Divas on the Delaware Residency Training Staff

Dr. Jim Blanton has led a multifaceted career as conductor, musical director, stage director, singer and pianist. He is currently Musical Director for the Delaware Valley Opera and Delaware Valley Chamber Orchestra. He has also been Conductor for New York’s acclaimed Goliard Chamber Orchestra and Chorale, Musical Director for the Tri State Actors Theater, Director of the Warwick Music Festival and creator and Director of the KidsClassics concert series. He has given vocal master classes and seminars throughout the U.S. in over forty universities, colleges and art centers. As a singer, Blanton has appeared as soloist with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Greenwich Symphony Orchestra and has performed leading roles with the Center for Contemporary Opera, American Chamber Opera, Whitewater Opera (IN), Sorg Opera (OH), Queens Opera, N.J. State Repertory Opera and at the Banff, Blossom and Birmingham City Stages Festivals.

Nico Castel, one of the world's pre-eminent character operatic tenors with over 200 roles in his repertoire, recently celebrated his 35th year with the Metropolitan Opera Company, including 26 years as staff diction coach. He is on the staff of the Juilliard School and travels to conduct master classes and teach at a number of prominent music schools, universities and opera companies. He is the author of the authoritative phonetic translations of the major operas, the Complete Operatic Translation Series, now with 17 volumes.

Carol Castel combines her experience as stage director, vocal coach and teacher to help singers realize their highest potential as dramatic artists. She is General Manager of the New York Opera Studio, a new "open conservatory", offering classes taught by opera professionals and a summer intensive program at Vassar College. For the past five years, she has taught and directed productions at Opera NUOVA in Edmonton, Canada. Ms. Castel was Artistic Director of the Delaware Valley Opera Company for nine years. She has authored several opera education programs for children. She has a voice studio in New York and teaches classes and workshops on "Acting, Artistry and the Creative Process for Singers" throughout the world for young singers and professionals alike.

Eric Barsness’ dance/theater works have been performed to audience and critical acclaim across the U.S. and Europe. As a founding choreographer of ODC/San Francisco and Artistic Director of his own New York City-based company, he received numerous NEA choreography fellowships as well as grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and from numerous private foundations. His early music training in New York and at Oberlin Conservatory informed his dance works, which included a series of tragicomic solos about an opera fanatic. The success of these works led to repeated tours of Italy, where he performed to rave reviews. Since shifting his performing focus to vocal work, Eric's dance background has in turn had a strong effect on his approach as a singer. From instilling the basics of physical warm-up to teaching fundamental dance forms such as the Waltz and Minuet, his workshops orient young singers to the physical demands of the opera stage.

Carol Hoehn Diefenbach, mezzo soprano, is a founding member of the Delaware Valley Opera, where she has performed over 18 leading roles in 21 seasons. She was in the original cast of Diamond Studs on Broadway and with their National Tour, and has extensive training and experience in theater arts. She has worked with such celebrated actors as Jose Ferrer, Colleen Dewhurst, Kathy Bates and Woody Allen, and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actor’s Equity Association. Ms. Diefenbach is recognized in the Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. and is in the silver edition of Who’s Who of American Women. She is a private vocal instructor associated with the Vocal Arts Foundation in New York City.

Julie Ziavras, soprano, has performed in concert, on radio and TV in the US and abroad, including on Greek National Radio, Serbian National Radio and Television, the Fiesta Internacional de las Naciones in Venezuela, at the Piraeus National Theatre and on tour in Serbia and Greece. Recently heard in the title role of La Perichole and as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the DVO, she has appeared with the Opera Company of the Highlands, Festival Theatre of NY, at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space and many other venues throughout the NY metropolitan area. She has premiered many works written for her, including songs, an off-Broadway musical and an opera based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's play, Babylon Revisited. She holds a BM and MM from the Manhattan School of Music and has coached privately with several Metropolitan Opera conductors including George Schick and Alberta Masiello.

Guest Conductor John Yaffé brings his vast experience to DVO, having worked for many years with Encompass New Opera Theatre in New York City, ten years as conductor in the German opera houses of Hagen, Münster, Osnabrück and Stuttgart, and with orchestras in Remscheid, Konstanz, Munich, and Stuttgart. A resident of New York City, Mr. Yaffé frequently conducts in New York City at the 92nd Street Y, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center, among other venues. In recent seasons, he has led a series of premiere performances for Carnegie Hall, the Colorado Springs Symphony, the Staten Island Symphony, the Warsaw Philharmonic (Warsaw Autumn Contemporary Music Festival), Tanglewood, just to name a few.

Delaware Valley Opera is a member of Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, the Arts Council for Sullivan County, NY, and maintains an office in the Delaware Arts Center, 37 Main Street, Narrowsburg, NY.

DVO has also been in residence each summer at the Tusten Theatre since 1991. A town-owned former movie house, Tusten Theatre is located at 210 Bridge Street in Narrowsburg and is managed by Delaware Valley Arts Alliance.