The Honorable Board members of COUSC:

President

Ann Simon is a senior pursuing a BM in Vocal Arts, studying with Elizabeth Hynes. Growing up in Washington, DC, Annie performed at professional theaters including Signature Theatre, The Folger-Shakespeare, and the Kennedy Center. Over the summers, Annie attended the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, and participated in the Washington National Opera Institute for Young Singers. In 2005, Annie won first place for the Classical High School Women Divisino in the NATS Mid-Atlantic Region Auditions. Annie loves COUSC and thinks you should come and join the fun!

Board

Benjamin Cortez (Productions Manager) is a senior under the vocal direction of Elizabeth Hynes. He has been participateing in the Thornton Opera since the beginning of his freshman year to the present. Most recently, he has covered the role of Male Chorus in "The Rape of Lucretia" and will be appearing in Opera Scenes and "Don Giovanni" in 2009. He has attended Aspen Music festival where he also participated in chorus and the scenes program. He is excited to continue his work at USC and as well as to support the Chamber Opera program.

Marisa Johnson (Public Relations) is a B.M. Vocal Performance major at USC. She has performed in several community theatre musicals in her hometown of Bakersfield, as well as numerous Opera scenes at Bakersfield College, Cal State Bakersfield, and USC. Some of her favorite roles were Maria in West Side Story, Carmen in Carmen, and Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte. She has won many awards including Female Vocalist of the Year at the Kern County’s Most Talented Singer competition, Bakersfield’s Idol, Best in Classipop at the Best New Talent Awards, a Talent Award at Miss California, and the title of Miss Kern County ’08. She expects to be a star on Broadway as well as in the Metropolitan Opera.

Megan Franklin is a senior at USC pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Voice. She won the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards, the Orange County Performing Arts Center Tomorrow's Stars Awards, and the Opera Pacific Competition, among others. Megan has performed as a soloist at the International Church Music Festival in Chester, England and appeared on the BBC's "Songs of Praise" program. Interested in choral music, Megan sings with the Pacific Chorale, the Scuola Contorum of St. James' in the City, and the USC Chamber Singers and Oriana Choir.

Stage directors/Musical directors

Sarah Parnicky Stage director.

Marina Boudart Harris is a twenty five year old soprano from Los Angeles, California studying in the voice studio of Shigemi Matsumoto. Recent stage experience includes La Messagiera in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Melibea in scenes from Rossini’s Il Viaggo a Reims, Komponist in scenes from Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as numerous mezzo-soprano roles, including Florence in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Lucretia in Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, La Zia Principessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and the Old Lady in Bernstein’s Candide. Upcoming engagements include the role of Arminda in La finta giardiniera with the USC Thornton School of Music. Miss Harris has also been featured as a soprano soloist in Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony, Bach’s Messe in h moll, as well as Rutter’s Gloria. She is a three time soloist with the Los Angeles Bach Festival, the oldest Bach festival on the West coast, and has performed works such Magnificat, Johannes-Passion, and Wachet, betet! with the Festival Orchestra and Choir. In 2010, Marina was chosen as a Western Regional Finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and was the Second Place Winner in the Finals. Miss Harris was also a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Regional Finalist in 2009, and took home the Special Encouragement Award. Both years, she was the highest ranking female singer in the Western Regional Finals. Miss Harris was a vocal fellow at the prestigious Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California in 2010 where she was a student of legendary mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne. Also an accomplished recital singer, Marina was selected as an Encouragement Award Winner at the Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition in 2010 for her performance of art song repertoire. Miss Harris has worked for Center Stage Opera, Opera Pacific, Long Beach Opera, Pacific Chorale, California State University Long Beach Opera Institute, and the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. Internationally, she has sung with the International Lyric Academy in Rome, Italy and also with the New Operafestival di Roma. Miss Harris has worked with acclaimed directors Ken Cazan, Thor Steingraber, and Nicolas Muni, and recently sang master classes with Marilyn Horne, John Churchwell, Warren Jones, and Charles Castronovo. She received her bachelor’s degree from California State University Long Beach in 2009 and is working towards her Graduate Certificate in Vocal Arts at the University of Southern California.

Aurelien Eulert Hailing from Alsace, France, Aurelien regularly performs throughout Europe and the United States. Aurelien has studied with pianists Jean-Louis Haguenauer, Amy Lin and Fred Karpoff, has also enjoyed the teaching and influence of renowned artists such as Jon Nakamatsu, Christopher O’Riley, Peter Serkin, Leon Fleisher and Earl Wild. He has worked as collaborative pianist for the French Flute festival Flutissimo held every summer since 2005 where he works and performs with Flute principals of Europe’s finest orchestras and soloists like Michel Debost, Patrick Gallois, Andras Adorjan or Pierre-Yves Artaud. Aurelien holds degrees from the Conservatoire National de Strasbourg, Syracuse University and the University of Southern California. After completing his Graduate Certificate in Piano Performance at the Thornton School of Music, Aurelien is currently completing his DMA degree in Keyboard Collaborative Arts with Kevin Fitz-Gerald and was awarded a full scholarship and a Teaching Assistant position.
Aurelien has had extensive experience with the vocal repertoire, having coached and performed with singers for many years. He has worked with eminent teachers and performers such as Phyllis Curtin, Dawn Upshaw, Stephanie Blythe, Stephen Smith, Elizabeth Hynes and Eric Halfvarson, performs regularly with international opera star Rod Gilfry, and has also served as musical director for the Chamber Opera of USC program since 2008. Aurelien has also performed many times as orchestral piano and celesta player in various professional and university orchestras, under the baton of conductors such as Stefan Asbury, Carl St-Clair and internationally acclaimed film composer John Williams. Most recent engagements include performances with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, the Downey Symphony and the Burbank Philharmonic. Aurelien also records as a studio pianist for movie soundtracks, and has been featured on more than twenty different films. His performances at Thornton have often been featured on the Greater Los Angeles area radio station KUSC. This summer, Aurelien attended the Tanglewood Music Center festival as a piano fellow and performed numerous concerts at Seiji Ozawa Hall, notably a Bach Cantata on organ under John Harbison and Copland’s Third Symphony under Robert Spano. He also worked as rehearsal pianist for the American premiere of Elliott Carter’s new work “What Are Years” and played in the pit for Oliver Knussen’s opera “Where the Wild Things Are”.