Rock Opera Orchestra

ALEXANDER KARIOTIS (lead singer/composer/lyricist/arrangements/ orchestrations) has a BA from The Mannes Conservatory of Music and a MM from Northwestern University. In his operatic career he has sung Rodolfo in La Boheme, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Canio in Pagliacci, Tamino in Die Zauberflote, Nemorino in L'Elisir D'Amore and Ferrando in Cosi, to name a few. In the USA he has appeared in several solo concert performances in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. In Europe he performed at the Berlin Philharmonic with the St. Hedwigs Orchestra, The Collegium Orchester, The Hohenfels Orchester, and a live radio broadcast for Radio Brandburgh Berlin. Alexander received stunning reviews for his work appearing as Tony Candolino in Master Class by Terrence McNally. Alexander was in both the Chicago production, directed by Peter Amster, and the Columbia Artists production in Toronto with Elizabeth Ashley, directed by Leonard Foglia. Mr. Kariotis has been the recipient of many vocal awards as well. He placed first in the Atwater Kent Vocal competition, first place in the Gladys Turk award in Los Angeles, and was a semi-finalist in the International Enrico Caruso voice competition for young Tenors in Milan, Italy. Alexander was also awarded the prestigious Virginia Prodromos vocal scholarship in Chicago which led to his studies with Arrigo Pola, Lucianno Pavarottis' voice teacher, in Modena. Alexander was a scholarship student at the Mannes College of Music and also received full scholarships to attend both UCLA and Northwestern University.

NATHANIAL WHITE (bass) is a freelance bass player and private teacher originally from Piscataway, NJ. He has studied classical contrabass at the Manhattan School of Music and Montclair State University and works for the New Jersey Youth Symphony as an instructor. Though primarily a classical bass player, he is also well versed in jazz and was the electric bass player as well as lead vocalist for his own band, Ten Cent Ante. Nate is well known as a solo artist as well. He was the Grand Prize winner in the 1999 American String Teacher's Association New Jersey State Solo Competition and has performed solo concertos with the New Jersey Youth Symphony, the Doctor's Society Orchestra of New York, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey.

DIANA CHAROS REILLY (flute) is a graduate of The Juilliard School pre-college division; Ms. Charos Reilly held her debut recital at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in 1989. After earning her BM in Music Performance from The Hartt School of Music under the tutorship of John Wion, principal flutist for The New York City Opera, Diana received further training at Ithaca School of Music, Oberlin College and Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Most recently she has performed with full orchestras at both Carnegie Hall and The PNC Arts Center and held her conducting debut at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center with The New Jersey Youth Symphony ensembles. Additionally, Ms. Charos Reilly was selected for a European concert tour, Behind the Iron Curtain performing in Romania, Austria and Hungary. She has recorded numerous CD's including Jack the Ripper, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel, which premiered at The Paper Mill Playhouse with The Enchanted Players. Diana has also recorded with the 18 piece swing-band, The Somers Dream Orchestra and The Infernos.

JOHN CONTE(piano, keyboards) pianist, film composer, producer /orchestrator/ arranger, holds a B.M. and a M.M. in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, MD. His post-graduate education includes studies in Jazz Performance and Music Theory at the Manhattan School of Music, Chamber Music at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, and Composition at Westminster Choir College. He was a film composer for Calypso Productions in Los Angeles and he's written and recorded the scores for the award winning independent features "Black-Eyed Susan", "Mass of Angels" and "Shot". His teachers have included Leon Fleisher, Ann Schein, Karl Ulrich Schnabel, and Robert Weirich. He is the Associate Director of The Morris Conservatory in Mountain Lakes, NJ and was the Assistant Conductor of the Lyric Theatre Opera/Orchestra of NYC. He is a pianist for The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ, an organist at Church of the Saviour in Denville, NJ, and an adjunct professor of piano at The County College of Morris in Randolph, NJ.

ALAN MICHAELS (drums/percussion) has led an eclectic music career, having performed with: Broadway show orchestras, The Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, symphonic orchestras, jazz ensembles, rock bands, and dance bands to name a few. Alan earned his BM in 1989, MM in 1990, from the Mannes College of Music. He currently performs with Alex Kariotis and the Rock Opera Orchestra, A Chorus Line on Broadway, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway. He is a member of various performing arts ensembles, and freelances as a drummer/percussionist in and around the New York Metropolitan area. In addition to performing, Alan is Director of Instrumental Music at the Peddie School.

DAVID SNYDER'S (musical director/keyboards/orchestrations) multi-faceted, 22-year career has taken him from the scoring stages of Hollywood to Carnegie Hall, where he has twice appeared with Vicki Lewis and the New York Pops. Active on both coasts, he has enjoyed working as a composer, arranger/orchestrator, pianist, vocalist, songwriter and musical director for today's top talent. Recently, David arranged, conducted and co-produced Another Place and Time, the debut solo CD for The Manhattan Transfer baritone Alan Paul. In 2002, he scored the award-winning documentary feature A Tradition of Honor. Currently, he serves as musical director for Alexander Kariotis' Rock Opera Orchestra, and is beginning an association with the hit Broadway show Grey Gardens. He has served as musical director and pianist for Tony Award winners Nell Carter and Christine Ebersole, whose debut CD, "Live at the Cinegrill," he co-produced. David has composed, arranged and/or orchestrated material for The Manhattan Transfer, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Turner Network Television, the New York Pops and the Ice Capades, and has also worked closely with clients such as Disney Animation, Francis Ford Coppola, Jason Alexander, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jim Bailey, Debbie Reynolds, Davis Gaines, Andy Williams, Cybil Shepard, Nanette Fabray, Lee Lessack and John McDaniel.

KEITH BECK (rhythm guitar) picked up a guitar 22 years ago, taught himself how to play and has since become one of the Tri-State area's most sought after artists. He has written well over 300 songs many of which are showcased by his band ZIGMAN BIRD for which he is the lead singer and lead guitar. The band's newest CD, entitled "Zigman Bird" is available at Tower Records throughout the country. www.ZigmanBird.com.

PETER SECKEL (electric guitar, classical guitar) A highly accomplished guitar player, Peter has studied with John Scofield, Pat Martino and Vic Juris. Besides being an active performer (Radio City) and studio musician, Peter has written for TV, including commercials for American Express, Wendy's and CVS. Peter has also been a writer/transcriber for "Guitar for the Practicing Musician Magazine."

RUTH ZUMSTEIN (violin/mandolin) has performed extensively in this country as well as in Ireland and Mexico with such companies as the Filarmonica de las Americas, The New Haven Symphony, The Opera Orchestra of NY, The American Symphony, The New Jersey Symphony, Paul Taylor Dance Company, The Radio City Orchestra and The American Ballet Theater Orchestra at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, City Center and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She has also worked in many of the Orchestra Pits on Broadway and off-Broadway as well as at The Paper mill Playhouse and toured Nationally with The New York City Opera. A member of Local 802 and Local 16, Ms. Zumstein graduated from the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut. She is a native of Detroit

AIMEE WILLIS (vocals). After receiving a degree in voice from UCLA, Aimee Willis left for Europe where she sang with the Deutsche Oper Berlin for 6 seasons. Her roles at the Deutsche Oper included Pamina in Die Zauberflote, Agathe in Freischutz, Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridice and Lucie Dreyfuss in the world premiere of Dreyfuss: The Affair. She has appeared in concert in Parsifal at Santa Caecilia in Rome with Giuseppe Sinopoli, Carmen with the Copenhagen Radio Orchestra and Giuseppe Sinopoli, Porgy and Bess at the Interlaken Festival with Simon Estes, Matthaus Passion, Bach B minor Mass and Dvorak Te deum at the Berlin Philharmonic. Her recent performances in the United States include the title roles in Salome and Tosca, Tatiana in Onegin, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Nedda in Pagliacci, Leonore in Fidelio and the countess in Marriage of Figaro.

JULIA FISAHN (vocals) made her debut singing Bach's Christmas Oratorio at the age of nine in her hometown Berlin, Germany. Since then she has performed in festivals throughout Germany and Italy. Her acting roles include the title role in Medea's Oyster, Cherea in Albert Camus' Caligula, various roles in Elias Canetti's The Deadlined, and the Captain in The New Trial by Peter Weiss, to name a few. Since her arrival in America, Julia has been singing back-up for Alexander Kariotis and The Rock Opera Orchestra.

DANA BLASE FORTUNATO (Vocals) is an accomplished actress/singer/dancer who has most recently been featured off-Broadway in award-winning Larry Pallegrini's The Fantasy Party in which she played Jolie Ford. Ms. Fortunato's Regional credits include A Grand Night For Singing, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Godspell, Honk!, Footloose, Cabaret, Little Shop of Horrors, Pirates of Penzance, Pippin and Aida. Having trained vocally for over a decade, she was prominently featured in Marie Elaine Mammon's highly acclaimed Opera Workshops. Ms. Fortunato was also featured in the 2002 Westminster Choir College Tour for Hope.

MATTHEW R. MORGAN (Sound Designer) owns and operates CONCERT AUDIO. An accomplished sound designer, Mr. Morgan was originally trained as a monitor board engineer with an extensive background in the setup of 6 to 56 channel soundboards, effects racks, amplifiers, microphones, speakers, and all other related equipment. His expertise is concentrated on Mackie, Allen and Heath, Spirit, Midas and Crest consoles. He has previously designed sound for both the Regional and National companies of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, Pippin, Grease, The Basement, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Honk, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Footloose, Anything Goes, A Grand Night For Singing, Cabaret and Aida. Mr. Morgan has also worked with, designed and engineered for Watersign Recording Studios, United Sound, JS Audio, Moore Productions, as well as the Catch 22 video of "Wine Stained Lips" and Tommy Hilfigure's show, The Cut. Mr. Morgan is currently working at Jazz at Lincoln Center.