Popular American conductor giving Master Class

Andrew Bisantz, a 1995 SUNY Fredonia alumnus and exciting young American conductor, will work with voice students on artistry, interpretation and musicality Saturday, Sept. 10.  His master class begins at noon in Rosch Recital Hall in Mason Hall, and is open to students, faculty, staff, and the public.

He is also presenting an Audition Workshop for students only from 3 to 4 p.m. in 2019 in Mason Hall.  His visit is sponsored by SOTA, the Student Opera Theatre Association of the Student Association. 

A versatile musician acknowledged for his passionate and commanding leadership from the podium, Bisantz is quickly building an impressive roster of credits at leading national orchestras and opera companies. He is currently Music Director of Eugene Opera in Eugene, OR.  He has received consistently high praise from both the audience and the press for his work with Eugene Opera, and, along with General Director Mark Beudert, is responsible for the emergence of the company as one of the most noted and important performing arts organizations in the Pacific Northwest.

Mr. Bisantz made his Boston Lyric Opera debut in February 2010, conducting a critically acclaimed production of Britten's The Turn of the Screw. He was immediately invited to return to Boston last fall to open the Lyric’s season, conducting Puccini’s Tosca which opened to unanimous praise.

Mr. Bisantz has been a part of Florida Grand Opera’s music staff since 2002, currently as Associate Conductor. He made his European debut conducting symphonic concerts with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto in Porto, Portugal, and returned this past March, conducting a concert of Bomtempo’s Requiem with the OSP and the Coro Casa da Música. This summer saw his debut at the Brevard Music Center, conducting Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore for the Janiec Opera Company. He will conduct Britten’s Turn of the Screw this October at McGill University in Montreal.

In 2005, Mr. Bisantz conducted Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon in a new production at the renowned Glimmerglass Opera. The production was subsequently broadcast nationally on NPR’s World of Opera. H

Past engagements include Adamo’s Little Women and Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites (the latter directed by Metropolitan Opera veteran Fabrizio Melano) at Northwestern University, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Notre Dame University, performances with Shreveport Opera, Ash Lawn Opera, the Virginia Symphony, Western New York Chamber Orchestra, and frequent appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Last summer Mr. Bisantz conducted a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 at the famed Hatch Shell in Boston with the Boston Landmarks Orchestra to a crowd of over 5000 enthusiastic music-lovers.

In 1999, Mr. Bisantz was invited by Maestra JoAnn Falletta to become the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s first Apprentice Conductor. He served on the BPO conducting staff for three seasons. During his tenure in Buffalo, his engagements with the Philharmonic covered a wide range of programs, including a critically acclaimed appearance as both soloist and conductor in sold-out performances of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Among his many performances with the BPO, he conducted a series of concerts celebrating the NBC Symphony Toscanini Collection of the Erie County Public Library, as well as appearances on the BPO’s Youth, Discovery, and New Attitudes series.