Daniel Rowntree, Conductor (B.M./M.M University of Michigan/ Western Michigan University. Post-grad: Moscow Conservatory - formerly USSR) is a native of Michigan and began his conducting studies as a high school student at Interlochen Academy. After completing his undergraduate and graduate work at University of Michigan and Western Michigan University, he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and completed his postgraduate work in orchestral conducting and orchestration at the Moscow Conservatory of Music, where he studied conducting with Dmitri Kitaenko. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1982, Mr. Rowntree studied conducting with Leonard Bernstein and Mistislav Rostrapovitch at Tanglewood, and with Zubin Mehta, Sir Georg Solti and other prominent conductors in master classes at the Julliard School, Boston Conservatory, Oberlin College, and Chicago Conservatory of Music.

Since that time, Mr. Rowntree has directed hundreds of ensembles and productions, ranging from touring companies of “Annie"; to a great deal of studio work in NYC (creating some of the most catchy used-car dealership jingles ever recorded for New Jersey demographics) and Renaissance Ensembles; from World Music Groups to professional orchestral productions; from community orchestra to community choruses. For the past ten years, Dan's passion has been to foster excellence and innovation in amateur community ensembles, taking singers and instrumentalists to performance at levels beyond the usual scope of what they would generally achieve in local groups.

Michael Withers, Orchestrator, has over 30 years experience conducting a wide range of opera, from Purcell to Britten, and taking in a healthy dose of Mozart, Puccini and Verdi en route. Over the past 15 years he has been working with Heber Opera, a semi-professional group based in Brighton, UK, and specializing in chamber-scale productions ‘in the round’. It was Heber Opera’s need for orchestrations of operas that would suit the group’s touring performances that led Michael to start ‘re-orchestrating’ the repertoire – with the result that he has completed chamber orchestrations of 11 operas.

David Pountney, English Translation
David Pountney became internationally known through his production of Katya Kabanova at the 1972 Wexford Festival. Between 1975-80, David Pountney was Director of Production for Scottish Opera. His productions there featured a Janacek cycle in collaboration with Welsh National Opera of Jenufa, House of the Dead, The Makropulos Case, Katya Kabanova and The Cunning Little Vixen. He produced the world première of David Blake's Toussaint in 1977 at English National Opera and went on to become Director of Productions in 1980, directing over twenty operas including Rusalka, Osud, The Midsummer Marriage, Doctor Faust, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Hansel and Gretel, The Adventures of Mr Broucek and The Fairy Queen. He has directed over ten world premieres, including two by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for which he also wrote the libretto, and has translated many operas into English from Russian, Czech, German and Italian.

Susan Julian Gates, executive producer, is a resident of Chelmsford. She studies voice with Monique Phinney and is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Dramatic Art. She began her career in stage management with the Inverness Music Festival and the Washington Opera. She has also worked for the Manhattan Theatre Club and the New York Lyric Opera. She sang the title role in the Westford Chorus production ofCarmen in 2006, as well as Cherubino in a reduction of The Marriage of Figaro and Julie in Show Boat. At Indian Hill Music School she has sung the role of The Mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, which she is reprising in December, as well as Dinah in Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, and Miss Todd in Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief. She, along with Nancy Bush and Bill Kruger, are the founding members of After Five Cabaret. They debuted at The Java Room in Maltby and Shire’s Starting Here, Starting Now. Ms. Gates also is a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the official chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Nancy Leinonen Howells, Stage Director, is noted as a singer (soprano) in the greater Boston area. She has made solo appearances with the Boston Cecilia, Assabet Valley Mastersingers, Mass Theatrica, and with the Theater at Old South, where she appeared as Linda in the premiere of The Diet Monologues by playwright Monica Bauers. While in Michigan, Nancy sang the roles of Cathleen in Riders to the Sea and Nella in Gianni Schicchi with the Bay View Summer Opera. With the University of Michigan Opera Theatre, she sang roles in two casts of Suor Angelica, and with Central Michigan University she sang the role of Fiordiligi in Cosí fan tutte. Additional roles have included both First Lady and Second Lady in The Magic Flute; and Frasquita in Carmen. Nancy also performed as vocal soloist with the Central Michigan University Symphony, the Northeastern Michigan Symphony, and the University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble. Opera studies included work with Ken Cazan and Arden Hopkin; principal teachers include Mary Stewart Kiesgen, Martha Sheil and Dan Sullivan. While completing the doctorate at the University of Michigan's opera program, Nancy taught voice and co-taught vocal pedagogy for the Uof M School of Music. Presently a faculty member at Indian Hill Music, Dr. Howells also teaches private voice in her home studio, and in an after school music program at Weston High School.

Debra LeBrun, Assistant Conductor/Rehearsal Pianist received her B. Mus. from Syracuse University and her M.M. in Organ Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign. She is active in the New England area as a teacher and performer on both piano and organ and as a conductor. Since 1986, Mrs. LeBrun has been the Minister of Music for the Congregational Church of Littleton where she directs an active music program including an intergenerational handbell and singing choir program. Debra has been the accompanist for the Nashoba Valley Chorale since 2000 and regularly accompanies for many musicians in the area. She is a staff accompanist at Indian Hill Music School in Littleton, MA where, in addition to general accompanying, she assists with the opera workshop program. She has accompanied and helped with the music direction of opera workshop productions of The Old Maid and the Thief, Trouble in Tahiti, Into the Woods, and Amahl and the Night Visitors as well as scenes from many other operas. Other local shows she has played piano for recently include You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Just So!, the Bug Opera, and Starting Here, Starting Now. Debra is also an adjunct Professor of Organ at UMass Lowell, has served on the board for the Worcester American Guild of Organists, and is Past Chair of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers, Area I, Inc.

Maggie Marshall, Co-Producer, has degrees in English from SUNY Binghamton and Library Science from URI. She has sung in choirs for decades, taken piano and organ lessons for decades, and has been the Minister of Music at All Saints' Episcopal Church since 1985. Maggie has been a strong proponent of the arts through her many years as Enrichment Chair at the Harrington Elementary School, and is also passionate about literacy, and has been a Chelmsford Public Library Trustee for many years.