Three private studio instructors have recently joined the music faculty at Sonoma State University: voice instructors Zachary Gordin and Rhoslyn Jones and cello instructor Jill Brindel.
Zachary Gordin is renowned as a dynamic and engaging artist, bringing masterful singing and strong physicality to a wide variety of roles from baroque heroes to contemporary works written specifically for him. For his performance of Schumann's Dichterliebe at the Olympic Music Festival, the Seattle Times hailed him as "a singer already capable of some arresting musical insights." Gordin is a master vocal technician and opera trainer, having worked with students ranging from absolute beginners to featured artists in the world's great opera houses and concert halls. Recent operatic highlights include Joseph De Rocher in Jake Heggie's "Dead Man Walking," Don Alfonso in "Cosi fan tutte" and Escamillo in "Carmen," among others. As a soloist on the concert stage, he has performed Monteverdi's Magnificat with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.
Hailed as a "delicious diva" and lauded for her "unforgettably powerful voice," Canadian soprano Rhoslyn Jones is a commanding presence on both the concert and operatic stages of the world. She has performed with the San Francisco Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Vancouver Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria and New York City Ballet. Specializing in lyric soprano repertoire, Jones has received great acclaim for her interpretations of the Countess in "Le Nozze di Figaro," Donna Anna in "Don Giovanni," Pamina in "Die Zauberflöte," and Susannah in Carlisle Floyd's "Susannah." A proponent of new music, Jones created the role of Julia Dent Grant in the world premiere of Phillip Glass' "Appomattox" at San Francisco Opera. She is the head of the Summer Vocal Workshop at the University of British Columbia, and an artist in residence at the School of the Arts in San Francisco.
Jill Rachuy Brindel has been a cellist with the San Francisco Symphony since 1980. She has also been a member of Trio Navarro, Sonoma State's chamber artists in residence, for more than 15 years. Brindel studied at Indiana University and Chicago Musical College and was formerly Assistant Principal Cellist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, Principal Cellist of the Mendocino Music Festival, cellist for the Navarro Quartet and a member of the Houston Symphony. She has performed chamber music at Kohl Mansion, the Russian River Chamber Festival, Old First Church, the Ralston Chamber Series and Chamber Music Sundaes and at Sonoma State University. Brindel actively promotes the music of her late father, composer Bernard Brindel, and is a private instructor of cello and coach for the cello section of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.