Ana Maria Otamendi
Artistic Director
Venezuelan artist Ana María Otamendi has forged a diverse career as a vocal coach, collaborative pianist, chamber musician, recording artist, pedagogue, entrepreneur, and conductor. She co-founded and serves as Co-Artistic Director of the Collaborative Piano Institute, one of the most sought-after summer programs for collaborative pianists worldwide. The institute boasts renowned faculty such as Rita Sloan, Warren Jones, Anne Epperson, Martin Katz, Kathleen Kelly, Marie-France Lefebvre, Howard Watkins, and others.
Ana María is founding member and pianist of several ensembles: the Aelia Duo (with pianist Elena Lacheva), the Hall/Otamendi Duo (with trumpet virtuoso Ashley Hall), and the Reverón Piano Trio, a Venezuelan ensemble dedicated to the repertoire of standard, modern, and Latin American piano trios, managed by Halac Artists – Meluk Kulturmanagement. Her recordings of Latin American chamber music and songs, released by IBS Classical and Centaur Records, have garnered widespread acclaim. Ana María has recorded and plans to release four albums with Mark Records, Reference Recordings, Rezurrection Recordz, and Urtext Records between 2024 and 2025.
Ana María’s interests range from Neuroscience and Psychology applied to learning and practicing an instrument, to Latin American art song and chamber music. She has presented lectures and workshops about these topics around the world, including Cambridge University, Yale University, Wolf Trap Opera, University of Michigan, University of Maryland, Aspen Music Festival, Universidade de São Paulo, the International Keyboard Collaborative Artists Conference, SphinxConnect Conference, and many more. She teaches a class in which she helps students improve their overall approach to learning and practicing by understanding the latest psychological, neurological, and pedagogical research on the science of learning. Besides her musical training, Ana María is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Italian, and also a Geophysical Engineer. Her thesis was published in the prestigious journal Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors.
Since her orchestral debut at age twelve, Ana María Otamendi has performed as soloist, collaborative pianist, and conductor with renowned orchestras and at important venues such as Chicago Symphony Hall, Spivey Hall, Festival Casals, Teatro Teresa Carreño (Caracas, Venezuela), Salzburg Domesaal, Megaron Mousikis Concert Hall (Athens), Parco della Musica (Rome), Teatro Arcimboldi (Milano), Teatro Odeum (Patras), as well as many other venues in Austria, Panama, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, United States, Spain, Italy, and Greece. Over 500 collaborative performances with renowned artists such as Ashley Hall, Donald Sinta, Michelle DeYoung, Paul Groves, Ana María Martinez, Alexis Cárdenas, members of the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, Pittsburgh Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, and many more.
She holds a Master’s degree in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin, an Artist Certificate from the University of South Carolina where she worked with the renowned pianist Marina Lomazov, and a Doctorate in Collaborative Piano from the University of Michigan, where she studied with world-class collaborative pianist Martin Katz. After finishing her tenure as Studio Artist at the prestigious Houston Grand Opera Studio, as well as the Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera, she became the Head Vocal Coach of the Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston. She served as Associate Professor of Collaborative Piano at Louisiana State University from 2017 to 2024, where she created the doctoral program, and currently, she is the Associate Professor and Head of the Collaborative Piano Program at the University of Michigan.
Elena Lacheva
Program Director
Bulgarian-born Ms. Elena Lacheva is the General Director and Co-Creator of the Collaborative Piano Institute – the premier summer program for current and potential collaborative pianists, singers, instrumentalists, and composers. In August 2024 she will join the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance, following her appointment as a Professional-in-Residence at at Louisiana State University, and her work as a vocal coach and repetiteur for the New Orleans Opera, Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston, Opera in the Heights, and the Houston Grand Opera, where she was a Studio Artist. A member of the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society (IKCAS), Ms. Lacheva was a presenter at CollabFest 2020, the Society’s annual conference.
A highly sought-after coach and collaborative pianist, Ms. Lacheva also appears as a clinician, most recently at the University of North Texas and the Piracicaba International Piano Festival. Upcoming engagements include a residency at Cornell University and Oklahoma University Music Teachers Association State Conference 2025, among others.
Ms. Lacheva is a member of the Aelia Piano Duo, performing repertoire from Mozart to Gabriela Lena Frank, and has been engaged in numerous vocal, instrumental, and chamber music performances for over 20 years. Most recently, she was featured on Chamber Music Amarillo’s Season Opener, and had the pleasure to perform her first Schubert’s Winterreise with tenor Paul Groves for Lyrica Baroque. Ms. Lacheva has performed internationally in Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, the United States, and Iceland, and maintains an active recital schedule.
After completing her collaborative piano studies with Martin Katz at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance in 2012, Ms. Lacheva was an apprentice coach at the Merola Program at the San Francisco Opera Center, following a summer as a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center.
Amy Petrongelli
Vocal Academy Director
Soprano Amy Petrongelli revels in performing music of all different periods and styles. Lauded in the New York Times for her “admirable fluidity,” Amy has cultivated a diverse solo performance career, encompassing music from Haydn’s Creation in Carnegie Hall to Berio’s Sequenza III at the Radio Nacional Córdoba in Argentina. In 2020, Amy was honored with an Emerging Artist Award from the University of Michigan for her significant contributions to the field of music performance. An advocate for new music, Amy frequently works with living composers bringing to life new works for the voice. She has premiered new works for organizations such as the Houston Grand Opera, New American Voices, and AEPEX Contemporary Performance.
Recent collaborations and premieres include works by Laura Kaminsky, Christopher Cerrone, Juliana Hall, Shawn Crouch, Evan Ware, and Carolina Heredia. Amy has also had the opportunity to performed with members of leading contemporary ensembles such as Eighth Blackbird, the Metropolis Ensemble, Latitude 49, and Bent Frequency. In partnership with pianist Clare Longendyke, Amy helped to establish the Music in Bloom Festival in 2018. Music in Bloom is an annual 3-day chamber music festival in Indianapolis, IN, focused on promoting the music and musicians of the 21st century.
Amy is also a founding member and co-artistic director of the Khemia Ensemble, a chamber ensemble dedicated to promoting contemporary classical music by cultivating collaborative mentorships, inclusive place-making, and authentic storytelling through immersive, multimedia performances. Now in its 6th season, Khemia has led artist residencies across both North and South America and has been featured on festivals such as Strange Beautiful Music, New Music Gathering, Moxsonix Festival, Latin IS America, and the Bienal Composición Córdoba. Khemia Ensemble is an ensemble-in-residence for the annual Mizzou International Composers Festival each summer, alongside Grammy-award winning ensemble Alarm Will Sound.
Amy’s commitment to musical collaboration has led her to fellowships at summer programs such as the Tanglewood Music Center, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, New Music on the Point, and the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar. She has also been a featured performer for organizations such as Five Boroughs Music Festival, the Casement Fund Recital Series, the Contemporary Undercurrent of Song Project, and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. Past operatic performances include include Despina in Cosi fan tutte, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Amy in Little Women, Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. Amy has had the honor of working closely with artists such as Dawn Upshaw, Stephanie Blythe, Lucy Shelton, Tony Arnold, Martin Katz, Kathleen Kelly, Alan Smith, and Timothy Cheek.
A passionate educator, Amy has taught at Eastern Michigan University, University of Akron, and Pennsylvania State University. She has been an artist in residence for the International Choral Conducting Symposium and has served on the voice faculty for the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy. Amy is currently an Assistant Professor of Voice at Baylor University in Waco, TX, where she can be found running, reading, and searching for the next great microbrew with her husband, Eric, and their rescue pup, Luna.
Simón Gollo
Collaborative Strings Institute Director
Recognized as a multifaceted and charismatic musician, Swiss-Venezuelan violinist Simón Gollo enjoys a successful international career as a soloist, chamber musician, and conductor. At the same time, he is a committed recording artist, artistic director, and pedagogue. Simón Gollo has appeared on countless stages across Europe, Asia, and the American continent from Canada to Chile.
His long career has led him to perform at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall (New York), Cadogan Hall (London), the 92nd Street Y’s Kaufmann Concert Hall (New York), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), Bolívar Hall (London), the Teatro Teresa Carreño (Caracas), the Auditorio Blas Galindo (Mexico City), the Auditorio Manuel de Falla (Granada), and the Teatro Mayor (Bogotá), and for renowned organizations such as the BBC Proms Festival, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Chamber Music Society of Detroit. He has collaborated in these performances with international figures such as Alessio Bax, Ricardo Morales, Dmitri Berlinsky, Monique Duphil, Edicson Ruiz, Paul Rosenthal, John Novacek, Alissa Margulis, Jakob Koranyi, Miguel da Silva (Ysaÿe Quartet), Richard Young (Vermeer Quartet), Randolph Kelly, and the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, among many others.
As a soloist, Simón Gollo has performed the greatest violin concertos with prestigious orchestras such as the Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela, Filarmónica de Bogotá, Orquesta Sinfónica de Salta (Argentina), Central Ohio Symphony (USA), Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio (USA), and the Orquesta de Caxias do Sul (Brazil), under the baton of prominent conductors such as Conrad van Alphen, Theodore Kuchar, and Carlos Izcaray. He obtained the Fundación Cisneros 2012 scholarship to attend the Aspen Music Festival, where he took lessons from renowned professors Alex Kerr and Naoko Tanaka. He received his musical education in Switzerland under the tutelage of his mentors Anne Bauer, Gyula Stuller, Gabor Takacs and Patrick Genet.
From 2012 to 2019, Simón Gollo was a member of the Dalí String Quartet and La Catrina Quartet—ensembles specializing in Latin American music—participating in numerous successful tours and performances within and outside of the United States. His discography with La Catrina Quartet, which includes a Latin Grammy–nominated recording, is available on the RYCY Productions, Inc., and Summit Records labels. His passion for chamber orchestras led him to join the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York and to play leading roles in major festivals, tours, and concerts with other chamber orchestras such as the Camerata Nordica (Sweden), Post Classical Ensemble (Washington, DC), Dallas Chamber Symphony, and Classical Music Institute Chamber Orchestra (San Antonio). In January 2020 he was guest concertmaster for the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada under the baton of Michał Nesterowicz. Simón Gollo is currently a permanent member of the Reverón Piano Trio and guest first violinist of the Cuarteto Q-Arte, which tours, records, and performs throughout Colombia and Europe.
Simón Gollo is a gifted and committed pedagogue who keeps a very busy schedule teaching both violin and chamber music. He has served on the faculty of the Summit Music Festival in New York and regularly collaborates as a substitute professor at the Juilliard School Pre-College Division (class of Naoko Tanaka). For six years, he served as a violin professor at the internationally recognized and acclaimed program El Sistema and at the Mozarteum de Caracas, both in Venezuela. He is now an assistant professor of violin at New Mexico State University (NMSU), and he joins the faculty roster at the California Orchestra Institute in 2020.
Appointed conductor of the New Mexico State University Philharmonic in 2016, Simón Gollo has experienced extraordinary growth in this facet of his career that has not gone unnoticed. He has received numerous invitations to conduct both youth and professional orchestras in the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, Brazil, and Venezuela.
Simón Gollo is a recording artist for the international recording label IBS Classical.
Meghan Rhoades
Assistant Artistic Administrator
and Digital Creative Content Manager
Pianist Meghan Rhoades is currently based in Glasgow, Scotland as an Emerging Artist Repetiteur at Scottish Opera. In this year’s season, they will serve as a coach and repetiteur on the company’s productions of The Puccini Collection, Janáçek’s The Makropulos Affair, The Strauss Collection, and their double bill of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury and world premiere of Emma Jensen and Toby Hession’s A Matter of Misconduct.
This past year, Meghan was an Opera Studies student at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. While there, they served as a rehearsal pianist and vocal coach for Guildhall’s productions of Handel’s Alcina, Stephen McNeff’s A Star Next to the Moon, and their Autumn and Summer Opera Scenes showcases.
Meghan has also served as a repetiteur for Music Academy of the West’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème, Louisiana State University’s production of Little Night Music, Music Director for Music On Site’s winter production of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, and rehearsal pianist and vocal coach for Die Zauberflöte at the 2022 Trentino Music Festival in Fiera di Primiero, Italy.
Prior to arriving in the UK, as a Graduate Assistant at Louisiana State University, they worked with vocalists and instrumentalists in weekly lessons, studio classes, recitals, and recordings throughout each semester. They also served as the pianist for LSU’s Contemporary New Music Ensemble (CNME), which performed at Carnegie Hall in April 2022. Outside of their assistantship, Meghan maintained a rigorous freelance schedule, including performing and recording new compositions as well as playing for students’ classes and juries.
As a 2023 Vocal Piano Fellow at the Music Academy of the West, Meghan performed in masterclasses with renowned musicians such as Sasha Cooke, John Churchwell, and Martin Katz. They additionally performed across the program’s Lehrer Vocal Institute events, such as the Una Noche en Miraflores concert, Cabaret 1979, and the Marilyn Horne Song Competition.
Meghan also attended the Collaborative Piano Institute in June of 2022, where they performed in masterclasses with renowned collaborative pianists such as Martin Katz and Kathy Kelly. In their undergraduate studies, they worked as a studio pianist in Professor Emeritus Jean del Santo’s voice studio and Professor Immanuel Davis’ flute studio. Meghan holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, and a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from Louisiana State University.
