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MICHAEL BAITZER REPETITEUR
Michael Baitzer has established himself as one of his generation’ s top opera pianist and vocal coaches. Michael currently serves as the Head of Music Staff at Washington National Opera, which he began in 2017, and was the Director of the Bonfils-Stanton Young Artist Program at Central City Opera beginning in the fall of 2018 through 2023.
A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Michael received two bachelor’ s degrees from Drake University in Vocal and Piano Performance, done simultaneously. He went on to study at the University of Minnesota and New England Conservatory with John Moriarty and Margo Garrett. During that time, Michael was an opera fellowship pianist with the Aspen Opera Theater Center, and a member of the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera. He then was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Young Artist Program and was hired by John Moriarty at the end of that season to join the music staff at Central City Opera. Michael also joined the faculty at The Juilliard School in the fall of 1999 and remained there until 2009. During that time, he joined the music staff of The Spoleto Festival USA. Later faculty assignments came at the Aspen Opera Theater Center and Wolf Trap Opera, where he was promoted to the role of Head of Music Staff in 2011. He joined the music staff at Washington National Opera in 2004. In 2009, Michael accepted a full-time music staff position at Washington National Opera, and in 2012 was invited by John Moriarty to be the Head of Music Staff at Central City Opera.
BENJAMIN MAKINO ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR
Appointed Music Director following his engagement with Opera Memphis for the inaugural 30 Days of Opera, Benjamin Makino was part of a leadership team that built that company’ s reputation for community engagement and interdisciplinary programming.
During his time in Memphis, Makino was deeply involved with the wider Memphis arts community, collaborating with the Memphis Symphony, Ballet Memphis, the New Ballet Ensemble and School, and numerous other organizations.
He previously served as Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master at Long Beach Opera, where he worked on a diverse portfolio of productions, ranging from the U. S. premiere of Antonio Vivaldi’ s opera Motezuma to works by Philip Glass, John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, and Gabriela Ortiz. He returned to the company in 2019, leading a production of Frank Martin’ s The Love Potion( Le vin herbé), praised by Los Angeles Times as“ consistently sensitive to the work’ s exquisite timing and placement of dynamics and color,” making“ the most of the composer’ s subtle chamber orchestra textures.”
Makino has collaborated with composers and librettists on the creation of several new works, including Max Duykers’ and Philip Gotanda’ s Both Eyes Open and Derrick Wang’ s Fearless. He has also led national and world premieres, including Stewart Copeland’ s Tell-Tale Heart, Gavin Bryars’ The Paper Nautilus, and Laura Kaminsky’ s Hometown to the World.
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