Meet the Artists!
CHARLOTTE KAUFMAN, DIRECTOR
Photo: Yonhap, Korea
Charlotte Kaufman is the Founder and Director of BOSTON MUSICAL THEATER. Ms. Kaufman is on the faculty of New England Conservatory Continuing Education Division and teaches piano and harpsichord. A Boston native, educated at Girls' Latin School, Smith College, and with an advanced degree in Piano from Boston University, she has always gravitated to music as a major concentration and later as a career. She performed professionally as a duo pianist in the late 60s. The next decade was concentrated on early music performance which developed into the editing and production of ballad operas at the Museum of Fine Arts on their annual performing series from 1981-1987. A by-product of these years was the editing of two published chamber operas, The Doctor of Alcantara by Julius Eichberg 1994, a Boston operetta in a facsimile edition, and Le Devin du village by Jean Jacques Rousseau, in a critical performing edition 1998. In the 90s Friends of Dr. Burney was renamed Boston Musical Theater to reflect the expansion of the repertoire into the 19th and 20th centuries.
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MARA BONDE, SOPRANO
Mara Bonde has been critically acclaimed for an electric stage presence and sweet purity of tone. Mara has performed in diverse venues throughout the United States and traveled to Brussels, Moscow, and Seoul with Boston Musical Theater. She is featured on BMT's CDs, We'll Meet Again: The Music of World War II, All That Jazz, and Fly Me to the Moon.
A National Semi-Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Mara has sung with Opera Omaha, Glimmerglass Opera, Utah Opera, Opera Company of North Carolina, National Opera Company (Raleigh), the Lake George Opera Festival, Tulsa Light Opera, Opera Omaha, and Sarasota Opera. In March 2010 Mara will debut with Boston Lyric Opera in Ariadne auf Naxos
as Echo. Mara sings works ranging from Mozart to Mollicone, and Sullivan to Sondheim.
See Mara's website: http://www.marabonde.com
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DAVID RIPLEY, BASS-BARITONE
David Ripley is heard widely in oratorio, recital, chamber opera, early and contemporary programs, and cabaret. With BMT, David has performed in Paris, Brussels, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Seoul, South Korea. He was featured in Peter Childs's one act opera, Embers, and was highly praised by Richard Dyer in the Boston Globe. David has appeared on numerous occasions with the Aston Magna and New England Bach Festivals. He is featured on all three BMT CDs: All That Jazz, We'll Meet Again: The Music of World War II, and Fly Me to the Moon: America's Vocal Legends. He has recorded two solo CDs, A New Season and Ne Point Passer.
In addition to his performing activities, he is Professor of Music at the University of New Hampshire, where he teaches voice and directs the opera workshop.
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DAN LOSCHEN, PIANIST
A graduate of Oberlin and New England Conservatories, Dan Loschen teaches jazz and classical piano at The Rivers School Conservatory, and has performed with many Boston area jazz luminaries. Dan's first CD, Head Games, was released in 1997, featuring original compositions. He is the leader of his group, The Postmodern Jazz Quartet, which has accompanied vocalists in jazz and cabaret settings, and which released a CD in 2003. Dan joined BMT's tours to Russia and South Korea.
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BERTRAM LEHMANN, PERCUSSION
Bertram Lehmann possesses a flexible and fluid style of drumming within a multitude of musical contexts including Jazz, Latin, World Music and Classical. He continues to perform with many acclaimed artists in Boston, New York, and elsewhere, and has toured in India, Spain, Ghana, Ecuador, Mexico, and with BMT's Russian and Korean trips. He is Assistant Professor of Percussion at Berklee College of Music.
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RICH APPLEMAN, BASSIST
Rich Appleman is chairman of the Bass Department at Berklee College of Music. He is author of educational materials for the college, and articles for Bass Player Magazine and the International Society of Bassists. Rich has played in the pit orchestra for many musical theater productions, as well as in concerts and clinics in Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, France, Russia, Mexico, and South Korea. He tours regularly with BMT, and recently performed with Bernadette Peters at Symphony Hall, Boston.
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JENNIFER SHEEHAN, SOPRANO
Photo © Maurizio Bacci
Jennifer Sheehan, a 2007 graduate of the Juilliard School, is pursuing a career in musical theater, cabaret, and concert performance.
Jennifer recently completed her first national tour, traveling from coast to coast as a principal singer with The String of Pearls Orchestra in "IN THE MOOD." She also performed in Gershwin's "Of Thee I Sing," presented at the Bard Summerscape Festival in New York.
She has performed the past two seasons in Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular, as one of six singer-dancers (and, on occasion, as Mrs. Claus!), and is looking forward to returning for the 2009 production!
The Mabel Mercer Foundation has honored Jennifer with its Julie Wilson Award for her interpretation of the Great American Songbook, and has invited her to sing for the last several years at its annual cabaret convention at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Her solo cabaret shows have played in venues from New York to Los Angeles. This September 18, 20 and 25, she will present a new solo cabaret show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in Manhattan.
As part of the 92nd Street Y Lyrics and Lyricists Series, Jennifer joined Andrea Marcovicci, Klea Blackhurst and Bryan Byers in a musical tribute to lyricist Leo Robin.
Jennifer was honored to be named one of four national finalists in the field of musical theater (with national honorable mentions for popular and classical singing) by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. She also was awarded 1st place in the Glenn Miller National Vocal Competition. She invites you to her website: www.JenniferSheehan.com
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ALLEN BONDE, COMPOSER/PIANIST
A realized vision. From dance halls to Carnegie Hall.
For a young lad growing up in the country outside of Manitowoc, Wisconsin it was only a dream.... It started at an early age. At three Allen was composing waltzes and playing the piano by ear for family and friends.
At five he began studying with a jazz pianist. Although always a jazz player, classical music took on a special focus in high school. Recipient of a privately funded full scholarship to the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, he later earned the first Doctor of Musical Arts degree granted by Catholic University of America.
With a myriad of concerts, commissions and scholarly accomplishments in his distinguished professional career, Allen is Professor of Music at Mount Holyoke College and still a superb jazz pianist!
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TYNAN DAVIS, MEZZO-SOPRANO
Mezzo Soprano Tynan Davis likes to sing. And it shows.
She is establishing a reputation as a vibrant, entertaining performer in opera and musical theatre alike. Upcoming engagements include the title role in *Carmen* with The Rapides Symphony and a recital tour with Corey Trahan (tenor) and Cathy Venable (piano) featuring works written by George Gerswhin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers. Ms. Davis received 3rd place in the 2007 Southwest Regional Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.
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MARK DICAMPO, TENOR
Mark DiCampo, tenor, is an emerging young artist presently located in the Boston area. Educated at the Boston Conservatory and New England Conservatory, Mark is now concentrating on musical theater performance and direction, but with a classical background. He is a music and drama teacher at the Enter Stage Left Theater in Hopkinton, MA as well as at the Milford Performing Arts Center, Milford, MA. This is Mark's first appearance with Boston Musical Theater.
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