WILLIAM COLE, Executive Director Beginning as Development Director of Cleveland Opera in July 2004, Cole was integral in securing $1.1 million in funding for the unprecedented merger of Cleveland Opera and Lyric Opera Cleveland in 2006. As Executive Director, he is directly responsible for a development fundraising plan, prospect acquisition and cultivating relationships with foundations and corporations. Prior to his work in Cleveland, Cole was Director of Marketing and Development for Winston-Salem Symphony from 1999 to 2004. Notably, during his five-year tenure there, he increased the symphony’s Annual Fund by 56%. His additional experience in arts administration includes working as Finance and Administration Analyst for Washington Performing Arts Society and as Personnel Manager for the Rowan-Salisbury Symphony. In 1998, Cole received his Master’s of Arts Administration from American University, at which he was a Theory Fellow in the Department of Performing Arts. Previously, he taught general music and chorus at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Salisbury, N.C. from 1989 to 1996. DEAN WILLIAMSON, Artistic Director American Conductor Dean Williamson is widely known throughout the United States for his perceptive and commanding conducting in productions such as Il barbiere di Siviglia, Turn of the Screw, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Cosi fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Pasquale, Carmen, Don Giovanni, La Cenerentola, and La bohème, among others. The Washington Post says“...a brilliantly directed, beautifully sung and endlessly funny Barber of Seville...the orchestra, which played the sparkling overture and the vivid storm music with grace and color under the expert baton of Dean Williamson.” Likewise, the Seattle Times says “Williamson keeps a sure, steady hand on the singers and the orchestra...realizing the shimmering and otherworldly textures of the score.”   In the 2007-2008 Season and beyond, he returns to the Seattle Opera for Le nozze di Figaro and Pagliacci, as well as Samson et Dalila with Nashville Opera, Tosca with the Spokane Opera, operatic productions with the New England Conservatory, the Seattle Young Artist Program, and the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, as well as several concert engagements. He will also conduct Opera Cleveland’s productions of Le nozze di Figaro, La bohème, and Hansel and Gretel. Recent engagements for the 2006-2007 Season included Die Zauberflöte with Opera Colorado, Roméo et Juliette and with the Nashville Opera, Hänsel und Gretel with Spokane Opera, Falstaff with the Seattle Opera YAP, and Carmen and Le nozze di Figaro with Skagit Opera.   Williamson was for twelve years principal coach and pianist for the Seattle Opera, and most recently returned to conduct his main stage Seattle Opera debut in a new production of Les contes d’Hoffmann and Turn of the Screw. Other recent engagements include a return to Opera Theatre of St. Louis in 2006 to conduct a new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia, as well as a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor with Minnesota Opera, his debut at the Wolf Trap Opera in Don Pasquale and La Cenerentola, Carmen at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Cosi fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro with the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, Don Pasquale at the San Francisco Opera’s Merola program, L’italiana in Algeri for Boston Lyric Opera, and Madama Butterfly with Chautauqua Opera.   In addition, Williamson served until 2002 as the Music Director and Conductor of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program.He has led all of the program’s productions, including Cosi fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, La Cenerentola, and La bohème. He is currently the Music Director of the Washington East Opera, and was previously Artistic Director of the Viva Voce Song Recital Series with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra. He has also worked with the Theatre Caramoor Festival, Central City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, the Blossom Festival, the Banff Festival, the Colorado Arts Festival, the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Opera Idaho, Bellevue Philharmonic, and has served as Guest Faculty for the University of Washington and New York University. Mr. Williamson has also performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe as accompanist with some of the world’s leading singers in such venues as Weill Recital Hall, the Wieniawski Society, and at Merkin Hall.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT Dr. Pauline F. Ramig   VICE PRESIDENT Viia R. Beechler   SECRETARY/TREASURER Gary V. Bombei   EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Bruce H. Akers Margaret Anne Cannon Thomas Demitrack  Ritu Furlan Barbara Leirvik Marilyn C. MacLeod Kandice Marchant, Ph. D Melodie Morgan-Minott, Ph. D Nicholas Peay Peter L. Rubin     TRUSTEES Thomas S. Allen Steven R. Benza William P. Blair, III Dr. Glenn R. Brown Richard B. Dempsey Nikki DiFilippo Richard M. Knoth Valarie McCall John G. McDonald Antoinette S. Miller Sue Peay Nancy Schuster David L. Simon   ADVISORY BOARD Bruce H. Akers Dr. Nathan Berger Gerald B. Chattman Rand M. Curtiss Ronald K. Leirvik Alex Machaskee Richard W. Pogue Charles A. Ratner Robert S. Reitman Barbara S. Robinson Dr. Joanne Rand Schwartz Edwin Z. Singer   BOARD ALUMNI COUNCIL Bonnie Baker Susan Bianco Rand Curtiss Walter Duvall Marc Freimuth Cavour Hauser Jane Haylor Marie Monago Helen Moss Debbie Neale Eva Sands Dr. Joanne Rand Schwartz George Vassos

 

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