Voice Department


Kathleen jpgKathleen Van De Graaff, soprano and senior lecturer of music, has taught voice, group voice and opera workshop at Lake Forest College for 20 years. Kathleen recently has directed children productions of Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel and Amahl and the Night Visitor which the Lake Forest students performed in outreach program for local elementary schools and community centers. Kathleen Van De Graaff was recently named as a specialist for the Fulbright Scholar Program and plans to teach and perform in the Philippines in 2012. She was invited by the Cultural Ministry to judge a voice competition, give master classes and present a solo recital. Kathleen is the governor of Illinois for the National Assn. of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and has been the president of the Chicago chapter. She has published 9 CDs for singing and seven music books. She is the founder and director of the Vocal Arts Academy for High School Singers at Lake Forest College and holds a master’s degree in music from Brigham Young University.

Kathleen has given solo performances in opera, oratorio and recitals in twenty seven states and in Japan, China, and Costa Rica. She specializes in intermezzi, comic chamber operas, and has given the modern premiere of five such works in concerts and festivals and on live on WFMT radio for local and national broadcasts. Two of these intermezzi, Mirena e Floro and Moschetta e Grullo, were released in 2007 on Naxos International Record Label.  A third opera, Miride e Damar i can be heard on the Naxos website. She has recently completed a tour of a two man show called The Life and Love of Robert and Clara Schumann in honor of the 200th anniversary of Robert Schumann’s birth. 

 


hoffman09David Hoffman, tenor, has performed in opera, oratorio and recital throughout the Midwest as well as Lake Placid, Norfolk and Baltimore. He sang the role of the Seeker in the European premier of University of Michigan Composer Stephen Rush’s vidGod in Tubingen, Germany. Other highlights include roles in Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Fledermaus, The Girl on the Train, The Telephone, Oklahoma!, Kiss Me Kate and Evita. Here in Chicago, he is a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Opera Interalia.  He has performed with the Chicago Folks Operetta and Da Corneto Opera Company.

In addition to performing, Dr. Hoffman is on the faculty of Lake Forest College and the Old Town School of Folk Music and teaches privately in Chicago. In Ohio he was on the faculties of Hiram College, Cuyahoga Community College and the Beck Center for the Arts. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan.

 


Peter 40Peter Van De Graaff, bass-baritone, diction teacher Has been a radio announcer for WFMT in 1988. In 1989 he began hosting a nationally-syndicated program called the “Beethoven Satellite Network, carried on 150 stations throughout the country and known locally as “WFMT Through the Night.” He can be heard in Chicago on this program every night between midnight and 6:00.

In September, 2010, Peter van de Graaff was awarded the sixth “Karl Haas Award for Musical Education” from Public Radio International, joining other winners Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, Peter Schickele, Bill McGlaughlin and Martin Bookspan

He also serves as the host of the “WFMT Tuesday Night Opera” and has hosted two nationally-syndicated opera series on National Public Radio and has been heard on many other national broadcasts such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Van Cliburn Competition, Music of the Baroque and others. He was one of the finalists for host of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts.

As a singer, Peter has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Costa Rica  and include engagements with the Houston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Utah Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony, Wichita Symphony, Colorado Springs Symphony, Richmond Symphony and many, many others.  

Mr. Van De Graaff has made a specialty of the baroque repertoire and this has brought him as soloist to the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Costa Rica International Music Festival, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, Pittsburgh Bach Choir, Grand Teton Music Festival, St. Louis Early Music Festival, Boulder Bach Festival and many other festivals and concert series throughout the country. He and his soprano wife have been responsible for the modern premieres of several early 18th century chamber operas called “intermezzi.”

He has also been active in the opera house and has performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Florentine Opera, Milwaukee Opera, Rochester Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Cedar Rapids Opera and many other companies.

His recordings include 3 intermezzos on the Naxos label and Menotti’s The Medium, Vorisek Mass in B-Flat and Mozart arias and duets, all on the Cedille label.