Encompass Arts Managers and Partners
Encompass Arts Founder, Katherine Olsen, is one of the most famous and sought-after opera coach/accompanists in the world today. She is currently on the board of the Singer’s Development Foundation and the Marcello Giordani Foundation. In 2001, she was appointed Principle Coach and Artistic Administrator for Baz Luhrmann’s Tony Award-winning production of Puccini’s La Boheme. She worked closely with the company in both the pre-production phase and during the performance runs in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Ms. Olsen was part of the casting team responsible for hiring both principle artists and chorus. Several of the young artists she selected for La Boheme have gone on to further operatic achievements including: MET tenor, Joseph Kaiser, who portrays Tamino in Kenneth Branaugh’s film The Magic Flute, conducted by James Conlon; Ben Davis who portrays Papageno in the same film; Alfred Boe Alfie Boe crossover recording artist; and David Miller, now a recording artist with the group Il Divo.
Ms. Olsen has played for and adjudicated many prestigious vocal competitions including: The American Opera Foundation, The MacAllister Competition, The Puccini Competition, The George London Awards, The Richard Tucker Foundation, The Reyfuss Competition, The United Negro Spiritual Foundation, and Voci Verdiane-Busetto, Italy. As a pianist she has collaborated with such artists as: Ben Heppner, Leona Mitchell, Sherrill Milnes, Cheryl Studer, Gary Lakes, Barbara Daniels, Harolyn Blackwell, John Cullum, Lisa Vroman, Marcello Giordani and Riccardo Caruso (great-grandson of Enrico Caruso).
Over the course of her career, she has been involved with many teaching programs and masterclasses with: Renata Scotto, Sherrill Milnes, Martina Arroyo and Regina Resnik, to name a few. She has been on the staff of numerous summer programs including: Opern Air Gars, Voice Experience, Berkshire Opera Young Artists Program and The Martina Arroyo Foundation summer program.
Ms. Olsen has written articles and been interviewed numerous times on the subject of accompanying by: Keyboard Magazine, Classical Singer Magazine and The Christian Science Monitor. She holds both a Bachelor of Music and a Masters Degree in Piano Performance and received a staff position at the University of Tennessee as an accompanist. In 1982 she was hired by the Juilliard School’s prestigious American Opera Center. An appointment to the music staff of the Lyric Opera of Chicago followed in 1989. Ms. Olsen returned to New York for the birth of her daughter and has maintained a successful vocal studio there for the past 35 years. Kathy is married to MET baritone, Gary Simpson.
Sandra Hormozi comes to Encompass Artists with knowledge of music, business and philanthropic industries from the inside-out. Known for many years for her singing, Sandra has gone on to become an international figure in working with artists and throughout the operatic, concert and recording venues. Sandra is fluent in Italian and has a command of three others. She has extensive experience with the music industry and business world at-large in North America, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Slovakia and the Middle East.
Ms. Hormozi’s background has given her fine-tuned appreciation for artistic excellence and the realities and practicalities of the current state of the industry. Her work with legendary operatic artists have set the bar high for artistic standards tempered with a down-to-earth work ethic. Her education was at Manhattan School of Music where she performed major rolls with the John Brownlee Opera Program at MSM, Pittsburgh Opera, Tulsa Opera, Shreveport Opera and concerts at Lincoln Center, Palazzo Pisani-Moretta in Venice and the Middle East. She was chosen for young artist programs with Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, Sarasota Opera and spent two years in the Pittsburgh Opera Studio with Tito Capobianco. She was a winner of the Opera Index Competition, and has received numerous other awards.
Alex Moskvin comes from the world of marketing and business where his career of over 30 years spans Europe, the United States, Latin America and the Far East working to help companies and organizations to innovate successfully. Alex’s love for all things opera was first cemented in 1965 when he experienced the astonishing talents of Joan Sutherland and the young Luciano Pavarotti with the Sutherland Wllliamson Opera Company in Australia. Alex brings his talents, experience and passion in representing artists in all aspects of their careers.
You can contact Alex at: Alex Moskvin alex@encompassarts.com