Maestra Elizabeth Askren Announces 23/24 Season and New Online Masterclass

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Katy Salomon | Primo Artists | VP, Public Relations 
katy@primoartists.com | 212.837.8466 

International Opera Conductor, Dr. Elizabeth Askren, 
Announces Upcoming Appearances and New Online Masterclass,
Building on Longstanding Education and Advocacy Work

Master Teacher at Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute and Paris Opera’s Academy

Residency at The Kennedy Center with VisionIntoArt, 
Paola Prestini, Brenda Shaughnessey, and Beth Morrison Projects

Productions with New Orleans Opera, Portland Opera and Hawaii Opera Theatre

New Online Masterclass Translates Deep Knowledge, Case Studies, and
Practical Technique to a Versatile Web-Based Format

“Energetic and precise gestures, a confidence that seduces irresistibly:
She hypnotizes the entire hall.” – Paris.fr

www.elizabethaskren.com

New York, NY (September 19, 2023) – Praised for “inspiring virtuosic achievements from the pit” (Opera Today) and “palpable happiness” (Le Monde) from the artists with whom she collaborates, Dr. Elizabeth Askren empowers musicians around the world as a conductor, educator, and cultural activist with a passion for synergy. Her musical leadership is described by La Croix as "present on each line, each silence." Today she announces her live performance schedule into early 2024 – along with a new online masterclass based on techniques and case studies drawn from her accomplished career.

During that career, Maestra Askren has empowered musicians around the world as a conductor, educator, creator, and speaker.  Askren appears regularly with leading opera houses and orchestras throughout North America and Europe. Last season, she made mainstage debuts with The Dallas Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre and Opéra de Dijon to great acclaim. She is the Music Director of the workshops and world premiere of composer Paola Prestini & Brenda Shaughnessey’s Sensorium Ex, a Ford Foundation-funded operatic production produced by VisionIntoArt and Beth Morrison Projects that explores issues at the intersection of AI, disability and the human voice. 
 
A master teacher at both The Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute for Women Conductors and at the Paris Opera’s Academy, Askren made history by judging the Paris Philharmonic’s inaugural La Maestra Competition for Women Conductors alongside her mentor, Marin Alsop. Askren now offers an innovative online masterclass series drawing on the full breadth of her practical experience and pedagogy. Askren relocated to New York City this summer from Transylvania, where she lived for much of the past 10 years and founded the Transylvanian Opera Academy (TOA), Romania’s first opera studio. Askren begins her 2023/2024 season with two back-to-back productions of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. 

The first production is by New Orleans Opera at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts. Performancesare Friday, September 29, 2023 at 7:30PM and Sunday, October 1 at 2:30PM and will be preceded one hour ahead of showtime (at 6:30PM and 1:30PM, respectively) by a Pre-Opera Party and “Nuts and Bolts Lecture” covering background on the opera, its staging, and other details. Chas Rader-Shieber directs this production, with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra performing Mozart’s score.

Askren then leads Portland Opera in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Keller Auditorium on Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 7:30PM, Friday, November 3, 2023 at 7:30PM and Sunday, November 5, 2023 at 2:00PM. Fenlon Lamb directs the production.

On Friday, February 16, 2024 at 7:30PM and Sunday, February 18, 2024 4:00PM, Askren conducts Hawai’i Opera Theatre’s production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci at the Blaisdell Arena. Directed by Jamie Offenbach, the production will also feature a pre-performance Lanai Lecture.

This season also brings a landmark addition to Askren’s work on the educational front. In an online masterclass due to go live in September 2023, Askren has assembled a multimedia program offering lessons and resources for those pursuing opportunities in opera conducting. This versatile course has been designed for a range of learners; from opera conductors pursuing new skills and techniques, to symphonic conductors considering a new path in opera, to student and professional musicians seeking an introduction to conducting for opera.

This free video series offers unlimited access to over two hours of masterclass videos, curated lesson materials, and industry-standard resource information. Subscribers can also gain access to deep-dive opera workshop archives based on past TOA productions including La Boheme, Pearl Fishers, Pelléas et Mélisande and A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as one-on-one coaching sessions with Askren. 

As a comprehensive program, this masterclass explores the elements that set opera conducting apart as a unique craft. Students enhance their understanding of opera through the interplay of source material, libretto, and both piano-vocal and full scores. Lessons also explore the practical and physical elements of opera conducting, such as hand positioning and adjusting for each conductor’s unique physical build and center of gravity. Multi-layered practical analysis incorporates study from the “micro” to the “macro” levels – from the most granular techniques to the opera as a complete production. Key case studies include Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute. For more information, contact elizabethaskren.conductor@gmail.com

As an educator and ambassador for the opera community, Askren also takes part this season in a two-part program with the Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute. For this special forum – beginning with a virtual session held Monday, November 13, 2023 – Friday, November 17, 2023 – Askren serves on a panel exploring how outreach and education can be used to build a vibrant community of opera lovers. The program continues with an in-person symposium held Sunday, February 18, 2024 – Wednesday, February 28, 2024.

Askren participates in an Office Hours Residency at The John F. The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C. from Monday, December 18, 2023 – Friday, December 22, 2023, where she conducts Paola Prestini & Brenda Shaughnessey’s Sensorium Ex, an innovative operatic production by VisionIntoArt and Beth Morrison Projects. Through a dystopian narrative connecting a non-speaking disabled child and an ethically troubling AI experiment, the production explores what it means to “have a voice” – with implications for technology, human identity, and the societal narratives we construct. Nontraditional both musically and structurally, Sensorium Ex brings together elements as disparate as Medieval chant and AI-generated speech. 

More About Elizabeth Askren
Maestra Elizabeth Askren is the founder and Artistic Director of Transylvanian Opera Academy (TOA), Romania’s first opera studio. Offering a 360° approach to education, TOA guides its young artists to develop holistically as mature artists, centered individuals, and ambassadors of their art to their local communities. Since its creation in 2017, TOA has been featured on national television, radio, and press, while establishing international partnerships with the Paris Opera’s Academy, the Philharmonie de Paris’ La Maestra competition, and Opera for Peace.  

Deeply committed to sharing classical music with a broader audience, Askren is the creator and host of the children’s edutainment series Maestra Magic!, a multimedia production combining live action, animation and puppets in a program compared to Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, and Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts.

Askren is invited regularly to speak about leadership, culture-preneurship, inclusivity, and cultivating humanity in the age of AI. Her TEDx talk, “Why Classical Music is the Wave of the Future,” garnered more than 3,000 views in under 24 hours. She is featured regularly in the American and European media, through outlets including PBS Newshour, NPR, Radio France Internationale, and France Musique.

Askren holds degrees in piano and conducting from The Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory, and the Conducting Institute of Bard in the United States, as well as the Schola Cantorum the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, and the Romanian National Academy of Music “Gheorghe Dima” in Europe. Her musical mentors include conductors Marin Alsop and Lorin Maazel, along with pianists Byron Janis and Sergio Perticaroli. She was awarded the highest teaching diplomas from both the French Ministry of Culture (certificat d’aptitude en direction d’ensembles orchestrales) and the Romanian Ministry of Education (PhD, magna cum laude).  She received administrative training from Harvard’s Kennedy School, Christie’s Education, and Paris’ Cité de la Musique.

When not performing abroad, Askren divides her time between New York, Paris and Transylvania. An enthusiastic contributor to her local communities, she has served on numerous educational and philanthropic boards, and consults for nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and Europe. Learn more at www.elizabethaskren.com. 

*Photo Credit: Karen Almond

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