Our People

Our staff and board of directors can't wait to meet you!
Here is a picture of each of us so that you can be sure to pick us out in the crowd and come say "hello" at the next performance.
See you at the opera!

STAFF

  • Julia Cooke

    Artistic and General Director

  • Catrin Davies

    Director of Community Engagement and Development

  • Courtney Kalbacker

    Director of Artistic Operations and Education

  • Aaron Ziegel, Ph.D.

    Scholar-in-Residence

  • Tara Dougherty

    Patron Services Manager

  • Sarah Burns

    Operations Manager

Board of directors

  • Michael Brown, PRESIDENT

    Community Roles: Attorney with Miles & Stockbridge, P.C.

  • Dawn Luedtke, VICE-PRESIDENT

    Community roles: Montgomery County Council Member, member of the Montgomery County Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission, Montgomery County board of Social Services, community theater performer, and proud mama to four music-loving children!

  • Bart Debicki, TREASURER

    Community Roles: Associate Professor in the Department of Management and International Business in the College of Business and Economics at Towson University

  • Francis Mondimore, SECRETARY

    Community Roles: Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

  • Anthony Avery

    Community Roles: Award-Nominated recording artist and Founder of the Tony Aye Artistry Foundation, Outreach Coordinator for MedStar Family Choice of D.C

  • Rosemary Eck

    Community Roles: [retired] major gifts manager at Maryland Public Television [MPT], Director of Development at St. Mary’s Seminary, inaugural philanthropy director at Charlestown Retirement Community, fund raising consultant for the Baltimore Regional Burn Center at Hopkins Bayview Hospital

  • Elizabeth Futral

    Community Roles: Distinguished Chair of Vocal Studies at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University

  • Erin Rada

    Community Roles: Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center and St. Joseph Medical Center

  • Stevie Schein

    Community Roles: Senior Training and Technical Assistance Manager for Healthy Steps (a program of Zero to Three

  • Kevin Short

    Community Roles: Professor of Voice at the University of Maryland, Adjunct Voice teacher at the Curtis Institute of Music, Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.

  • Andrew Feinberg

    Community Roles: Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine, Engineering and Public Health, where he is Director of the Center for Epigenetics, a recipient of an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, a member of the National Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the NIH Council of Councils.

  • LEE BOOT

    Community Roles: Director of the Imaging Research Center, and Affiliate Associate Professor of Visual Arts and Computer Science & Engineering at UMBC. His practice involves bringing values, modes and methods from the arts into multidisciplinary teams addressing serious societal challenges such as substance misuse, low education achievement, healthcare and the epidemiology of pandemics.

  • Suzanne Woods

    Community roles: Nationally-recognized soprano who has performed major roles across the country, in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, and on major recording labels.


Brendan Cooke - Founder, Director of artistic partnerships

Advisory Council Members

  • Suzanne Balaes-Blair (Archdiocese of Baltimore)

  • Michael Blair (Cummings & Co. Realtors)

  • David Dimmock (Northrup Grumman, Retired)

  • Dennis Ferguson (Social Security Administration)

  • Erika Juengst (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

  • Lewis Noonberg (DLA Piper, Retired Partner)

  • Monica Reinagel (Nutritionist, Host of Nutrition Diva Podcast)

  • Maureen Ober Renner (College of Notre Dame, Loyola University)

  • Steven White (Metropolitan Opera)

Directors Emeriti

  • J Austin Bitner

  • Suzanne Balaes-Blair

  • Michael Blair

  • Lauren Brown

  • Jennifer Burdick, in memoriam

  • David Dimmock

  • Dennis Ferguson

  • Louis Gephardt

  • Jimmy Galdieri, in memoriam

  • Mimi Hatch

  • John Harris

  • Meghan Ihnen

  • Erika Juengst

  • Heather Kniotek DeSimone

  • Heather Lockard Wheeler

  • Elisabet Pujadas

  • Elizabeth Robinson

  • Ben Schuman

  • John Shields

  • Susan Yager

  • Joseph Zuccaro