Tamara Acosta
Tamara Acosta is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Ithaca College, and the founder and director of the 501c3, ONEcomposer. ONEcomposer connects archival research to top-tier performance in order to amplify the music of historically excluded excellence.
Mary Ann Erickson
Mary Ann Erickson is a Professor in the Gerontology Institute in the Department of Health Sciences and Public Health. She is also a certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher and a pianist with lots of experience collaborating with singers.
Ju Hyeon Han
Ju Hyeon Han, a South Korean born soprano, grew up in New Zealand, completing post-elementary and undergraduate studies there. In 2008, she moved to the United States, earning a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy at New England Conservatory in 2011, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University in 2019. While in the United States, Dr. Han has performed in numerous recitals and early music concerts, including at the Steans Institute Ravinia Festival, American Bach Soloists Academy, and the Mostly Modern Festival. She also performed the role of the Female Chorus in Stony Brook Opera's production of Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia in 2017.
As an educator, Dr. Han has a special interest in voice rehabilitation and a passion for working with students with disabilities. In addition, she is a strong advocate for fostering Braille music literacy for blind music students.
Dr. Han holds the position of Visiting Assistant Professor of Voice at Ithaca College.
Ellen Jackson
Ellen Jackson (she/her) is an American theatre artist and opera director. She has directed and assistant directed productions at The Glimmerglass Festival, The Atlanta Opera, Arizona Opera, OperaDelaware, and Opera Ithaca. In the 2020-21 academic year, she was a Lecturer at Ithaca College, where she directed the mainstage production of "The Magic Flute." In 2023, she finished 2 years of study at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, where she completed the Professional Course and the Laboratory of Movement Study. She is currently based in Paris.
Gavin Mayer
Originally from Greeley, Colorado, Gavin Mayer is a professional theatre director and award-winning teacher. For 10 years, Gavin served as a resident director at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities where he has directed the world and regional premieres of numerous musicals. Some of his directing credits include: I'll be Home for Christmas (Henry Nomination for Best New Musical) The Mountaintop (Henry Nomination for Best Director of a Play), White Christmas (Henry Nomination for Best Director of a Musical), Disney's Tarzan, She Loves Me, The Great Gatsby, A Christmas Carol the Musical, Curtains (Henry Nomination for Best Director of a Musical and Best Musical), Miracle on 34th Street and Legally Blonde (True West Award winner for Best Musical and nomination for Best Director of a Musical.) Other professional credits include Baby Dance, 4000 Miles, Over the River and Through the Woods (Cherry Creek Theatre), Guys and Dolls: in Concert (Lone Tree Arts Center) and Forever Plaid (Post Playhouse). Other favorite directing experiences include Fun Home, Pippin, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sweeney Todd, Les Miserables, Urinetown, Run for Your Wife, West Side Story and the high school world premiere of The Laramie Project. Gavin currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Directing and Musical Theatre and Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance Performance at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.
Carol McAmis
Carol McAmis, IC Professor Emerita, is the creator of The MultiDimensional Voice(tm) - a holistic approach for singers, speakers and performers who want embody their authentic voice. She has spent decades developing her unique multi-modality approach to training singers and professional voice users of all kinds which includes traditional voice pedagogy and voice science, the Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education, ARTbundance Creativity Coaching, and many other modalities. Whether she's helping someone prepare for their debut at the Metropolitan Opera or to present themselves confidently at an audition or in a choral rehearsal - Carol's passion is helping people discover what they never knew their voice could do!
Nathaniel McEwen
Hailed for his "voice of exquisite facility and flexibility" (Observer Today, Dunkirk, NY), tenor Nathaniel McEwen has performed as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Maui Chamber Orchestra, the International Baroque Soloists of the Bach & Beyond Baroque Music Festival, the Cornell Chamber Orchestra, and the Eastman Philharmonia. He has sung the roles of "Albert Herring" in Britten's Albert Herring, "Peter Quint" in Britten's The Turn of the Screw, and "Don Basilio" in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in Eastman Opera Theatre productions. He also has sung the role of "Gherardo" in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and has done abundant opera scenes work in Italy as part of the Si parla, si canta Italian language and opera program. Most recently, Dr. McEwen could be seen in Opera Philadelphia's production of Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges as one of "The Eccentrics," as well as singing in the chorus of the company's early 2020 performances of Verdi's Messa da Requiem and 2022 performances of Stravinsky's Œdipus rex.
He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance and Literature with a minor in Pedagogy at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Jan Opalach and Ruth Hennessy. He also holds a Master of Music degree from Eastman, as well as a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University, where he double-majored in Biological Sciences (with a concentration in Microbiology) and Music (magna cum laude).
Before coming to Ithaca College this fall as a sabbatical replacement teacher for Prof. Marc Webster, Dr. McEwen was residing in Philadelphia and teaching voice to numerous students at two community music schools in the suburbs.
Kim Nazarian
Kim Nazarian is a world renowned performing grammy nominated jazz artist, educator and clinician. Besides her work as a sought-after solo vocalist, she has been performing all over the world with the vocal group “New York Voices“ (NYV) for more than 30 years. She is a jazz voice teacher via Skype for Vocal Jazz Majors at Ithaca College and she shares her perspectives on music and life as a musician through teaching private students in clinics, workshops, jazz camps and masterclasses, as well as through festival adjudication and guest conducting for singers on all levels in the US and abroad.
Dawn Pierce
Nazarian was recognized as one of the top 50 most influential Armenian artists in 2012 and inducted into her High School’s Hall of Fame. She is the lead vocalist for the Latin influenced jazz ensemble “El Eco“, led by Argentinian drummer and composer Guillermo Nojechowicz, and sang as a guest vocalist on the latest CD of Gabriel Espinosa in 2018.
Cooper Rothman
Cooper (he/him/his) is the Career Engagement Specialist for the School of Music, Theatre and Dance at Ithaca College! He did his undergraduate degree in Psychology and Communication from the University of Delaware, and did his graduate degree in Higher Education Policy and Student Affairs at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He became a Career Advisor because he had a tough time with his own post-college transition and he wants to help other students achieve their goals! In his free time he enjoys hiking the Ithaca area, playing disc golf with his black lab Luna, and cooking.
Catherine Weidner
Catherine Weidner is a teacher, director and actor. Recent professional credits include acting in the feature film The Night House featuring Rebecca Hall, and roles in Little Women, Third and Other Desert Cities at the Hangar Theatre, as well as directing Merry Wives of Windsor, Othello and As You Like It. and Two Gentlemen of Verona for Theater at Monmouth in Maine. Other professional credits include: directing an adaptation of Henry V for Austin Shakespeare, Jane Austen's Emma for Nebraska Repertory Theatre; Taming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus, and Merry Wives of Windsor for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival; and Or, at Caffeine Theatre in Chicago.
Prior to 2013, she worked at The Kennedy Center in A Streetcar Named Desire with Patricia Clarkson, Amy Ryan and Noah Emmerich, directed by Tony-Award-winner Garry Hynes; at Center Stage in Baltimore in Blithe Spirit, and Mary Stuart; and at Arena Stage in Washington, DC in The Heidi Chronicles, directed by Tazewell Thompson. She has worked at The Guthrie Theater, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, the La Jolla Playhouse, and with Bread & Puppet.
She holds a BFA in Acting from Ithaca College and an MFA in Directing from the University of Minnesota, and has also trained at Complicite in London, The Second City in Chicago and The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.
For ten years she was the Program Director of The Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting at the George Washington University, offering a one-year MFA in Classical Acting. From 2007- 2013 she taught Classical Acting and Heightened Text at The Theatre School at DePaul University, where she served as Head of BFA Acting. For Ithaca College Theatre, she has directed Caesar, Twelfth Night, Cabaret, Company, and As You Like It, and taught Audition Techniques, Acting I, Freshmen Scene Study, Sophomore Scene Study, Sophomore Voice & Speech, Styles of Acting I: The Greeks & Shakespeare, Introduction to Theatre, Directing I, and Special Topics: Shakespeare Intensive. She served at Chair of Theatre Arts from 2013-2021, and as the Interim Director of the Ithaca College London Center in 2021-22. She is a member of Equity, SAG-AFTRA, and has been certified as a Consent-Forward Artist by Intimacy Directors and Coordinators.