008, 2009, and 2013, The Crested Butte Music Festival (2012, 2013), where he conducted a double bill of Brundibar and Der Kaiser von Atlantis, and at Hunter College 2008 - 2009 in New York City. From 2003-2007 Stephen was also Musical Director and Conductor for the Pine Mountain Music Festival Young Artist’s Program in Houghton, MI. where he returned in July 2010 & 2013 as a guest artist. In October 2010 he was a guest-faculty conductor at the Moores School of Music at The University of Houston (TX) for their production of La Vie Parisienne.
Stephen served as Music Director and Principal Conductor of Anchorage Opera from 1993 - 99, overseeing a period of remarkable growth for the company. His productions of Aida, Faust, Fidelio and The Merry Widow were the first performances of these operas heard in Alaska. He returned there in 2007 to conduct The Abduction from the Seraglio and Roméo et Juliette, his twentieth opera production in Anchorage. As Music Director and Principal Conductor of Texas Opera Theater he conducted Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor and La Bohème on tour, as well as Lucia di Lammermoor and La Bohème at the Spring Opera Festival in Houston.
Sulich made his Chicago debut as a conductor when he stepped up to the podium at Lyric Opera of Chicago to conduct The Bartered Bride. Critics took note: “In another last-minute replacement, Stephen Sulich replaced Bruno Bartoletti in the pit and kept the notes flying like an expert juggler,” observed Edward Rothstein in The New York Times.
No stranger to operetta and the American musical, Maestro Sulich made his New York City Opera debut with The Pajama Game. As Music Director of The New England Lyric Operetta he conducted productions of The Mikado, The New Moon, South Pacific and Brigadoon.
Active also as a pianist, Sulich initiated the “Dark Night Recital Series” in Anchorage, and has performed in several of these recitals with singers and instrumentalists between opera performance nights. He is sought after as a coach and as a regular performer on concert programs and recital series in New York City.
