HILERIE KLEIN RENSI
President
She attended Interlochen Center for the Arts, the world’s premiere summer arts program, for nine summers and graduated high school from Interlochen Arts Academy. She continues to be the only woman in the history of Interlochen Center for the Arts to perform four consecutive lead operetta roles and was also honored with the “Best Female Principle Over 25 Years of Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas” Award.
Driven to help other singers achieve the same success she had enjoyed, Hilerie began teaching private lessons to friends and beginning students in high school. Hilerie then went on to earn a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance in three years from Cleveland Institute of Music and a Master of Music degree from Binghamton University together with Tri-Cities Opera– the oldest operatic training company in the country.
Her students have been accepted to classical, musical theater and contemporary music schools including: Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, State University of New York at Fredonia, Manhattan School of Music, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Juilliard, State University of New York at Cortland, Penn State University, Ohio Northern University, The Crane School of Music, Ithaca College, University of Southern California, Oklahoma City University, UCLA, Temple University, University of the Arts, Belmont University, Houghton College, Cleveland Institute of Music, Seton Hill University, Berklee College of Music, Mannes School of Music, and summer programs including Interlochen Center for the Arts, Aspen Opera Theater, Aspen Music Festival, Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute, The Glimmerglass Festival, Binghamton University Summer Youth Musical Theater Workshop, ArtsBridge Summer Musical Theater Program, and Boston University Tanglewood Institute, among others.
CHARLES "CHIP" DUGAN
Vice-President
Dr. Charles "Chip" Dugan, tenor, is a Pennsylvania native. He is a clinical singing voice specialist and voice and language development consultant at Pittsburgh Voice & Speech Partners. He is a voice professor at Grove City College, the secretary of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Tri-State Chapter, and an affiliate researcher at the Helou Laboratory for Vocal Systems Anatomy and Physiology Research at the University of Pittsburgh.
He is passionate about instilling the confidence to create in musicians, artists, and writers. He has been a guest lecturer, and presented his research on professional voice issues, at conferences and medical settings across the United States. His current research is focused on laryngeal self-massage for singers and nonverbal communication for opera singers.
He earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Pedagogy and Performance at the University of Miami (2020), as well as a Masters in Vocal Performance from Florida State University (2007), and a Bachelors in Vocal Performance from Ohio Northern University (2005).
He has training in Alexander Technique, Estill Method, McClosky Technique, laryngeal massage, voice science, vocal acoustics, sensory-cognitive language development, and mental health first aid.
He is an advocate for progressive change in the arts, a poet, and an editor for the chapbook publisher Beauty is Beauty Press.
OLIVER LO
Treasurer
Oliver Lo has sung a diverse concert repertoire spanning from the tenor solo in Bach's cantata "Wir danken dir" and Handel's Judas Maccabaeus to Mendelssohn's Elijah and Orff's Carmina Burana. Some of his operatic roles include Basilio and Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro, Jacquino in Fidelio, Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, Romo in Romo et Juliet, Fenton in Falstaff, and Sam in Susannah. He was selected as one of the 13 national finalists for the 1999 Rehfuss Singing Actor Awards at Orlando Opera.
He has been stage/music director and pit conductor for operas and musicals. Selected credits include Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury and The Pirates of Penzance, Puccini's La bohème, Strauss' Die Fledermaus, Menotti's Medium, Frank Loesser's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida, and Mark Hollmann's Urinetown.
After quitting his day job as a mechanical engineer, he started his music journey by attending the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and graduated with distinction. He then received a full scholarship and teaching assistantship and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance (minor in directing) at the Eastman School of Music. Lo was tenured Associate professor and Director of Opera Theatre at East Tennessee State University, and, for ten years, was a full-time music faculty member at the Division of Humanities at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where his course "Music, Drama, and Theatre" received the inaugural Common Core Course Excellence Award in 2012.
Lo is currently serving as the Director of Opera/Music Theater and Associate Professor in Voice at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
SASHA PIASTRO-TEDFORD
Treasurer
Education
Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University
Master of Music from Penn State University
DMA from Shenandoah Conservatory at Shenandoah University
Employment
Grove City College, 2011-present
Susquehanna University, 2007-2011
Lycoming College, 2006-2011
Penn State University, 2004-2006
Bucknell University, spring 2009 (temporary fill-in)
Selected Works
Britten’s The Little Sweep, Rowan, Microscopic Opera Company
Lizbeth, Lizbeth, Microscopic Opera Company
Nielsen’s Third Symphony, Soprano soloist, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra
Mozart Requiem, Soprano soloist, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra
Honegger’s King David, Soprano soloist, Messiah Choral Arts Society
Italian Connections, Soprano soloist, Williamsport Symphony Orchestra
Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Leïla, Center Stage Opera
Djamileh, Djamileh (cover), Opera Theater of Pittsburgh
Così fan tutte, Despina (cover), Emerald City Opera
Iolanthe, Celia, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra
Don Giovanni, Zerlina, Center Stage Opera
Handel’s Messiah, Soprano soloist, Messiah Choral Arts Society
The Telephone, Lucy, Lycoming College
Various Puccini and Donizetti arias, Soprano soloist, Penns Woods Festival Orchestra
The Magic Flute, Pamina, Pennsylvania State University
Die Fledermaus, Rosalinda, Carnegie Mellon University
Summer and Smoke, Alma Winemiller (Act I), Pennsylvania State University
Orfeo ed Euridice, Euridice, The Ellis School, Pittsburgh, PA
The Crucible, Abigail Williams (Act III), Pennsylvania State University
Vaughan William’s Dona Nobis Pacem, Soprano soloist, Messiah College Choral Arts Soc.
Mozart’s Exultate, jubilate, Soprano soloist, Pennsylvania State University
Fidelio, Marzelline (Act I), Music Theater Bavaria
ALEXANDER LEE
Past-President (2020-2022)
Praised by Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times for his “bright tenor voice and vitality”, Tenor Alexander Wook Lee is a dynamic and accomplished young performer, conductor, and music educator in the world of opera and classical music.
Recent opera credits include role of Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosį Fan Tutte, Gérald in Delibe’s Lakmé, Candide in Bernstein’s Candide, and Acis in Handel’s Acis and Galatea. Dr. Lee was also recently seen as Eisenstein and Goro in the critically acclaimed production of Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with the prestigious Martina Arroyo Foundation for the Summer 2017 and 2016 Seasons.
A native of South Korea, Dr. Lee was a soloist with the Korea National Theater and Korean Broadcast Station, where he also worked as a staff pianist. His diverse skills also led him to the position of Sergeant with the Ministry of National Defense Band as a composer, arranger and singer. Additional concert work includes engagements with the Turkish National Symphony Orchestra and the National Korean Music Symphony. In 2009, Mr. Lee was the first place winner of the Korea Singing Competition, held in Seoul.
He is currently Assistant Professor of Voice Music and Opera Director at Marshall University in Huntington, WV as the Coordinator of Voice Studies. Dr. Lee received his Doctoral degree from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, master's degree from Manhattan School of Music and Bachelor's Degree at 명지대학교(Myongji University) in South Korea.