Isaí Jess Muñoz
Isaí Jess Muñoz serves as Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s interim dean of music. In this role, Muñoz directs artistic planning and strategy for the Music Division, supports its faculty and students, and works closely with faculty and administration to develop and refine the curriculum.
He joined the Conservatory in 2022 as chair of voice, overseeing and supporting all curricula and artistic programming for voice, opera, vocal pedagogy, and the choral arts. As chair, Muñoz drove several key initiatives, including an innovative partnership with Boston Lyric Opera that launched the Conservatory’s new Opera Innovators Series and brought several renowned professionals to campus, including Anne Bogart, Karen Slack, Stephen Powell, Yuval Sharon, and Martin Katz, to name a few.
In 2021, he was named president-elect of the National Opera Association (NOA), and will assume the role of president in 2024. He previously served as NOA’s vice president for conferences.
Muñoz has collaborated with some of the world’s leading ensembles, including the Israel Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Verbier Festival (Switzerland), New York City Opera, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
A champion for contemporary and underrepresented works, the tenor is featured on numerous audio recordings available on the Naxos, Albany, Sony Classical, and Decca Gold labels. His latest solo album, Visca L'Amor: Catalan Art Songs of the XX and XXI Centuries (Bridge Records/Naxos, 2021), is a BBC Music Magazine five-star honoree.
For teaching and interdisciplinary activities, Muñoz has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Association of Teachers of Singing, American Prize, National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists, and the Grace Farms Foundation. From 2015–2021, he chaired the NOA’s Sacred in Opera Initiative, which explores the interplay between music-drama and the ideologies of world religions. His students appear in opera houses throughout the United States and abroad, on Broadway and with national companies, and on major recording labels including Sony, RCA, and Atlantic.
Muñoz is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Stony Brook University, and has formerly served on faculty at the University of Delaware and Indiana Wesleyan University. As a guest lecturer and clinician, Muñoz appears with universities and performance programs worldwide. Muñoz, his wife, and three children divide their time between Boston and New York City.
Sara Goldstein
Sara Goldstein joined the Conservatory voice faculty in 1988 and is interim chair of voice. In addition to applied voice, Goldstein teaches the Alexander Technique for Voice Performance course.
Goldstein has performed throughout the United States, France, and England. She has given solo recitals on France Musique radio and at Festival du Périgord Noir, as well as premiering a new opera on France Culture radio. Goldstein has also performed solo concerts at Boston's Jordan Hall, French Library, and the Goethe Institute. Other credits include featured performances with the Baroque Music Foundation (New York and Washington, D.C.) and Boston's Opera unMet.
Goldstein is an Alexander Technique International (ATI) certified teacher of Alexander Technique and has taught workshops for Boston Conservatory's Vocal Pedagogy Professional Workshop extension program, as well as to music teachers of the Boston Public Schools. She has given numerous master classes, including at the National Baroque Music Conservatory (CMBV) in Versailles, France, the Longy School of Music in Massachusetts, and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Massachusetts.
Goldstein is the cofounder and director of voice workshops (Etudes et Rencontres Artistiques) in Montignac, France. Her previous teaching credits include the American College of Paris and Berklee College of Music. Her former students are singing throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia with companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Diva Opera, and many are teaching at conservatories and universities.
Goldstein earned a B.A. in English and history from the University of Rochester with concurrent voice studies at the Eastman School of Music. She went on to earn an M.M. in voice from New England Conservatory, with additional studies at the Britten-Pears Institute for Advanced Musical Studies in Aldeburgh, England. Goldstein studied with Susan Clickner, Grace Hunter, and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and completed additional studies with William Christie, Rita Streich, and Hugues Cuénod.
Karyl Ryczek
Karyl Ryczek, soprano, has enjoyed a varied and rich performance career on the opera, oratorio and concert stage. Her singing has been described as intelligent, dramatically informed and in possession of opulent tone. Solo appearances include Boston Baroque, Cantata Singers, Boston Musica Viva, Emmanuel Music, Monadnock Music Festival, and Collage New Music.
Ms. Ryczek has had the privilege of working with and premiering the works of some of the most prominent composers of our time including John Harbison, Aaron Jay Kernis, T.J. Anderson, and Charles Fussell. She has had worked with the Grammy Award winning Pacifica String Quartet and has had performances of Gorecki widely popular Third Symphony and Barber’s, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 in addition to creating operatic characters for Collage New Music and Opera on the Edge. The operas of Robert Kapilow performed for family concerts have also been in her repertory. Ms. Ryczek continues to maintain an active performing career.
Ms. Ryczek has been on the voice faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College since 1992.
Teaching Philosophy
As an instructor of voice for over 25 years, Ms. Ryczek seeks to bring out the self-discovery in each of her students. The human speaking voice is developed throughout the span of each life and one needs to be in tune with their body and mind in order to be a successful singing performer. Look for the most organic, natural production of tone provided by the best possible breath support and synchronization of body alignment and there will be the individual’s voice. Find the vowel and consonant resonance to balance and even registration and therein lies the ease of sound, fluid breath line and accuracy of pitch. Each student is encouraged to explore repertoire with guidance to locate and build the best musical collection representative of their technical ability and enrich their musical roots.
Michael·Lewin
Michael Lewin is one of America’s foremost concert pianists, winning over audiences in 30 countries with playing of “majestic power and searing emotion.” (The London Times). His career was launched with top prizes in the Franz Liszt International Competition, the American Pianists Association Award. His recordings have won a Grammy Award and a Roundglass Music Award.
He has appeared as orchestral soloist with the Netherlands Philharmonic, Cairo Symphony, China National Radio Orchestra, Bucharest Philharmonic, Youth Orchestra of the Americas, State Symphony of Greece, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Pops, and the Phoenix, Indianapolis, Miami, North Carolina, West Virginia, Nevada, New Orleans, Colorado, Guadalajara, and Puerto Rico Symphonies.
Solo appearances include New York’s Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Taiwan’s National Concert Hall, Hong Kong’s City Hall Theatre, Holland’s Muziekcentrum, Moscow’s Great Hall, the Athens Megaron, the National Gallery of Art, the Newport, Ravinia and Spoleto Festivals and PBS Television. His extensive repertoire includes over 40 piano concertos, with particular interest in the music of Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and a host of American and Latin American composers.
Mr. Lewin’s award-winning discography on Sono Luminus, Naxos and Centaur includes a pair of acclaimed Debussy recordings entitled “Beau Soir” and “Starry Night”, the complete piano music of Charles T. Griffes and Scarlatti Sonatas for Naxos, “Michael Lewin plays Liszt,” “A Russian Piano Recital”, “Bamboula!” piano music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, “Piano Phantoms,” .
Michael Lewin is Professor and Head of Piano at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Classical Music Director for Ethos Music in China. He gives master classes worldwide, directs the Boston Conservatory Piano Masters Series and has taught many prize-winning and successful pianists. He is a Juilliard School graduate and a Steinway Artist. His teachers included Leon Fleisher, Yvonne Lefebure, Adele Marcus and Irwin Freundlich.
Carlo Pari
Carlo Pari is a famous Italian pianist who studied under Lorenzo Bavaj, the renowned pianist and conductor of the famous tenor singer Carreras. I am currently the Director of the International Exchange Center and Piano Professor at the Pezarro Rossini National Conservatory of Music in Italy.
Carlo's playing skills are proficient, with a brilliant and transparent tone and a strong sense of rhythm. At the same time, he has a deep understanding of jazz and improvisation, and his interpretations of various styles of music perfectly express their essence. As a pianist, composer, and organizer of music events, Carlo holds concerts at renowned music halls and festivals in Europe and participates in music events organized by authoritative music schools. Such as St. Petersburg Concert Hall in Russia, Rachmaninov Concert Hall in Moscow, Dublin Concert Hall in Ireland, Tallinn Concert Hall in Estonia, Krakow, Szczecin, and Miezdrowye in Poland, Munich, Berlin, and Dresden in Germany, Vienna and Salzburg in Austria, Stockholm in Sweden, Rome, Milan, Pezaro, Palermo, Bologna, Ferrara in Italy, Paris, Nice, and Montpellier in France, London, Glasgow, and Edinburgh in England and Ireland. China's Beijing, Tianjin, Changsha, and Chengdu in Asia, Bali in Indonesia, Japan, and Guam in the Philippines. Cleveland, New York, and New Orleans in the United States, as well as Sydney, Melbourne, and Keynes in Australia in Oceania.
Carlo, as a musician with a certain level of expertise, was invited by Pavarotti and Franny to serve as their artistic director and piano art director. And collaborate with world-renowned musicians such as Cartier Richelier, Giuseppe Teddy, Wilma Wilnoch, Michel Pranchido, Mario Melanie, Fudaric Montage, Oscar Laura, Bruno Carnino, Tan Dun, etc. Carlo holds international master's classes and offers professional courses in many important music schools, universities, and art schools around the world, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Jinan, Stockholm, New York, Glasgow, Cleveland, Sydney, Melbourne, London, Guam, etc. And cooperate with many important music institutions and music schools, such as the Royal Academy of Music and Drama of Scotland, Manhattan Conservatory of Music, Tianjin Conservatory of Music, Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Shandong Academy of Arts, Cleveland Conservatory of Music, Estonian Conservatory of Music, University of Guam Opera School, Kulturi-ja Humanitaarhariduse Conservatory of Music, Moscow Conservatory of Music, etc. The exchange event dedicated to promoting Italian culture and art was held at La Mediterraneea, one of the most important music schools in Japan. The school awarded Carlo an honorary certificate in the Ad Honorem music category. Afterwards, he was also invited to perform at the Italian Embassy in Etonia to promote EU integration. Similarly at the embassy, Carlo also performed as a special guest for Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson and Vatican Cardinal Sodano. So far, Carlo has held nearly 900 concerts.
Alexey Sokolov
Alexey Sokolov was born in 1972 into a musical family in St. Petersburg, Russia and is one of the well-known Russian pianists today. Alexei graduated from the oldest St. Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia, under the tutelage of Professor Vladimir Shakin and Professor Grigory Sokolov. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Gold Medal, Outstanding Performer, Chamber Music Performer, and Education Diploma. During his studies, he has won numerous awards in major international competitions, including the first prize and Grand prize in the 1993 Italy "Citta di Stresa Yamaha" International Piano Competition; Awarded in the international competition "Cava di Tirreni" in Italy; From 1994 to 1995, awarded the Prokofiev Prize for Actively Engaging in Music Activities in Russia; Received the Gartov Social Charity Award from Germany in 1994; The UNICEF Special Award and the UNESCO Piano Competition Best Teacher Award have also been appreciated by the Polish Minister of Culture. Since 1995, he has been a soloist for the St. Petersburg Orchestra. He has served as the Deputy Director of the Department of Music at St. Petersburg National Normal University, Honorary Professor at Tianjin Conservatory of Music, and Professor Sokolov has won the "Haihe Friendship Award" in Tianjin, as well as the Best Foreign Professor Award in China. These awards represent their significant contributions to cultural and educational development.
Professor Sokolov's teaching activities are spread all over the world, and his teaching achievements are particularly outstanding. During his 22 years of teaching in China (1999-2021), his students have won over 50 international piano competition awards, including 16 highest, first, and gold awards, and have been selected as the best teacher in the UNICEF International Piano Competition. The awards include the first prize at the Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition (1995, 2011 Ukraine); Edward Grieg Royal Competition (2007, Norway) First Prize, Steinway International Piano Competition First Prize (2001, Beijing), Hong Kong Asia International Piano Open. In China and Russia, Sokolov published numerous studies and articles on performance techniques, university piano and concerto education, such as Beethoven and Schubert's piano sonatas, Tchaikovsky's variations, and so on.
Professor Sokolov has trained numerous outstanding students to further their studies in world-renowned music schools, including Curtis School of Music, Julia School of Music, Johns Hopkins University, New England School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, as well as music schools in Munich, Hanover, Vienna, Leipzig, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. Currently, Professor Sokolov is a music and instrument training professor at the National Normal University of St. Petersburg, and also serves as the Vice Dean of the International Art School at the National Normal University of St. Petersburg in China.
GianLuca·Pasolini
Famous Italian tenor singer
Italian Milan Scala Opera signed a contract for tenor
Gianluca Pasolini is a vocal professor at the Pezarro Rossini National Conservatory of Music. He graduated with the highest grades from the Pezarro Rossini National Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of Master Loveletto Merola, and later completed the curriculum of the Florence May Conservatory of Music with Alan Billard at the Tuscany Conservatory of Music in Busetoville and Bernadette Manca di Nisa. He conducted music research for 30 years at Riccione Inizia, and with the strong support of the Pesaro National Conservatory and Roberto Merola, he created "Master" in poetry at the Florence Conservatory with the theme of 《Master》.
Gianluca Pasolini appeared in the "Bran's Poetry" at the Florence Sa May Music Festival in 2006. In the Rai3 TV program, he was personally selected by the master Zubin Meta to celebrate his 70th birthday. In 2007, he was recommended by the Milan Scala Opera House as the protagonist of Fabio Waki's new opera "Teneke". Gianluca Pasolini regularly collaborates on operas with major theaters around the world.
His reserved opera roles include: Arturo, Percy, Nemorino, Edgar, Don Otavio, Mitridat, Alfredo, Duca, and so on.
He is honored to collaborate with world-renowned conductor masters, including Daniel, Robert Abado, Daniel Barenboim, Sami Bikhhof, Christina Komencini, Ming Vaughn Zhong, Paul Koren, Richard Jones, Janis Kos, Zubin Metta, Ailantas, Nakrissa, Elmanta Oim, Kazush Iono, Donato Renzeti, Emilio Sagi, Dmitry Chernyakov, Mikel Zanetsky, Alberto Zeda, and more.
Renana Gutman
Praised by the New York Times for her “passionate and insightful” playing, Renana Gutman has performed across four continents as an orchestral soloist, recitalist and collaborative artist. She played at venues like The Louvre Museum, Grenoble Museum (France), Carnegie Recital Hall, People’s Symphony Concerts, Merkin Hall (New York), St. Petersburg’s Philharmonia (Russia), Stresa Music Festival (Italy), Ravinia Rising Stars (Chicago), Jordan Hall, Gardner Museum (Boston), Herbst Theatre (St. Francisco), Menuhin Hall (UK), UNISA (South Africa), Marlboro (VT), and National Gallery, Phillips Collection, and Freer Gallery (Washington DC). Her performances are heard frequently on WQXR Young Artists Showcase, NY, WFMT Dame Myra Hess, Chicago, and MPR in Performances Today, MN.
Renana was one of four young pianists selected by the renowned Leon Fleisher to participate in his workshop on Beethoven piano sonatas hosted by Carnegie Hall, where she presented performances of “Hammerklavier” and “Appassionata” to critical acclaim. Her recording of Chopin etudes op.25 will be released in 2019 by “The Chopin Project” – listen here.
A top prize winner at Los Angeles Liszt competition, International Keyboard Festival in New York, and Tel-Hai International Master Classes, she performed concerti such as Brahms 2nd, Rachmaninoff-Paganini Variations, and Beethoven’s “Emperor” with the Jerusalem Symphony, Haifa Symphony, Belgian “I Fiamminghi”, and Mannes College Orchestra. Her festival appearances included Marlboro and Ravinia, where she collaborated with prominent musicians like pianist Richard Goode, clarinetist Anthony McGill and members of the Guarneri string quartet, to name a few.
High in demand as a chamber musician, Renana toured with “Musicians from Marlboro”, and served as the collaborative pianist of Steans Institute at Ravinia Festival from 2012-2018, where she performed chamber music and lieder extensively. In last seasons, she performed chamber music with violist Kim Kashkashian, violinist Miriam Fried, and clarinetist Charles Neidich. She tours regularly with violinist Alexi Kenney, winner of Avery Fisher Grant.
Renana premiered newly commissioned music by Paul Schoenfield, Tamar Muskal, Judith Zaimont, and other living composers. She is also dedicated to performing obscure pieces by Jewish composers who perished in the Holocaust; Erwin Schulhoff, Viktor Ullmann, and others.
She was a founder member of the award-winning piano trio “Terzetto” with violinist Diana Cohen and cellist Tanya Ell. The trio performed regularly in festivals and concerts across North America from 2007-2011.
As a pedagogue, Renana will join the piano faculty of Boston’s Longy School of Music of Bard College in the fall of 2019. She had previously been on the piano faculty of the Yehudi Menuhin Music School in the UK, and of Bard Pre-College and The 92nd Street Y in NY.
A native of Israel, Renana started playing at the age of six, and soon after, garnered multiple awards and honors. She received scholarships from the America Israel Cultural Foundation, and the Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women. She completed her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at Mannes College of Music, NY, where she studied with Richard Goode. In Israel, her teachers were pianists Natasha Tadson, Viktor Derevianko, and the Israeli composer Arie Shapira.
Renana became an American citizen in 2015 and makes her home in NYC, where she plays an active role in the NY Chapter of Music For Food, a musician-led initiative for local hunger relief. Away from the piano, Renana enjoys pursuing her passion for Argentine Tango, languages, and literature.