The Workshop Faculty

Elizabeth Kirkpatrick Vrenios,
Artistic Director

Ms. Vrenios has been a respected and renowned teacher for more than 40 years. She is professor emerita at The American University, Washington, D.C., where she directed operas and musicals for more than 30 years. As a soprano, she has performed professionally in recital and opera across the United States and Europe. As a director and educator, she has influenced and trained students world-wide through her workshops in opera and vocal production conducted across the United States, Europe, Scandinavia, South America, and Japan.

She has been associate director of the Crittenden Opera Workshop for more than 28 years. She is listed in the International Who’s Who of Musicians, Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, and Who’s Who of Women in the United States, and is an immediate past president of the National Opera Association.

Adriana Amelias Hardy

Ms. Hardy is a voice teacher, director, and Feldenkreis practitioner. She also conducts her own workshops in body, breath, and sound. She combines a background in singing, dance and choreography, movement therapies, yoga, and Alexander technique. Her work as both a director and performer spans all music theatre genres and includes plays and reader’s theatre. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the National Opera Association.

Laurie Vivona Bunn, Coach

Ms. Bunn is well-known for her artistic collaborations with vocalists, instrumentalists and dancers. She is active in the greater Washington, D.C., area as a chamber and symphony musician, choral and dance accompanist, and freelance keyboardist.

Louise Costigan-Kerns, Voice

Ms. Costigan-Kerns is a voice and opera coach, recital pianist at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and senior lecturer in the Musical Arts department at Notre Dame de Namur University. She was the founding director of the New England Conservatory Extension Division Opera Studio, a member of the Opera Department faculty at Boston University, and has worked for Opera San José, Stanford University, and the San Francisco Symphony.

Paul Hamilton

Mr. Hamilton is a Chicago-based pianist, composer, and conductor. He has served as accompanist for a wide variety of vocalists, instrumentalists, and chamber and orchestral groups. He has composed scores for Sadako and the Thousand Cranes, Alice in Wonderland, and The Emperor’s New Clothes with librettist Gail Deschamps for their national touring company GMT Productions.

Thomas Hetrick

Mr. Hetrick is a coach and accompanist in the Washington, D.C., and Maryland area. He has been a coach at the Wolf Trap Opera Company, chorus director of the Prince George’s Opera, and music director of the Crittenden Opera Studio.

Steven Jordan

Mr. Jordan, guest clinician, has worked with San Francisco Opera, Philadelphia Opera, and San Diego Opera and Central City Opera. He has directed more than 40 opera productions for companies including Nevada Opera, San Diego Opera Center, Marin Opera, and the San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellowship Program. He was production stage manager for the PBS presentation of The Merry Widow with Beverly Sills.