DR. BRIANA SOSENHEIMER has directed and assistant directed over 30 different productions with Indianapolis Opera, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Chicago Summer Opera, Ball State University, Anderson University, Indiana Wesleyan University, and Georgia Southern University. Her comedic staging has been praised by the PA Theater Guide as “pure fun”. With a passion for opera outreach, she has pastiche composed four operas for children which have been performed across the country. Her opera for children The Three Little Hoosier Pigs was part of Indianapolis Opera’s 2020-21 season.

As a soprano, she has sung internationally in Austria, Canada, Italy, South Africa, and throughout the United States. This includes performing principle roles in productions of Le nozze di Figaro, La Boheme, Werther, and Carmen. She has also appeared as a soloist in oratorios including Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, and Coronation Mass. As a recitalist, Dr. Sosenheimer delves into contemporary works and late German lieder. She is a former member of the Bowling Green Children’s Opera and Indianapolis Opera Ensemble that presented educational outreach programs and performed children’s operas throughout the Midwest.

As a former member of In Sync Dance Theatre, Dr. Sosenheimer had the opportunity to perform with Chicago Tap Theatre. Choreographed productions include GREASE The Musical, The Little Mermaid, and South Pacific. Dr. Sosenheimer is a member of The Southern Open Rhythm Collective promoting the education and appreciation of the art of tap dance.

Dr. Sosenheimer graduated from Hope College with a B.M. in vocal performance and minor in dance. She holds a M.M. in Vocal Performance from Bowling Green State University and a D.A. in Vocal Performance and Stage Direction from Ball State University. She most recently earned a Level I certification in Somatic Voicework - The LoVetri Method for vocal training in Contemporary Commercial Music styles. She has served as the Stage Director for the I.O. Resident Artist Ensemble and the Resident Assistant Director at Indianapolis Opera as well as held faculty positions at Purdue University Fort Wayne and Taylor University in Indiana. Currently, she serves as an Assistant Professor of Music (Voice) and Director of Singers' Workshop at the Hurley School of Music.

Voice: Technique & Pedagogy Broadway Belting

LAUREL MASSE' is a professional singer and educator most known for her "creamy" Jazz vocals and soaring four octave vocal range.  She began her career in the 70's with the award-winning vocal group, Manhattan Transfer, with whom she recorded four albums that earned gold and platinum certification.  Massé achieved international reknown with the group, touring around the globe and appearing on numerous television shows including their own, The Manhattan Transfer Show, which had a short run on CBS the Summer of 1975, only one year after the release of their first album.

In the midst of the early fame The Manhattan Transfer enjoyed, a near-fatal car accident in 1978 precipitated her departure from the group, a long-recovery from her injuries, some soul-searching and the launch of her tremendous solo career in Chicago.  

An incredible, adaptable musician, Massé's musical work encompasses a variety of genres - Jazz, Folk, Bluegrass, Blues, Pop, Standards, Hymns and Spirituals. She has worked with artists such as Barry Manilow, Tim Curry and Carol Hall, and reunited in 2009 with Manhattan Transfer's Janis Siegel to record the critically acclaimed album That Ol' Mercer Magic, a compilation of tunes by Johnny Mercer, with Lauren Kinhan of New York Voices.  In 2012, She collaborated with pianist/arranger Tex Arnold (2018 Songbook South Clinician) to produce her album,  Once In A Million Moons.  She is showcased in the feature film Camilla Dickinson (Kairos Productions) singing one of her own compositions, "The Heavens Tonight", co-written with Tex Arnold and Larry Kerchner.

Transcending the music scene, she established herself as an actor in New York with Project Rushmore's readings of Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart (Lenny) and Shakespear's King Lear (Cordelia).

She has lectured and taught at Yale, Dartmouth and The Royal Academy of Music (UK).  She is a sought after adjudicator and clinician for high school and college choir festivals and has taught at the Ashokan Music and Dance Camp since 1997.

Ms. Massé received the MAC Lifetime Achievement Award in in 2004 which was followed with in 2009 with being awarded Bistro Best Jazz Vocalist.  She is also a member of ASCAP and SAG-AFTRA.

For more information, visit her website: www.laurelmasse.com

Voice: Technique, Pedagogy, and Lyric Interpretation

Accompanist/

Music Director

DEAN ROLANDO has been a busy, in demand pianist/keyboardist based in Chicago for 35 years. Dean began his career playing with popular local bands but quickly moved on to being a regular in a wide array of elite local venues from Orphans to the Pump Room and everything in-between.

In the early 80's Dean met Laurel Masse` one of the founding members of the Manhattan Transfer Vocal group. Laurel had been with the group for 7 years but left after a serious auto accident which included a long rehab and was now re-entering the music business as a solo artist. Dean was her musical director for 10 years traveling the world and producing 3 critically acclaimed CD's including "Easy Living" on Pausa Records which went to number 3 on the Billboard Jazz Charts. Neil Tesser the renown Jazz Critic and author called Dean the "un-sung hero of the 88's".

In the 90's Dean began working with Rich Daniels and The City Lights Orchestra, one of the elite major event orchestras in the country. The Orchestra is known for being the featured music for top corporate events and galas. These types of events often feature national entertainment and during this time the Orchestra has had the pleasure of working with and backing up the likes of Garth Brooks, Ray Charles, Diane Schurr, The Manhattan Transfer along with the Cast of The Lion King and Beauty And The Beast, just to name a few. Dean is the Associate Musical Director of The City Lights Orchetsra.