IVAAP

Faculty

Vladimir Chernov, Founder

Internationally renowned baritone VLADIMIR CHERNOV, has sung over 40 leading roles and has appeared at nearly every major international theater including the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, Teatro Colon, Paris Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and Vienna Staatsoper. He has worked with many of today's great opera conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, and Seiji Ozawa.

His U.S. debut was at Los Angeles Opera in the 1989-90 season as Posa in Verdi's Don Carlo, opposite Plácido Domingo. Mr. Chernov's most requested roles include Germont in La Traviata, Simon Boccanegra, Eugene Onegin, Miller in Luisa Miller, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Prince Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades. Mr. Chernov is now a professor of vocal studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Olga Toporkova, Co-Founder

OLGA TOPORKOVA is a world-class expert on Bel Canto vocal technique. She has devoted her life to studying the mechanism of the human voice. She is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, where she studied opera performance and dramatic acting. Mrs. Toporkova teaches in Paris, New York, Los Angeles, and Payerbach. Her students have won or have been finalists in major international competitions including Cardiff Singer of the World, Operalia, the Loren L. Zachary Competition, Deborah Voigt Vero Beach International Competition, Giulio Gari Foundation, and many more.

Junghyun Elisabeth Lee, Collaborative Pianist

JUNGHYUN ELISABETH LEE is a highly accomplished pianist hailing from Seoul, Korea. She holds degrees in Concert Piano from Seoul National University (SNU), and multiple degrees in Vocal Arts and Opera Accompaniment from der Musik und Kunst-Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien (MUK) and der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (MDW). Ms. Lee has been a pianist with the city choir, national choir, opera choir in Korea, where she has participated in operas & operettas including L'elisir d'amore, La Traviata, Carmen, Lohengrin, Rugalda, Mefistofele, Madama Butterfly, Faust, Orfeo ed Euridice, Le nozze di Figaro, Turandot, Die Bat, as well as the Orff Carmina Burana, Verdi Requiem, Brahms A German Requiem, Bach Christmas Oratorio, and Mendelssohn Elias. She has also been a guest accompanist at the MUK & MDW for Les Jumeaux de Bergame, The Magic Flute, and more.