Richard Zielinski, Music & Artistic Director

Richard Zielinski is known for his innovative programming and versatility as both an orchestral and choral conductor. A passionate and compelling communicator, with an extensive knowledge of classical and contemporary repertoire, he also serves as music and artistic director for the Norman Philharmonic in Oklahoma and is on the music faculty at the University of Oklahoma. Zielinski is in his fifteenth year as artistic director of the Classical Music Festival. He is also a recipient of the Gold Medal of Achievement for his artistic achievements and musical contributions in Eisenstadt as principal conductor and artistic director of the Classical Music Festival. Zielinski has conducted extensively throughout Europe, Asia and the United States including the opening concert for the 2014 International Haydntage with a world premiere of Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten choreographed for ballet. His professional vocal ensemble, the Richard Zielinski Singers, has recorded five CDs of music by many well known contemporary composers.

Yunjung Lee, Concertmaster

Korean violinist and conductor Dr. Yunjung Lee is an active performer who has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras, such as Greece Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Korean Symphony Orchestra, and many others, as well as in international music festivals participating in the Music Academy of the West, the Brevard Music Festival, the Orford Art Center, and the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico. Yunjung Lee is an Assistant Professor and Director of String Activities at Indiana State University, where she teaches violin, viola, chamber music and directs ISU Symphony Orchestra. Prior to joining the faculty of the Indiana State University’s School of Music, Lee taught at Louisiana Tech University, at Drake University, at the Eastman School of Music, and at the University of Rochester. As a member of Trio Ronnati, she enjoys playing chamber music as well as violin solo. Lee earned her Bachelor in violin performance, and Master's and Doctoral degrees in violin performance and literature at the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Zvi Zeitlin and Federico Agostini.

Dean Luethi, Chorusmaster

Dr. Dean Luethi serves as Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor at Washington State University. He received his BM in Vocal Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, MM in Choral Conducting from the University of South Florida in Tampa, and DMA in Choral Music from the University of Illinois-Urban/Champaign. Known for his work as a choral pedagogue, Dean has presented research, workshops, or conducted choirs at festivals, conferences, and competitions in the U.S., India, China, Cuba, Canada, Austria, Poland, and Germany. He is published in Choral Journal, Music Educator's Journal, and his books Aligning Voices: Exercises to Build Choral Musicianship and Quick Start to Choral Singing are available through GIA Publications.

Jane Magrath, Piano Seminar Director

Dr. Jane Magrath, Director of the Piano Seminar, is internationally known as a pianist, clinician, and author. Her book The Pianist's Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature has become a classic reference work and a second book Piano Literature for Teaching and Performance was issued in 2021. She also is known for her more than forty piano literature editions through Alfred Music that are used widely in the U.S. and abroad. She has presented over three hundred workshops and master classes throughout the US and on four continents. As a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma, Magrath was Regents’ Professor and held the Grant Endowed Chair in Piano Pedagogy at the University of Oklahoma, where she was named Rothbaum Presidential Professor of Excellence in the Arts and served as Director of Piano Pedagogy. She was inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2019 she received the Achievement Award, MTNA's highest distinction, and also the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. Students and former students have been placed in university and college teaching positions throughout the US and many have won numerous prizes and competitions. Website: www.janemagrath.com

Don V Moses, Founding Director

Don V Moses, Founding Director and Conductor Emeritus, received his degrees from Kansas State University, Fort Hays, and Indiana University. A former Director of the School of Music at the University of Illinois, Dr. Moses has held conducting faculty appointments at the Universities of Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. Among his many frequent guest conducting appearances with choruses and orchestras in the U.S. and internationally, he has conducted the Györ, Hungary, Philharmonic, and the Taipai Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus of Taiwan. With his love of Haydn and vision for musical performances, he founded the Classical Music Festival in 1975 and provided the leadership for 25 years of successful concerts, lectures, and seminars in Eisenstadt, Burgenland, and Vienna. His latest book, “The Masses of Joseph Haydn” is available at www.Haydnmasses.com

Cathy Griffin

Cathy Griffin, Festival Administrator, is the Executive Director of the Norman Philharmonic and serves as a marketing consultant specializing in work with arts organizations and financial institutions. She has held marketing management positions with several major financial institutions before starting her own business. In addition to receiving a masters degree from the University of Tulsa, she has performed with opera companies in Seattle, Phoenix, and Indianapolis.

Martin Karner

Martin serves as Event Manager for the Classical Music Festival, coordinating arrangements for festival transportation, tours, housing, receptions, along with many other administrative needs that occur throughout the year. Martin is employed as Event Manager at Palais Lichtenstein in Vienna and has also worked as Event Manager for the Fachhochschule Burgenland.to coordinate various events offered through the university. He has been working for the festival since 2012 and completed his International Business Relations (BA-degree) at the University of Applied Science in Eisenstadt while working part time in hotel management. He'll be one of the team members at the airport to greet you.

Brian Kilp

Originally from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, Dr. Brian T. Kilp joined the faculty of Indiana State University in 1998 where he is Professor of Music. Dr. Kilp is Principal Horn of the Terre Haute and Danville (IL) Symphonies, a member of the THSO Brass Quintet, and is a busy freelance hornist Brian has performed and presented master classes inn Thailand, Singapore, China, and Vietnam. Dr. Kilp is a founding member of the the Ambassador Brass, which has toured in Vietnam, Thailand, China, Croatia, Hungary, and Austria. Brian has been Principal Horn since 2000, and is currently Orchestra Manager and Board member of the Classical Music Festival Orchestra in Eisenstadt, Austria. A champion of new music, he has commissioned over 15 works featuring or including the horn. He was appointed Visiting Guest Professor of Horn at the Shenyang and Dalian Conservatories of Music, Visiting Guest Professor at Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University in Thailand, and was awarded Honorary Doctorates from Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University and Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University.

Susan Urbach

Susan Urbach serves as Operations Manager with the Classical Music Festival. Most recently, she served as Regional Director for the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Oklahoma, a position she held for the past 27 years. Being involved with the Classical Music Festival unites both her interests in business and music, having received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Vocal Performance from Oklahoma City University. She spent 16 years as a church musician conducting the Tinker Air Force Base Chapel choirs for eight years and several other Oklahoma church music programs. In addition, she worked with MIDI for Kids in their early-stage business development and also produced a CD There Was a Time, Music of Stephen Foster.

Piotr Szulc, serves as assistant to the artistic director. He resides in Poland where he produces concerts throughout Europe. His work has also included producing and serving as emcee for a variety of events including international tennis tournaments, jazz festivals, artistic tours, as well as a wide range of special events for businesses. He also serves as Director of the International Festival of Choral Song in Miedzyzdroje, Poland and is a member of the Board of the Pomeranian Medical Academy Choir in Szczecin, Poland. Prior to this, Piotr was part-owner of a public relations and advertising agency for 20 years.

Anne Swedish Moses

Anne Swedish Moses has served as Administrative Director for the Classical Music Festival as well as soprano soloist for many years. After a successful career as a highly sought after soloist in recital, oratorio, and opera, she turned to public relations and management, bringing this expertise to the organizational work of the festival. Anne now serves as a member of the festival's board of directors.

Daniel Kelly, Haydn Trumpet Concerto

Daniel Kelly joined Texas A&M University-Commerce in 2010 after serving on the faculties of Indiana State University and the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Kelly is principal trumpet of the Colorado MahlerFest in Boulder, a member of The Dallas Winds, and has performed with the Charleston Symphony, Plano Symphony, Allen Philharmonic, Northeast Texas Symphony, Mobile Symphony and Opera Orchestras, Gulf Coast Symphony, Mississippi Symphony, Meridian Symphony, Sinfonia Gulf Coast, Terre Haute Symphony and Brass Quintet, Philharmonia à Vent, Columbus Brass, The Prairie Ensemble, Champaign-Urbana (IL) Symphony and Brass Quintet, Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana (BACH), Peoria Bach Festival Orchestra. He is also a founding member of The Ambassador Brass Quintet, which has presented concerts and workshops in the US, Thailand, Vietnam and China. More recently Dr. Kelly has presented recitals and master classes at the Campina Grande International Music Festival (Brazil) and Shenzen Conservatory (China). More ...

Nicole Van Every, soprano

American soprano Nicole Van Every has given over 100 solo performances across the globe, including the United States, New Zealand, Greece, England, Ireland, Scotland, Poland, Germany, and Austria. Sought after as a performer of operatic, oratorio, and jazz repertoire, her distinctive warm timbre has been hailed as providing a "stunning feast for the ears." Recent engagements include performances with the Richardson, Texas Symphony Orchestra; the Colla Voce concert series in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Carmina Burana with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic; Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate with the Fort Smith Symphony; the Polish premiere of Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light; the title roles in La Traviata and Tosca with Painted Sky Opera; Brava! Opera Theater in Ashland, Oregon; and Haydn’s Creation in Eisenstadt. She was also invited to represent the state of Oklahoma in the 2021 broadcast of Uniting America, a national concert with artists from all 50 of the United States. Nicole is a winner of the 2020 American Prize in Oratorio Performance, winner of the 2020 Berkeley, California, Community Chorus & Orchestra Soloist award, a Regionals Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, and winner of the Classical Singer Magazine summer competition. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Oklahoma.

Kimberly Grantland James, mezzo-soprano

Kimberly James maintains an active performance career, particularly as a concert artist and recitalist. She has performed in concert with the London Sinfonietta, the New World Symphony, the Los Angeles Symphony, and on stage with New Orleans Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, among other organizations. Her performance repertoire is quite diverse, encompassing oratorio works by Bach, operatic repertoire from Purcell to Adamo, and concert works by Verdi, Mahler, Ravel, and contemporary composers. She is currently an Assistant Professor on the voice faculty at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. James earned degrees from Texas Christian University (B.S.), Rice University (M.M.), and Indiana University (Performer Diploma, D.M.A) as well as a Certificate in Vocology, National Center for Voice & Speech (Summer Vocology Institute).

Pawel Wolski, tenor

Tenor, Pawel Wolski, is a highly sought after soloist who has performed extensively throughout Europe with more than 30 opera and operatic roles to his credit including Vladimir Lensky (Eugene Onegin), Ismaele (Nabucco), Lindoro (L'italiana in Algieri), Tamino ((Die Zauberflöte), Alfred (Die Fledermaus), Jaquino (Fidelio), Le Remendado (Carmen), and Tassilo (Gráfin Mariza) among others. He has also performed as soloist for many of the great choral and orchestral works including Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Nelsonmesse, Bach’s Magnificat, Gorczycki’s Completorium, Charpentier’s Te Deum, C. Frank’s Die Sieben Worte Jesu am Kreuz and a premier of The book of songs by J. Stalmierski.Mr. Wolski is a graduate of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, Poland where he received his doctorate in musical arts. He currently serves on the faculty at Akademia Sztuki in Szczecin and also serves as tenor soloist for the Opera at the Castle in Szczecin, a position he has held since 2008.

Aaron Agulay, baritone

Baritone, Dr. Aaron Agulay, has extensive performing experience in venues and organizations worldwide ranging from summer-stock theaters to nationally and internationally renowned opera houses –Opernhaus Zürich, Konzert Theater Bern, Theater Magdeburg, Central City Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Carnegie Hall, The Aspen Opera Center and The Opera Program at The Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity. Agulay made his operatic debut in Europe as a member of the Internationales Opern Studio and mainstage cast with Opernhaus Zürich. From his many mainstage roles, highlights include being a part of the world premiere of Marc-André Dalbavie’sGesualdo, and Anno Schreier’s Die Stadt der Blinden and also singing in Leo Nucci’s last performance of Verdi’s Rigoletto. He also was featured in a run of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s original production of Rossini’s Le Comte Ory alongside Javier Camerena and Cecilia Bartoli, which is now featured on a Live Digital Video Recording by Decca Music Group Limited. Dr. Agulay is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Washington State University where he teaches Studio Voice, Vocal Pedagogy, Vocal Literature and Diction for Singers. More ...