Advisor
Neil Rosenshein
Faculty / Manhattan School of Music
The versatile American tenor Neil Rosenshein is known equally for his memorable stage portrayals and his thoughtful musicianship. He has captured critical and popular acclaim throughout the world in repertoire by composers from the Baroque to the 20th Century. Leading roles performed at the Metropolitan Opera include Alfredo in La Traviata, Alfred and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Léon in John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, Don José in Carmen, the Prince in Rusalkaand the title roles in Faust, Werther, and Peter Grimes. Other opera companies include Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Hamburg Opera, Netherlands Opera, La Scala, Australian Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Zurich, Geneva, and others.
His varied repertoire has enabled him to enhance his opera career, as soloist with many of the world’s great orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Orquestra Gulbenkian, Bayerischer Rundfunk – Munich, Israel Philharmonic. His numerous recitals include venues such as Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, and Alice Tully Hall, among others.
Premiers include Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles (Metropolitan), Dominick Argento’s Aspern Papers (Dallas), and Bernstein’s Songfest. His collaborative conductors include Leonard Bernstein, Colon Davis, Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, Nicholas Harnoncourt, and Ricardo Muti, to name a few.
Through this extensive career, Mr. Rosenshein has accumulated a wealth of artistic and technical experience, which he now shares with his students, many who now follow the path he set, singing with major companies throughout the world.
In addition to Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Rosenshein has taught at DePaul University and Hartt College, and judges for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Hai-Kyung Suh
Concert Pianist
Hai-Kyung Suh’s talent was recognized early. She won first prize in a national competition at age 8 and the Grand Prix of the Ewha /KyungHyang Music Competition when she was 10.
She made her orchestral debut at age 11, performing Mozart's Concerto in C major, K. 467, with the Korean National Symphony Orchestra (now the KBS Symphony Orchestra).
The Republic of Korea honored her with its President's Medal twice, when she was 11 and 12 years old, elevating her over much older competitors.
After studying in Japan, where she became a sensation in her teens, she moved to New York for studies with Reisenberg at the Mannes College of Music and with Gorodnitzki at the Juilliard School, where she earned bachelor’s and doctor’s degrees.
She earned prizes at the Munich, William Kapell, and Gina Bachauer competitions, among others, and won the 2nd prize (no 1st prize awarded) at both the Busoni International Piano Competition and the Munich ARD International Piano Competition.
For these accomplishments, the Korean government bestowed on the 20-year-old pianist its highest honor for an artist, the Medal of Cultural Achievement.
Ms. Suh went on to win first prize at the Palm Beach (Florida) Invitational International Competition, an event open only to winners of other competitions.
As the winner of the William Petschek Award she made her U.S. recital debut in 1985 in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.
By 2004, the veteran critic Harris Goldsmith could call her New York recital "an exceptionally satisfying evening" that made it "obvious to this writer that...
Ms. Suh has resoundingly made the difficult transition from prodigy to self-confident 'Old Master.'"
Zelma Bodzin
Faculty / Mannes School of Music
Zelma Bodzin, pianist, has performed in recital, as soloist with orchestra, chamber musician and collaborative pianist with singers, instrumentalists and choruses, appearing in New York at Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall with the New York Chamber Orchestra and Carnegie Hall. She is a coach, artistic consultant, producer and teacher. Ms. Bodzin has an international reputation as an adjudicator and jury member, from Bulgaria to Ireland, the French Caribbean and New York City. Colleagues have sought out and critics have recognized her "acute ear and intriguing ideas" (New York Times).
A native of New Jersey, Ms. Bodzin began concertizing at the age of five, and went on to study with Eugene List, Dieter Weber, Rosalyn Tureck, Wilhelm Kempff, and Arminda Canteros. She was a member of the Haffner Ensemble in Vienna, Austria. While her reputation as a performer of Bach grew — "those who were there must be deeply grateful", according to The Irish Times review of Ms. Bodzin's performance of the "Goldberg Variations" —she also included 20th century American repertoire. Leonard Bernstein's "Age of Anxiety" received critical and public acclaim on tour in Texas.
Ms. Bodzin has given master classes in Finland, Bulgaria, Ireland, Malta and Guadeloupe, as well as New York, Texas, Connecticut and Florida, and composers who have worked with her have won commissions in New York and Washington, D.C. She is a member of the faculty of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College/CUNY. She initiated the Ensemble Piano course at the Mannes College’s Diploma Program and is on the faculty there. Ms. Bodzin is a member of the faculty at the 92nd Street Y School of Music, on the Board of the Leschetizky Association and is a Past President of the New York State Music Teachers Association. She has recorded music of Beethoven and Ravel for feature films, including Spike Lee’s Crooklyn.