OUR FOUNDERS

Joan Dornemann

IVAI CO-FOUNDER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Metropolitan Opera Assistant Conductor, is one of the most highly respected opera coaches in the world today. In her position of Assistant Conductor at The Metropolitan Opera, she prepares the most prominent international artists for their performances at The Met and has worked with such singers as Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Mirella Freni, José Carreras, Sherrill Milnes, Kiri Te Kanawa, Aprile Millo, Montserrat Caballe, Deborah Voigt, Renée Fleming, Neil Shicoff, Juan Diego Flórez, Leo Nucci and others. In addition, she has collaborated with outstanding opera singers as a pianist for many solo performances outside the opera house. She has been associated with the Gran Liceo in Barcelona, the Spoleto Festival, the New York City Opera and the Opera National de Paris. At The Metropolitan Opera, she has collaborated with such notable conductors as James Levine, James Conlon, Carlos Kleiber, Marcello Viotti and many others.

A great supporter of young singers, she teaches master classes throughout the USA as well as Israel, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Russia, China, Japan, and France.

Ms. Dornemann traveled to Russia to coach professional singers for Verdi’s Don Carlos and Aida, produced by the Kirov Opera under the baton of Valery Gergiev and was the vocal coach for La Bohème and La Cenerentola at L’Opéra National de Paris. Ms. Dornemann has received an Emmy Award for her contribution to the highly acclaimed first Live From the Met first telecast of La Bohème with Luciano Pavarotti and Renata Scotto. She is the author of Complete Preparation: A Guide to Auditioning for the Opera.

Joan Dornemann is available for private coaching in NYC, please contact ivaiolivia@gmail.com to schedule a session. 

Paul Nadler

IVAI CO-FOUNDER, DIRECTOR OF MUSICAL ACTIVITIES

Maestro Paul Nadler has distinguished himself as one of the world’s most respected symphonic and operatic conductors. Since his debut in 1989 he has led over 60 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, conducting such stars as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Karita Mattila, Bryn Terfel, and Ben Heppner. In concert he has collaborated with renowned soloists such as Garrick Ohlsson, Emmanuel Ax, Misha Dichter, Elmar Olivera, and Glenn Dicterow. Maestro Nadler is Music Director Emeritus of the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Filarmonica de Stat Iasi (Romania).

This season Maestro Nadler is conducting Gounod’s Romeo and Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera. In recent seasons at the Met, Maestro Nadler led all-star casts of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (Renée Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Ramon Vargas) and Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet (Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani). His recent schedule has also included Puccini’s Tosca at Opera de Montréal, Strauss’s Salome in Opera Cleveland’s inaugural season, concerts with the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the orchestras of Iasi, Craiova, and Bucharest, as well as debuting at the National Opera of Bucharest in Carmen and Don Giovanni.

Highlights of recent seasons include appearances with the Orquestra de Navarra (Spain), the Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Augsburg Symphony, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Romanian National Radio Orchestra. Symphonic credits include performances with the Grant Park (Chicago) Music Festival, New World Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony, Calgary Symphony, Victoria Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony, and Orchestra Carlos Chavez (Mexico), among others.

Maestro Nadler’s diverse repertoire at the Metropolitan Opera includes Rigoletto, Un Ballo in Maschera, Aida, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Tannhaeuser, Don Carlo, Andrea Chenier, La Traviata, Carmen, Fidelio, and Stravinsky’s triple bill: Le Sacre du Printemps/Le Rossignol/Oedipus Rex.

Other operatic credits include performances with the opera companies of Indianapolis, Utah, Calgary, Minnesota, Syracuse, Orlando, and the Florentine and Glimmerglass Operas. Internationally, Maestro Nadler has conducted the Hong Kong Opera as well as engagements in Plovdiv, Varna, and Russe (Bulgaria). In December 2002 Maestro Nadler conducted at the Kennedy Center Awards ceremony in honor of his colleague James Levine.

Co-founder and Music Director of the International Vocal Arts Institute, Maestro Nadler returns each summer to this prestigious professional workshop. Early in his career he won the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra Conductor Competition. In 1974 Maestro Nadler founded the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, where he remained as Music Director and Conductor through 1983. He returned to the Chamber Orchestra last season to lead a celebration in honor of the 35th season of the orchestra.

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