FACULTY Directory

With a passion for the performing arts and a devotion to developing and inspiring new talent, there is no better person to creatively and artistically lead AMDA than David Martin. As a producer, director, actor and teacher, Martin has done it all, from staging New York, London and regional productions of Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen and Wilde, to producing numerous television shows with actors John Houseman, James Earl Jones, Edward Herrmann and Sam Waterson, to gala events such as Broadway Plays Washington at the Kennedy Center featuring Beatrice Arthur, Pearl Bailey, Ellen Burstyn and Debbie Reynolds. In his early days at AMDA, Martin produced and directed many critically acclaimed fundraising productions that helped establish the school’s reputation as a world-class performing arts conservatory, includingSing Happy, a tribute to John Kander and Fred Ebb starring Liza Minnelli, Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera; You’re the Top, a tribute to Cole Porter featuring Kevin Kline, Dick Cavett and Lucie Arnaz; and Hey, Look Me Over, a tribute to Cy Coleman starring Neil Simon, Imogene Coca and Mel Torme. Then, in the late 1970s, AMDA founder Philip H. Burton passed the torch on to Martin, who took over as Artistic Director. In the three decades since, Martin has overseen significant expansion, transforming the school into a thriving, fully accredited institution with campuses in both New York and Los Angeles.

Stephen Randoy is a composer, teacher, voice coach and accompanist. He has been music director for over 70 shows on stages all over the country, including Once on This Island at Maryland University, A Chorus Line at Montgomery College, Godspell at Roundhouse Theater, Two by Two at Theater J, Rocky Horror at Woolley Mammoth, Working with Signature Theater for Voice of America, and Luna Stage in Montclair, NJ, where he worked with Sheldon Harnick on a new production of his musical Dragons. He music-directed a reading of Fairheaded Boy by Mr. Harnick and David Baker at Playwright’s Theater of New Jersey. Stephen has written music and lyrics for over a dozen musicals, with productions in Seattle, Maryland, Vermont, California and New York. His work includes Perfect Fools, Midnight Street, The Only Year That Ever Was and In Orbit, which premiered in Vermont with Gwyneth Paltrow in the lead. First Nights was produced by the Washington Jewish Theater and Lovers’ Knot was commissioned by Seattle Theater Arts. His music and lyrics were presented in John Zndarsic’s Songbook Series at Donnell Library, with performers including Marla Schaffel, Nancy Anderson, Julie Reyburn and D.C. Anderson, who has also recorded several songs they have written together. He has taught music theatre and voice at the Jewish Community Center of Bethesda, MD, and Luna Stage in NJ. Stephen is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theater Workshop and has presented his work at the ASCAP workshop. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

AMDA faculty since 1995, singing teacher, mezzo-soprano, certified teacher of the Alexander Technique (www.donnasreid.com). Career highlights include the role of Eva in the world premiere of the opera Montag aus Licht by Stockhausen, at La Scala in Milan, Italy; numerous concerts and operas throughout Europe; appearances on Italian and German television. Mrs. Reid was associate to and wife of Cornelius L. Reid (noted vocal pedagogue and author of five books) from 1996 up until his death in 2008. She is also a member of the vocal quartet Amici Cantanti (www.amicicantanti.com).
 

Resident actor with the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta; performed regionally in Nashville and Atlanta. Played the title role in Smith, a musical at New York Performance Alliance, where he also performed in a revival of Detective Story. Performed in a one-man show in England, Robert Raikes: A Man and His Time. Played Detective Weber, a recurring role on As the World Turns (CBS). Teaching experience: New York Performance Works, New York University, California State University and Bretton Hall College, U.K. Publications include chapters for Learning Through Theatre, a British text on theatre in education, and Campus and Classroom: Making Schooling Multicultural, a university textbook.

Joined AMDA voice faculty in September 2005. Also faculty at Lucy Moses Summer Musical Theater Workshop. First national tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella starring Eartha Kitt. Regional appearances at Paper Mill Playhouse, St. Louis MUNY, Kansas City Starlight, Fulton Opera House, Helen Hayes Theater, Ogunquit Playhouse. Concerts at Lincoln Center and Kaufman Center with Stephen Schwartz, Charles Strouse, Sheldon Harnick, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, and Sean Hartley. Two seasons with the Opera Theater of Lucca, Italy, as well as appearances with the opera companies of Lucerne, Switzerland, and Beaumaris, Wales. Tenor soloist in the Mozart Requiem and Handel’s Messiah.

Lars’s choreography has been seen at Dance Theatre Workshop, Bay Street Theatre, American Ballroom Theatre, The New York Drama League, regional theatre, industrials and benefits. He choreographed West Side Story for the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Company and The Marriage of Figaro for the Brooklyn Opera Company and has directed and/or choreographed productions of Sweet Charity, Anything Goes and 42nd Street, among others. He choreographed Moonwork’s acclaimed productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and What You Will. He has choreographed three concert pieces: Passing Fancy, Busby’s Last Dream and Migra for NYU’s Distinguished Faculty Concert. He danced on Broadway in the original cast of 42nd Street, directed by Gower Champion, and in the 1987 revival of Cabaret, directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Ron Field. He has performed with Chita Rivera and Gwen Verdon with the American Dance Machine and has been featured in works by Graciela Daniele and Geoffery Holder with American Ballroom Theater. Appeared with Catherine Turocys’s New York Baroque Dance Company. Television credits include In Performance at the White House, The Best of Broadway on A&E and Showstoppers on PBS. Teaching experience: Circle in the Square, Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center and CAP21 at Tisch School of the Arts. He is currently on the faculty at New York University’s School of Dance Education and at AMDA, where he directs the Dance Workshop. He has taught master classes in theatre dance at Whitman College in Washington State and Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. Served as Dance Director for the national tour of Broadway Dancin’.

Singer, vocal coach.  Professional Debut: Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro with Lyric Opera Cleveland.  Opera/Operetta:  Einstein on the Beach, Kepler, Suor Angelica, Don Giovanni, The Rape of Lucretia, La Voix Humaine, La Finta Giardiniera, La Boheme, La Rondine, The Old Maid and the Thief, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Hansel and Gretel, Die Fledermaus, H.M.S. Pinafore, Iolanthe, The Gondoliers, The Pirates of Penzance.  Musical Theater:  The Music Man, A Little Night Music, Cabaret.  Awards and Prizes:  The Metropolitan Opera Council, The National Association of Teachers of Singing, Opera at Florham Violetta DuPont Competition, The Max Berman Prize in Opera, The Italo Tajo Prize in Opera.Cleveland at the age of 17. Appeared in leading roles in many productions, including A Little Night Music, Don Giovanni, The Rape of Lucretia, La Voix Humiane, La Finta Giardiniera, La Boheme, La Rondine, The Music Man and H.M.S. Pinafore. Additionally, appeared as a soloist in many sacred works, including Poulenc'sGloria, Vivaldi'sGloria, Haydn's Dixit Dominus and the Messiah. Received awards from the Metropolitan Opera Council and the National Association of Teachers of Singing, as well as the Max Berman Prize in Opera and the Italo Tajo Prize in Opera.

Actor, voice and speech coach, director. Five national tours; select regional credits include Hippodrome State Theatre, Mill Mountain Theatre, Mint Theatre, the Public Theatre of Maine, Blackfriars Shakespeare and Kings County Shakespeare. Performed the North American premiere of the Irish play Language Roulette. Has worked on various daytime dramas and commercials. Co-founder, Accent Reduction Firm. Website: www.tjrspeech.com. SAG-AFTRA.

Soprano, vocal coach. Tosca: Opera Company of Boston, Kentucky Opera, Goldovsky Opera Theatre, Opera Northeast. Other leading roles: San Francisco, Philadelphia Lyric, Santa Fe, Aspen Festival, Goldovsky Opera, Metropolitan Opera Studio. At Rutgers: Lady Billows (Albert Herring), Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos), Antonina (Belisario). Lecture-recitals: Wagner, Women, Redemption; Richard Strauss's Krauml;merspiegel: Satire in Song, Skidmore, Rutgers, Westminster Faculty Recital Series, Weill Recital Hall (NYC); as Pauline Viardot-Garcia in Clara Schumann Reminisces, Marymount Manhattan College.  Awards, grants: Corbett, Kaufmann-Ruud, Sullivan foundations; Metropolitan Opera; first prizewinner: Joy in Singing. Current teaching: AMDA-voice faculty & artistic director American Opera Laboratory; New York University. Adjudicator at vocal competitions. AMDA student awards: Kyle Scatliffe (AMDA 2010), a finalist in Kurt Weill Foundation's 2010 Lotte Lenya Competition, won a Lys Symonette Award. NATS (NYC chapter) 2009 student competition first-place winners in respective categories: Ashley Young, Classical; Kyle Scatliffe (AMDA 2010), Musical Theatre; Joseph Giudici (AMDA 2010), Classical and Musical Theatre. Former faculties: Westminster Conservatory; Mason Gross School of the Arts.

Tenor. Johannes Schwaiger is a performing artist in opera, oratorio, concert and musical theater. He began his singing career at the age of nine, recording under his own label, HS Recordings. At age 15, he signed with CBS recording. He studied music and voice at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich and graduated with a Master of Music degree in opera and performance where he received his performance certificate under Kammersänger Friedrich Lenz of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. In August of 2008 The Richard Strauss Conservatory fused with the University of Music and Performing Arts, Munich. http://www.musikhochschule-muenchen.de He was awarded the Richard Wagner Stipend of Bayreuth and the Walter Kaminsky Stipend of Munich. Mr. Schwaiger received a scholarship to study at the College of Performing Arts, now the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and to continue his studies with the late John Alexander of the Metropolitan Opera, NYC. Johannes is a four-time award recipient of the Sergio Franchi scholarship foundation for young tenors.

He has appeared as guest soloist with the Philadelphia Opera Company, June Opera Festival in Princeton, Riverside Opera Ensemble, NYC, and the Wagner Society of NYC. He held the title role of Mengone in Joseph Hayden's Opera, "Lo Speciale", in Munich, as well as Eurindo by Siegesmund Kusser, a 14th Century opera in which he toured the castles of Europe. He sang Don Octavio in "Don Giovanni", Tamino from "The Magic Flute", and Bastien from "Bastien and Bastienne", by Mozart. In 1998and 1999, he performed Siegmund in "Walküre", by Richard Wagner and Max in "Freischütz", by Carl Maria von Weber. From 1992 to 1994 Mr. Schwaiger was engaged in the musical "Cats", Operettenhaus, Hamburg, Germany, in the title role of Old Deuteronomy and Gus Growltiger. On the oratorio stage, he has been the tenor soloist in Händel's Messiah, Sir John Stainer's Crucifixion, Camille Saint Saens, and Christmas Oratorio. He toured the Cathedrals of France with the world renowned Collegium Musicum of the University of Munich as tenor soloist in Elijah. He has appeared in numerous Radio and TV shows in Europe and the USA.

He and his wife, Tessa Lang, were the soloists for the International German/American Festival in Eisenhower State Park, Long Island, where they performed live for an audience of 15,000. He gave his solo NYC recital debut at the Theodore Roosevelt Theater as an award recipient of the Richard Tauber Foundation and in 2000 at the Citicorp/St. Peters. Mr. Schwaiger continues an extensive concert schedule in Europe and the United States of America. In addition to his performing schedule, Mr. Schwaiger has been a faculty member of vocal performance at American Musical and Dramatic Academy www.amda.edu in New York City and is presently serving on the voice faculty at NYU – Tisch School of the Arts/Cap21 www.cap21.org in NYC. He speaks and writes multiple languages. Mr. Schwaiger has recently been elected into the classical division of ASCAP.

Together Johannes and Tessa recorded a cd of 17 lullabies in 8 different languages. They premiered Dreamgates World Lullabies on May 12, 2008 under the title "Once Upon a Time, There was a Lullaby" in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall to a sold-out audience.

Singer, actress, voice teacher. Appeared as a soloist with Chicago Symphony, Grant Park Festival and David Randolph’s Masterwork Chorus. Opera performances with Santa Fe Opera, Illinois Opera Guild, New York–area and regional companies. Roles performed include Fiordiligi, Pamina, Mimi, Musetta, Suor Angelica and Lia in Debussy’s l’Enfant Prodigue. Musical theatre roles include Lola in Damn Yankees and Carrie in Carousel. Recipient of a Martha Baird Rockefeller Grant and a regional winner in the Metropolitan Opera auditions. Founding member of Magic Circle Opera Repertory Ensemble.