Faculty

At the age of ten, Monique Duphil entered the Conservatoire National Superieur de Paris and studied under Jean Doyen, Marguerite Long and Joseph Calvet. Having won the First Prize in piano at age 16, she graduated the following year with the Grand Prize in Professional Chamber Music. Subsequent studies were with Harriet Serr and Vladimir Horbowski.  Ms. Duphil's debut at age 15, with the Orchestre de Paris, where she performed Mendelssohn's G-minor Piano Concerto, was followed by prizes in four international competitions, including the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, which launched her on a worldwide career.

In recognition of her spectacular debut in the United States with the Philadelphia Orchestra, where she substituted with only a few hours' notice for cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, Ms. Duphil was reengaged by Eugene Ormandy.  Following this auspicious beginning, she made a total of seven appearances with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, performing two concerti on each occasion. Invited by Charles Dutoit, she recorded, in live performance for the Swiss Radio, the Ginastera Piano Concerto No. 1. Yoel Levi chose Monique to premiere Roger Sessions' Piano Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra.

While based in Hong Kong, she performed recitals, chamber music, and concerti with orchestras in Western and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Korea, Japan, China, India, New Zealand, Australia, North Africa , the United States, and every country in South America. The duo she formed in 1976 with her husband, Jay Humeston, formerly the Hong Kong Philharmonic's principal cellist, was highly successful in America, Europe, and throughout Asia. Praised by Hong Kong 's press as "possibly Asia 's finest pianist," Ms. Duphil was invited by the Shanghai Symphony to be their soloist at the second China International Arts Festival in Beijing.

In addition to her performances with the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, Ms. Duphil has also appeared with numerous other symphony orchestras, including Quebec, Warsaw, Bern, Munich, Paris, Caracas, Mexico, Lima, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, Tokyo Metropolitan, Sapporo, Kanazawa, Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong Philharmonic, the NZSO and the orchestras of the ABC.  In these many performances she has collaborated with such conductors as Ormandy, Markevich, M. Shostakovich, Smetacek, Wislocki, Akiyama, Fukumura, Verbitsky, Sir Alexander Gibson, Peter Maag, Ling Tung, Charles Dutoit, Thomas Sanderling, James de Priest, Yoel Levi, Gerard Schwarz, Eduardo Mata and George Hurst.  

As a distinguished chamber musician, Monique Duphil has partnered with many renowned artists, including Henryk Szeryng, Andre Tchaikovsky, Ruggiero Ricci, Karl Leister, Pierre Fournier, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Cho-Liang Lin, Lynn Chan, and Michel Debost.  She has also collaborated with many renowned ensembles, including The Salzburg Mozarteum Trio, the Vienna Philharmonic String Quartet, Musikverein String Quartet, St. Petersburg String Quartet, Chester String Quartet, Portland String Quartet and the American String Quartet.  

Internationally-acclaimed soloist Sergio de los Cobos has appeared with many prestigious orchestras throughout the world including the Houston Symphony, the Santa Fe Symphony, the Spanish Radio-Television Orchestra, the Marchigiana Philharmonic of Italy and the Zürich Symphony Orchestra. A coveted invitation to perform at the Palais des Nations, the European Headquarters of the United Nations, was the prelude to his first major recital in 1979, and was followed by a Paris debut in 1981 and his London premiere in 1987 at the South Bank Centre. In 1996 he performed in the Weill Recital Hall of the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City .

Sergio de los Cobos greatly enjoys performing and teaching in summer festivals, most notably the Aspen Music Festival, the Bergen International Music Festival and the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy. At the Verbier Music Festival and Academy in Switzerland he also lent his leadership to the academy chamber music program for nine consecutive years, coaching talented young musicians and mentoring them toward many successes.

His interest in varied repertoire has led him to collaborate in a wide spectrum of projects, from recording Mozart's E-flat concerto for two pianos and orchestra to his attachment to the Ionos Quartet, a two-piano/percussion ensemble. He also has received invitations to introduce piano works by Alberto Ginastera, whom he met in 1981, as part of numerous requests to include Spanish and Latin-American music in his recital programs. His recordings include works by Albéniz, Ginastera, Villa-Lobos and a recent release on Kleos Classics of the complete works for piano and winds by Francis Poulenc.

A prizewinner in international competitions, including the William Kapell, the World Piano Competition, the Senigalia International Piano Competition and the Epinal International Piano Competition, Sergio de los Cobos is sought as a judge on international committees. His performances and recordings have been aired on various radio and TV stations in Europe and the United States. He has given concerts in the United States, France, Spain, U.K., Holland, Norway, Romania, Switzerland and China.

Sergio de los Cobos received the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts from Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he also taught from 1992 to 1995 as the teaching assistant to Professor John Perry. He currently holds a teaching position at the Geneva Conservatory of Music, and has been on the faculties of the University of Michigan, University of North Carolina, the Aspen Music Festival and the Verbier Festival and Academy, as well as the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy.

Stephen Deitz began his piano studies at the age of six, studying with Levin Houston and Evelyn Swarthout Hayes of Washington, D.C. He studied with Adele Marcus and Oxana Yablonskaya, both of the Juilliard School, and completed his M.M. at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, as a student of John Perry. Although beginning his doctoral studies with Nelita True at the University of Maryland, College Park, he interrupted them after being named Artist-in-Residence at the Dunbarton School of Music in Bermuda. He subsequently resumed doctoral studies at the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Solomon Mikowski, Constance Keene, and Jeffrey Cohen.

A native of Hong Kong, Regina Yung has performed as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and chamber musician in numerous venues throughout Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Her performances have been broadcast on radio and television on RTHK in Hong Kong, GLR Classical Radio in London, WQXR Radio and WNBC television in New York. She was also interviewed and reviewed by a number of major publications, including The South China Morning Post of Hong Kong, The Times and The Evening Standard of London, and the String Magazine in the United States.

As a teacher, Ms. Yung has taught at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Oberlin College Conservatory, the Manhattan School of Music and its Summer Music Camp. She was also on the piano faculty of the Amadeus and Concordia Conservatories and an adjunct faculty member at the Concordia College in Bronxville, New York.

Regina Yung graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and received a Performance Certificate from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She obtained her Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College Conservatory, and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts
degrees from Manhattan School of Music.

Accompanist Elizabeth Merritt Cordes earned her bachelor’s degree in music education from the State University of New York at Fredonia and her Master of Music degree in accompanying/performance from the University of Akron . She spent three years as accompanist and coach for the voice, opera, and choral programs at the University of Akron and worked for six seasons as coach/accompanist with Ohio Light Opera. In 1996, she joined Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton , NY , as coach/accompanist, where she coached singers, played rehearsals and performed continuo for mainstage productions. In 1998, Ms. Cordes took over the education-outreach program of Tri-Cities Opera, preparing and performing shows and workshops at schools throughout central New York and in Pennsylvania . She left Tri-Cities Opera in 2005 and now works in public education in Tupper Lake , NY , where she lives with her husband, George Cordes, and their two children.

Mezzo-soprano D’Anna Fortunato has brought versatility to both her singing and teaching careers. In her lengthy singing career, she has won many awards, including the Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions, Naumburg Prize in Chamber Music, C.D. Jackson prize (twice) at Tanglewood, and, most recently, Alumni Achievement Awards from the New England Conservatory of Music, Bucknell University , and Ashley Hall, as well as the Jacobo Peri Award for Achievement in the Vocal Field. Professionally, she has created leading roles for such companies as the New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Kentucky Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, Rochester Opera, and Opera San Jose. As a concert and oratorio soloist, Ms. Fortunato has appeared internationally as a long-time member of the Bach Aria Group, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, New York’s Musica Sacra, Boston Camerata, Rome’s Bach Festival Orchestra, the Telemann Chamber Orchestra of Japan, and Berlin’s Spectrum Concerts, among many others. Her festival appearances are numerous, as are her singing engagements with major symphony orchestras, including return visits to the top ten American orchestras.

Ms. Fortunato has 40 CD’s to her credit, including the Grammy-nominated Marilyn Ziffrin "Songs and Arias,” 2007, and Handel's Imeneo,” eight premiere Handel Opera CD’s and award-winning first recordings of the songs of Amy Beach and Charles-Martin Loeffler. First performances have included works of John Harbison, Roger Sessions, Stephen Albert, Elliot Carter, Milton Babbitt, Daniel Pinkham, John Heiss and Andrew List.

Ms. Fortunato has conducted master classes and clinics throughout the United States , especially as an expert in American 20th Century Music, Baroque Performance Practice and Women Composers. Summers have included teaching assignments at the Songfest Young Artist Program, Bach Aria Seminars at Stony Brook , N.Y. , the Carmel Bach Festival and the Mannes School of Music Bach Seminars. Her students presently are performing in prestigious Young Artist Programs, as well as on the concert and opera stages in the United States and abroad.  

During four seasons on the Metropolitan Opera roster, bass-baritone George Cordes appeared with the Met in the Parks in Rigoletto, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. As a New York City Opera artist for six seasons, he was featured in two Live from Lincoln Center telecasts on PBS, singing Angelotti in Tosca (2000) and Colline in La Boheme (2001). His numerous other City Opera roles include the Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Timur in Turandot, and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro. Mr. Cordes’ Figaro also earned high praise in productions with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Columbus, and Teatro de la Opera in San Juan, PR. Debuts in recent years have included the Reverend Hale in The Crucible with Opera Boston (2005) and Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Lyric Opera of Kansas City (2004). He returned to Opera Boston in May 2007 as Nourabad in The Pearl Fishers. In 2006, Mr. Cordes reprised the roles of Sarastro in The Magic Flute and Colline in La Boheme, both with Tri-Cities Opera. He also has appeared with Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, New Orleans Opera, the Tokyo City Orchestra in Japan , and with many smaller companies. As a concert artist, he was chosen by composer Robert Xavier Rodriguez to sing the world premiere of the cantata Forbidden Fire and is featured in that work and others on the Albany CD Robert Xavier Rodriguez: Works for Chorus and Orchestra. He has appeared in concert with the Hartford Symphony, the Berkshire Choral Festival, Boston Bel Canto Opera, Ascension Music, Boston ’s Masterworks Chorale, and Orquesta de las Américas in Mexico City. 

BETH MACLEOD, Coach, Opera Scenes Program
South Shore Conservatory

Beth has a Bachelor of Vocal Performance degree from the New England Conservatory, a Masters of Opera Performance degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, and a diploma from the Opera Center of the Juilliard School of Music. Beth has sung with numerous opera companies here and abroad, including the Des Moines Metro Opera, Santa Fe Opera Company, Glimmerglass Opera Company, Pittsburgh Opera Company and, in Hamburg, Germany, performed Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera over 970 times. Beth is currently the Director of Performance at South Shore Conservatory, as well as  Artistic Director of Opera by the Bay.  She was last seen in the title role of Bizet’s Carmen in Opera by the Bay’s summer blockbuster hit in the Conservatory’s Evenings Under the Stars 2007 concert series.  

STRING PLAYERS IN RESIDENCE

ZACK EBIN

Born into a family of musicians, Suzuki String Department Chair Zack Ebin began playing the violin at the age of 3. He went to Brandeis University to study Physics, but shortly thereafter, switched his major to music. After graduating from Brandeis, Zack went to the Boston Conservatory and earned an MM in Violin Performance. He has now returned to Brandeis to begin graduate studies in Musicology. Zack has studied violin with Leslie Fayette, Lazar Gosman, Daniel Stepner, and Jospeh McGauley. He has given numerous concerts throughout the Northeastern U. S. and Israel. Zack performs on a 1705 Carlo Guisseppe Testore. He has been teaching at South Shore Conservatory since 2006.

JULIA KIM

Julia Kim, violin, received her BM from the University of Melbourne in Australia, her MM from Eastman School of Music, and her M.Ed. from Harvard University. She has performed in recital and with various orchestras including the Albany Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony and the International Symphony (MI). She has had solo performances in Australia, China, Korea and Europe. Julia has taught violin in the pre-college division at the Eastman School of Music, and taught violin and music history at Calvin College, as well as coordinating the college’s string department. She joined South Shore Conservatory’s faculty in 2007.

EDEN MACADAM-SOMER

Beginning her classical studies at the age of four, it was not until high school that Eden became an active member of the traditional music and dance community in Houston, Texas. This led her to years of playing and singing with contra dance and gypsy bands, jazz and swing groups, and several early music ensembles. She is a past winner of the Music Teacher’s National Association State Division and the Lennox Young Artists Competitions, and has been a featured soloist with symphony and chamber orchestras, jazz and swing bands, bluegrass, DAWG and American folk groups. In 1998 she collaborated with classical Indian singer, Nanda Banarjee, in an East meets West crossover concert. She appeared frequently at the Wimberly and Texas Jazz Festivals and in concert at the Woodlands Pavilion. Most recently, Eden appeared as solo violinist with the Houston Chamber Orchestra, as lead fiddler in the Houston Christmas Revels, and in China, as principle-second violinist of the Beijing International Music Festival orchestra. Eden earned her degrees from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston as a student of Fredell Lack, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University as student and teaching assistant of Kenneth Goldsmith. Although she spends much of her time touring with guitarist Larry Unger as the band Notorious, Eden now lives in Boston, where she maintains an active performance and recording career as well as classical and fiddling studios privately and at South Shore Conservatory. Eden performs with Notorious, the Bagboys, Istanpitta, the MacAdam-Somer String Quartet, and numerous other ensembles.

PATRICK OWEN

A native of Michigan, cellist Patrick Owen has performed in recitals and as a soloist with orchestras in Europe, the United States and Japan. Recent engagements include a performance of the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, a recital on WCRB’s summer concert series in Boston ’s Hatch Shell, and a New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Mr. Owen received his Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music. While a student at Eastman, he spent one year of study in Paris at the Paris Conservatory. He received a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School in 1999, and finished a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Boston University in 2007. Mr. Owen has been an honored participant at the summer music festivals of Aspen, Sarasota, Taos, Brevard and others. His teachers include Pamela Frame, Alan Harris, Phillipe Muller, Harvey Shapiro and Andres Diaz.

PHILIP RUSH

Philip Rush, violin and viola, born and raised in Riverside, California, is a musician with a wide range of interests and experience. Although classically trained and at home in traditional recital, chamber music and symphonic settings, he has also performed as an electric violist in rock bands and folk and jazz ensembles. His experience with contemporary music and baroque performance on period instruments has led to an interest in improvisation in traditional genres as well. As a teacher Philip strives to help his students achieve a sound, tension-free technique combined with the mental tools and intellectual curiosity to help achieve their own individual musical goals, whatever they may be.