As a Metropolitan Opera violinist Erica performed with James Levine, Leonard Bernstein and countless opera luminaries. Now an award-winning author, screenwriter, arts journalist and lecturer, Erica’s opera presentations include Wagner Societies in California, New York, Boston, North Carolina and Sydney, Australia. Her recently released novel Aria for Murder, the first in her ‘Operatic Mystery’ series, authentically reflects her experiences in the Met Orchestra. Sequels are due in 2023 and 2024. Erica’s personal website is here.
Erin Bomboy has been writing about dance since 2013. She trained as a classical ballet dancer and spent a decade as a professional competitive ballroom dancer. She holds an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where she was mentored by Deborah Jowitt. She lives in New York City with her husband, daughter and fabulous Maine Coon cat. In her free time, Erin enjoys bacon, books, wine and working out.
Initié dès son plus jeune âge à la musique classique, par l’étude du piano d’abord, puis par les affinités électives entretenues avec quelques disques des rayonnages familiaux, Erwan mène désormais de front l’exercice de la critique musicale pour Bachtrack et Diapason, ainsi qu’un doctorat de musicologie à l’École Pratique des Hautes Études. Soutenues par une bourse de la Fondation Royaumont, ses recherches portent sur l’Association artistique des Concerts Colonne de 1873 à 1910.
Licenciado en Historia y Ciencias de la Música por la Universidad de Valladolid y Doctor Europeo de Investigación en Musicología por la Università degli Studi di Bologna. Catedrático de Musicología, con experiencia docente en Notación, Historia de la Música y Crítica Musical, y Director del departamento de Musicología, Etnomusicología y Pedagogía del Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón (2003-2012). Desde 2013 es investigador contratado en el Institut für Historiche Musikwissenschaft de la Universidad de Hamburgo, actividad que compagina en su tiempo libre con la labor de articulista y crítico musical para medios especializados.
Esther Martín Sánchez-Ballesteros es licenciada en Música por el Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid y Doctora en Periodismo por la Universidad CEU San Pablo. Ha coordinado proyectos de comunicación en la Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía y es miembro fundador del Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Madrid. Actualmente, imparte clases en la Universidad CEU San Pablo, colabora con revistas y medios especializados y dirige el programa La guitarra en Radio Clásica de RTVE. En los últimos años, asiste con regularidad a festivales y congresos para impartir cursos y talleres especializados en divulgación cultural.
Fátima is an Argentine TV and radio journalist who has worked in Argentina, Brazil, the US and the UK. She graduated as a dance teacher and started to write about ballet and dance while developing her journalistic career covering politics and international relations. Fátima is an Emmy Award winner (Telemundo-NBC), is the winner of a scholarship by Argentina’s Fondo Nacional de las Artes and served as a jury member in numerous dance contests. She has written for Dancing times, BalletinDance, Danza Hoy En Español and continues to do so for La Nación newspaper (Argentina) and The Tablet (UK). She is a member of the UK Critics’ Circle and chairwoman of the Anglo-Argentine Society.
Francisco Martínez Ramos nació en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Comenzó sus estudios musicales en el Conservatorio de su ciudad natal y con profesores privados. Posteriormente estudió en Madrid, Philadelphia y Londres. Ha dado recitales y conciertos con orquesta por diversos países. Es doctor por la Universidad de la Laguna y catedrático de piano en el Conservatorio Superior de Música de Castilla y León.
Frank Kuznik is the former Editor-in-Chief and Culture Editor of The Prague Post, Central Europe’s premier English-language weekly newspaper. He currently divides his time between Prague and his hometown in the US, Cleveland, where he covers northeast Ohio's dynamic classical music scene. In Prague he is an habitué of the Rudolfinum, National Theater, State Opera and other storied classical music venues, and an unabashed fan of Czech music.
Gavia Baker-Whitelaw is a film critic and culture journalist living in Scotland. Previously a staff writer at the Daily Dot, she now freelances for a variety of outlets including TV Guide, Atlas Obscura and BBC Radio 4, in addition to co-hosting the film podcast Overinvested.
George Jahn is the former Vienna bureau chief of The Associated Press. During his 35-year career at the global news organization, he covered wars, politics... and opera, reviewing productions at the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Bayreuth Festival and other houses in Austria and Germany. He has also written for Opera Now and International Piano magazines in London. Those he has interviewed include Matthias Goerne, Vesselina Kasarova, Thomas Hampson and Mariss Jansons. George holds or shares awards for his reporting on U.N. affairs and for his coverage of the Bosnian war. A Canadian/Hungarian citizen, he splits his time between residences in Vienna and Budapest.
Georgiana Hatara a une formation pluridisciplinaire, en lettres modernes et linguistique, théâtre, cinéma et musicologie. Dans le cadre de ses études en musicologie, elle a notamment suivi au Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris des cours d’esthétique et d’histoire de la musique, ainsi que d’analyse approfondie de musiques de films dans leur rapport à l’image (son domaine de prédilection). Elle a également suivi à l’Ecole Normale Supérieure des cours qui lui ont permis d’explorer le rapport que la musique entretient avec d’autres arts, comme la poésie et la danse, ou avec la philosophie.
Arts writer, administrator and singer Gianmarco Segato is Assistant Editor for La Scena Musicale. He was Associate Artist Manager for opera at Dean Artists Management and, from 2017-2022, Editorial Director of Opera Canada magazine. Previous to that he was Adult Programs Manager with the Canadian Opera Company. Gianmarco is an intrepid classical music traveler with a special love of Prague and Budapest as well as an avid cyclist and cook.
Gillian Ebersole is a dancer and choreographer, as well as a poet, dance writer and educator. Gillian graduated Summa Cum Laude from Loyola Marymount University with a dual degree in Dance and English. Their first poetry book The Water Between Us received the Charlotte Mew Prize and was published by Headmistress Press in 2021. Gillian lives and creates in Berkshire County with their partner.
Gonzalo Roldán Herencia es licenciado en Historia del Arte – Musicología por la Universidad de Granada. Compagina la docencia universitaria con su actividad como Jefe del Departamento de Música del IES Alhendín. Entre sus líneas de investigación se encuentra la recuperación del Patrimonio Musical andaluz de los siglos XVII-XVIII, las relaciones musicales entre España y el Nuevo Mundo y la Educación de Adultos.
Su labor como crítico musical se extiende a lo largo de veinte años de carrera. Escribe en el diario Granada Hoy, así como en las revistas especializadas Ritmo y Opera World. Desde 2017 es colaborador de Bachtrack.
Graham is a Chicago-based arts and culture journalist, covering all forms of live performance, and specializing in classical music. His work has appeared extensively in Chicago magazine and Crain’s Chicago Business, as well as in The Chicago Tribune and at Chicago Classical Review. He has also covered dining and restaurants, winning a City and Regional Magazine Award for the restaurant newsletter Dish. Semi-professionally, he sings baritone in the choir Vox Venti, plays amateur piano, and composes music, especially choral. Apart from music, he constructs crossword puzzles and plays competitive bridge with his teenage daughter.
Graham Watts is a freelance dance writer and critic writing regularly for Dancing Times, Dance Europe, Danza Europa, and many more publications. He regularly writes features for Sadler’s Wells, London Coliseum and La Scala. Chairman of the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle in the United Kingdom and of the UK National Dance Awards he has interviewed many of the greatest names in dance including Maya Plisetskaya, Vladimir Vasiliev, Boris Eifman, Alexei Ratmansky, Andris Liepa, Sir Peter Wright, David Bintley and Dame Gillian Lynne. When not involved in dance Graham is a keen fencer, and has captained the British Sabre team.
Hilary is an independent scholar and academic historian, based in DC. She has a background in violin, piano and ballet. Educated at Dublin and Cambridge, she has recently published her first two books.
Hugo
Shirley is a Berlin-based writer and musicologist. He has written
widely as a critic in the UK, including for The Spectator, the Financial
Times and Daily Telegraph, and has held editorial posts at both Opera
and Gramophone. He was editor of 30-Second Opera (Ivy Press, 2015) and
has a PhD in musicology from King's College London, where his thesis
focused on Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s Die Frau ohne Schatten.
Ian Cochrane is a retired music teacher who hails from Montreal, Canada. He holds music degrees from McGill University, the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Calgary. He has attended conducting seminars at the University of Michigan as well as Northwestern University. Ian has edited a variety of music journals. His articles have been published in both professional and refereed journals. In addition, he has written music curricula- both provincial and national. Ian’s concert reviews have been in published in La Scena magazine. Ian has extensive performance experience as an instrumentalist, chorister, and conductor.
Músico y periodista cultural colombiana formada en la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana y magíster en Diseño de espacios y experiencias culturales de la Escuela Superior de Diseño de Barcelona. Es cofundadora y periodista de la plataforma de periodismo musical Concertante, colabora frecuentemente con distintos medios especializados de Colombia y España y dedica su tiempo a la escritura y los podcasts en torno a la música.
Passionnée par la danse, Iris s’est formée à l’École du Ballet de Stanlowa et participe aujourd’hui en tant qu’amateur à des projets chorégraphiques divers alliant danse classique ou contemporaine (José Montalvo, Akram Khan…). Titulaire d’un master professionnel en production théâtrale de l’Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, elle est aujourd’hui chargée de mission au Cercle Carpeaux pour lequel elle organise notamment des événements autour de la danse et de la musique. Elle s’intéresse beaucoup à tous les aspects du spectacle vivant, aussi bien en réalisant des études sur les publics, en participant à la production de spectacles, en montant sur scène ou en étant spectatrice !
Italienne, géomètre de formation, Irma s’est soudainement prise de passion pour l’opéra il y a bientôt 35 ans... en même temps que son mari François, la flamme étant allumée alors par un certain Luciano Pavarotti ! Installée depuis 15 ans dans le Sud de la France, elle fréquente très assidument les théâtres et festivals de cette région, et se déplace aussi en France, Europe, Amérique. Ses goûts musicaux sont assez larges, avec tout de même deux chouchous : Rossini et Meyerbeer.
Isabel studierte an der Universität Hamburg Finnougristik und Historische Musikwissenschaft. Heute ist sie als Programmheftredakteurin für die Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern tätig. Von Kindesbeinen an besuchte Isabel Konzerte in ihrer Heimatstadt Hamburg und erlernte das Klavierspiel und das Singen im Chor. Die große Symphonik des 19. Jahrhunderts, Chormusik sowie die historisch informierte Aufführungspraxis liegen ihr besonders am Herzen.
Isabella lebt in Graz und unterrichtet Deutsch und Philosophie/Psychologie. Ihre Freizeit verbringt sie am liebsten in der Oper, in klassischen Konzerten oder im Theater. Ihr Herz schlägt besonders für die Oper des 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhunderts und die Operette. Als @operafangirl ist sie auf Twitter aktiv.
Isabella Zijp is a freelance dance writer and critic writing regularly for Bachtrack and other dance platforms. She shares her passion for ballet through writing, giving guided tours and conducting short presentations. In daily life she works as an editor and online marketeer while also writing about her other passion: travelling.
Ivy Lin's love of ballet began in high school when at the school dance she quickly realized she had two left feet. One always admires things one cannot do, and so Ivy began to attend dance performances to marvel at the grace and beauty of bodies in motion. Ivy's day job is a biology teacher and after a long day in the classroom she loves to unwind by watching dance. She also enjoys theater, opera, pop and classical music. Ivy has her own blog (www.humbledandoverwhelmed,blogspot.com)
Jade graduated in political sciences then studied Russian civilisation. Conservatoire-trained in classical music in her early years, she also took ballet classes and still stands at the barre in Paris. A devout balletomane, she writes for French ballet medias and carries out researches on Russian ballet and politics. Her interests range from 19th-century Russian ballet to sovietic choregraphy, as well as neoclassical narrative ballets. She particularly enjoys watching ballets at the Bolshoi.
Jaime Robles has previously written in the San Francisco Bay Area, including for the San Francisco Classical Voice. Also a poet, she has written song lyrics and librettos for several one-act operas, including Inferno (music by Peter Josheff), staged in 2009 by San Francisco Cabaret Opera, and Vladimir in Butterfly Country (music by Anne Callaway), staged in 2012.
Jason Cady is a composer and librettist. He performs on pedal steel and modular synthesizer. Pitchfork called him a "mod-synth mastermind…funny and engaging." The New York Times, described his video opera, "I Screwed Up the Future", as “charming fantasy...drably comic and spacey.” His opera, "Candy Corn", was called "hilarious" by The Wire Magazine, and “radically enjoyable” by I Care If You Listen. He is the Artistic Director of Experiments in Opera, and the Director of Music Programming at The Flea Theater. He was born in Flint, Michigan and now lives in New York City.
Ancien professeur de philosophie, en région Sud-Alsace, Jean Landras s'intéresse aux problématiques psychologiques et sociales de l'initiation artistique, en particulier musique et danse. Ayant pratiqué le chant choral et s'étant exercé au chant lyrique – ce que l'état de sa voix, entre autres, ne lui permet malheureusement plus – il est à l'écoute de l'actualité musicale, avec un penchant pour les claviers : orgue, piano, clavecin. Les concerts des artistes qui le passionnent, leurs enregistrements, l'écoute fréquente de France Musique, la recherche assidue de ce qui satisfait la curiosité d'un mélomane, alimentent sa vie culturelle de retraité. Il partage volontiers ses coups de cœur, son enthousiasme étant encore fortifié lorsqu'il parvient à le communiquer à autrui.
