Summer Opera Workshop

Barry Johnson – Stage Director, Voice Instructor and critically acclaimed baritone

Barry Johnson, baritone, has attracted national attention among leading conductors, directors, and opera companies as a versatile singing actor. Creator of more than 50 opera roles, Mr. Johnson is a frequent guest with companies throughout the country including Seattle Opera, Tacoma Opera, Opera Colorado, Anchorage Opera, Portland Opera, Central City Opera, Las Vegas Opera, and the Wildwood Festival in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Marriage of Figaro, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Marcello in La Boheme, Dancairo in Carmen, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Prince Ottokar in Der Freischutz, Baron Douphol in La Traviata, Angelotti in Tosca, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Fleville in Andrea Chenier, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, and Jupiter in Orpheus in the Underworld. Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Frahm’s War Cantata, Bach’s Magnificat, Mozart’s Requiem, and Faure’s Requiem. The Merry Widow, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Sondheim’s Into the Woods, Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica.

Holly Boaz – Voice masterclasses

Soprano Holly Boaz enjoys a varied career in opera, oratorio, chamber music, and small ensembles. Career highlights include appearances with Seattle Symphony, Symphony Tacoma, Hartford Symphony, Seattle Opera, Pacific MusicWorks, Music of Remembrance, the Russian Chamber Music Foundation, Vancouver Early Music Festival, Connecticut Opera, The Aspen Music Festival, the Emerald Ensemble, Early Music Tacoma, and in the UK, the Aldeburgh Festival, and Caritas Chamber Choir. As a specialist in Baroque repertoire, she frequently performs works of Bach and Handel with regional orchestras and choral ensembles, but she also loves a good romantic art song, especially one in Russian. She is a winner of the Northwest Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Award Competition (NATSAA), and the Ladies’ Musical Club of Seattle Competition. She received an encouragement award from the Connecticut District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, was a finalist in the Palm Beach Opera Competition, completed fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, and the Britten-Pears Programme in England, and is a graduate of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, and the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin College. She is a passionate teacher and an active member of The National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), where she serves on the board of the Puget Sound Chapter, and as the NW Regional Coordinator of the Artist Awards Competition (NATSAA).

Amy Boers – Staff Pianist

Amy Boers is well known as a collaborative pianist, music director, singer, and church musician.

As pianist and collaborator, she currently holds positions at Pacific Lutheran University (staff pianist), Symphony Tacoma (principal keyboard), and Symphony Tacoma Voices (pianist and assistant rehearsal conductor). Her work at Pacific Lutheran University is varied between accompanying the acclaimed Choir of the West, accompanying and coaching private voice students, team-teaching numerous theater classes, and most recently she was named Music Director for productions in PLU’s Theater & Dance program, including Amélie, music revues Off Broadway, and When You Wish Upon a Star, and Jasper in Deadland (Spring 2024).

Amy is frequently asked to collaborate and perform with world-renown conductors and elite ensembles at NWACDA, Washington ACDA, NAfME, and WMEA conventions. Recent notable collaborations have been with Jason Max Ferdinand, Brian Edward Galante, Jace Saplan, Jonathan Talberg and Rosephanye Powell (Summer 2024).

Amy works as a collaborative pianist with many State Solo & Ensemble winners, both instrumental and vocal. She travels regularly as a collaborative artist with choirs throughout Europe, performing most recently in Portugal, Spain (Symphony Tacoma Voices 2023), Estonia and Latvia (Symphony Tacoma Voices and University of Washington Choirs 2019).

As a conductor, in addition to her music directing, Amy has led regional honor choirs and coached developing choral conductors from across the Western Hemisphere at the annual Cascade Conducting Workshop in Tacoma, WA. As a true collaborative artist known for her deep insight and “getting inside the conductor’s head,” Amy provides feedback through the special lens of accompanist, singer and conductor combined. She has led pedagogical workshops for choral conductors and collaborative artists regionally and in Canada. Her recent session “The Power of Two” focused on collaborative rehearsal techniques to develop between conductor and pianist. Presented at the 2024 Northwest American Choral Directors Association regional convention, she received rave reviews and requests for repeated presentations.

As a church musician, she has been a long-time voice in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. She has been contributing editor for both the keyboard and choral divisions of the Sundays and Seasons resource published by Augsburg Fortress (now 1517 Media); served on the Board of Directors of Lutheran Summer Music, the nation’s premier faith-based music academy for high school students; and now acts as an ambassador for the program. Amy has served many congregations since 1995, and currently is co-Minister of Music at Grace Lutheran Church with her husband Geoffrey.

In addition to her keyboard artistry, she is an active singer both recording commercial music and performing live. She treasures singing with Musing, a beautiful project-based treble ensemble, as well as her vocal collaborations in the studio with local composers and singers. She is currently in the midst of recording vocal tracks for an upcoming album of new arrangements of traditional gospel songs and hymns, as well as new compositions in this genre.

When not making music, she loves to garden, cycle, and travel with her family. Most important to her at this time is spending time with her three beloved grandchildren, Adler, Jack, and Holden.