Our People
Our staff and board of directors can't wait to meet you!
Here is a picture of each of us so that you can be sure to pick us out in the crowd and come say "hello" at the next performance.
See you at the opera!
STAFF
-
Julia Cooke
Artistic and General Director
-
Catrin Davies
Director of Community Engagement and Development
-
Courtney Kalbacker
Director of Artistic Operations and Education
-
Aaron Ziegel, Ph.D.
Scholar-in-Residence
-
Tara Dougherty
Patron Services Manager
-
Sarah Burns
Operations Manager
Board of directors
-
Michael Brown, PRESIDENT
Community Roles: Attorney with Miles & Stockbridge, P.C.
-
Dawn Luedtke, VICE-PRESIDENT
Community roles: Montgomery County Council Member, member of the Montgomery County Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission, Montgomery County board of Social Services, community theater performer, and proud mama to four music-loving children!
-
Bart Debicki, TREASURER
Community Roles: Associate Professor in the Department of Management and International Business in the College of Business and Economics at Towson University
-
Francis Mondimore, SECRETARY
Community Roles: Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
-
Anthony Avery
Community Roles: Award-Nominated recording artist and Founder of the Tony Aye Artistry Foundation, Outreach Coordinator for MedStar Family Choice of D.C
-
Rosemary Eck
Community Roles: [retired] major gifts manager at Maryland Public Television [MPT], Director of Development at St. Mary’s Seminary, inaugural philanthropy director at Charlestown Retirement Community, fund raising consultant for the Baltimore Regional Burn Center at Hopkins Bayview Hospital
-
Elizabeth Futral
Community Roles: Distinguished Chair of Vocal Studies at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University
-
Erin Rada
Community Roles: Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center and St. Joseph Medical Center
-
Stevie Schein
Community Roles: Senior Training and Technical Assistance Manager for Healthy Steps (a program of Zero to Three
-
Kevin Short
Community Roles: Professor of Voice at the University of Maryland, Adjunct Voice teacher at the Curtis Institute of Music, Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.
-
Andrew Feinberg
Community Roles: Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine, Engineering and Public Health, where he is Director of the Center for Epigenetics, a recipient of an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, a member of the National Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the NIH Council of Councils.
-
LEE BOOT
Community Roles: Director of the Imaging Research Center, and Affiliate Associate Professor of Visual Arts and Computer Science & Engineering at UMBC. His practice involves bringing values, modes and methods from the arts into multidisciplinary teams addressing serious societal challenges such as substance misuse, low education achievement, healthcare and the epidemiology of pandemics.
-
Suzanne Woods
Community roles: Nationally-recognized soprano who has performed major roles across the country, in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, and on major recording labels.
Brendan Cooke - Founder, Director of artistic partnerships
Advisory Council Members
Suzanne Balaes-Blair (Archdiocese of Baltimore)
Michael Blair (Cummings & Co. Realtors)
David Dimmock (Northrup Grumman, Retired)
Dennis Ferguson (Social Security Administration)
Erika Juengst (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)
Lewis Noonberg (DLA Piper, Retired Partner)
Monica Reinagel (Nutritionist, Host of Nutrition Diva Podcast)
Maureen Ober Renner (College of Notre Dame, Loyola University)
Steven White (Metropolitan Opera)
Directors Emeriti
J Austin Bitner
Suzanne Balaes-Blair
Michael Blair
Lauren Brown
Jennifer Burdick, in memoriam
David Dimmock
Dennis Ferguson
Louis Gephardt
Jimmy Galdieri, in memoriam
Mimi Hatch
John Harris
Meghan Ihnen
Erika Juengst
Heather Kniotek DeSimone
Heather Lockard Wheeler
Elisabet Pujadas
Elizabeth Robinson
Ben Schuman
John Shields
Susan Yager
Joseph Zuccaro