51st NATS National Conference

KELLI O'HARA – Featured Guest Artist and

Master Class Clinician

Kelli O’Hara has unequivocally established herself as one of Broadway’s great leading ladies. She recently starred in the Tony Award-winning revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center, enrapturing audiences and critics alike with her soulful and complex interpretation of Nellie Forbush, garnering a third Tony-nomination in the process.

The year leading up to South Pacific was a busy one. With her critically acclaimed performance of Eliza Doolittle in the NY Philharmonic production of My Fair Lady, a Carnegie Hall debut, and the completion of her first album Kelli was ready to dig into creating a new “Nellie” for the new century.

A native of Oklahoma, Kelli received a degree in Opera, and after winning the State Metropolitan Opera Competition moved to New York and enrolled in the Lee Strasberg Institute. She made her Broadway debut in Jekyll & Hyde and followed it with Sondheim’s Follies, Sweet Smell of Success opposite John Lithgow;and Dracula.

In 2003, Kelli committed to a production of The Light in the Piazza at Seattle’s Intiman Theatre. The show landed on Broadway in 2005 and earned Kelli her first Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations. She moved from one huge critical and commercial success to another when she joined Harry Connick on Broadway in the 2006 Tony award winning production of The Pajama Game for which Kelli received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Award nominations.

Kelli has worked regionally and Off Broadway in Sunday in the Park with George at Reprise, My Life With Albertine at Playwright’s Horizons, and Beauty at The La Jolla Playhouse.

In addition to her critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall solo debut with the NY Pops conducted by Rob Fisher, Kelli’s concerts include Carnegie Hall with Barbara Cook, The Kennedy Center with Marvin Hamlisch and the NSO, The New York Philharmonic with Marvin Hamlisch, Lincoln Center, Town Hall, Cooper Union, Joe’s Pub, The Philly Pops conducted by Peter Nero, OCPAC, Broad Stage, and a sold out run at Café Carlyle. She performed at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors as part of the Barbra Streisand tribute.

Among her film and television credits are Sex & The City 2, Martin Scorsese’s short The Key to Reserva opposite Simon Baker; The Dying Gaul starring Patricia Clarkson and Campbell Scott; Blue Blood (NBC pilot), All Rise (NBC Pilot), Alexander Hamilton (Maria Reynolds) starring Brian F. O’Byrne (PBS), NUMB3RS (CBS); All My Children, the upcoming animated series Car Talk, as well as numerous live performances on national television shows.

Kelli’s recordings include: South Pacific (Sony), The Light in the Piazza (Nonesuch records; Grammy nom.), The Pajama Game (Sony; Grammy nom.), The Sweet Smell of Success (Sony), My Life with Albertine (PS Classics), Dream True (PSClassics), Jule Styne Goes Hollywood (PS Classics) and her solo album Wonder in the World on Ghostlight Records.

Kelli resides in New York with her husband Greg and their son Owen. For more information on Kelli O'Hara visit her website at http://www.kelliohara.com.

COURTNEY HUFFMAN – Featured Artist Recital - 2008 NATSAA Winner

Recognized as a singer of exceptional artistry and versatility, soprano Courtney Huffman is a captivating and inspiring young artist who is already making waves in the professional musical world. After taking First Place in the NATS 2008 Artist Award Competition in Nashville, Tennessee, Ms. Huffman made her New York solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall in June, 2009.

The soprano was hailed for her stellar performance as Motezuma’s daughter, Teutile, in the Long Beach Opera’s U.S. Premiere of Vivaldi’s Motezuma. “Teutile…brilliantly sung by a young soprano, Courtney Huffman, just entering the professional arena, is treated as a supercilious young starlet...She sings and steals the stage...I hope opera talent scouts were on hand..." (Mark Swed, The LA Times).

Huffman made her professional operatic debut to critical acclaim with the Intimate Opera Company of Pasadena, California, portraying Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata, and reprised the role with the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Ms. Huffman has appeared in over two dozen operas and opera scenes with the Aspen Opera Theater Center, USC Thornton School of Music Opera, and the Illinois Opera Theatre. Her stage credits include Betty in Lowell Liebermann’s Miss Lonelyhearts, Frasquita in Carmen, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, Drusilla in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Johanna in Sweeney Todd.

An equally accomplished concert artist, Ms. Huffman is slated to perform a Baroque concert with conductor Lucinda Carver for Centrum’s Port Townshend Chamber Music Festival in July 2010. She has also performed as a soloist with New York City’s Orchestra Insonica and the Sunriver Music Festival Orchestra in Sunriver, Oregon, under the baton of Maestro Lawrence Smith.

Ms. Huffman’s international debut in Shanghai and Hong Kong was followed by appearances at the Aspen Music Festival, where she performed Sextine Cyclus with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. She was invited by National Public Radio to record the piece at the Harris Concert Hall for a nation-wide broadcast. Ms. Huffman returned to Aspen the following year, performing the U.S. Premiere of Oder Soll Es Tod Bedeuten?, a song cycle for soprano and strings by contemporary composer Aribert Reimann.

A native of Redmond, Oregon, Ms. Huffman holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and a Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton School of Music.

Her accolades include the AEIOU Opera Scholarship (awarded by the American Educators of Italian Origin United), third place in the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus Young Artist Competition, the New Horizon Fellowship (Aspen Music Festival and School); and the Vocal Arts Department Award (University of Southern California).

For more information visit http://www.courtneyhuffman.com.

*Revisions by Jona Rapoport Artist Management/Publicity