The Production Team

João MacDowell, Composer and Artistic Director
New York-based Brazilian composer, MacDowell was born in Brasilia, where his professional career started as leader and vocalist of the band Tonton Macoute.  Following this period, MacDowell went on to work as a record producer in Rio de Janeiro for 12 years, then in Philadelphia for two years, before moving to New York. During this time, João has also composed soundtracks for contemporary dance, film, TV, theater and circus. MacDowell has released four solo albums of Brazilian music. For further information: www.joaomusic.com

Frederico Gouveia, Conductor
Mr. Gouveia is an emerging conductor in the New York City scene. Originally from Brazil, he began his conducting studies in high school leading the orchestra for two years and later at the University of Miami, where he graduated in violin and music business. Frederico participated in the 2nd Latin American Conducting Competition in Brazil, led by Kurt Masur and Roberto Minczuck, hosted by the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra. He moved to New York City in 2007 and has since been studying conducting at the Juilliard School with Vincent La Selva. Gouveia
also studied with Kenneth Kiesler. Frederico currently manages the Philharmonic Orchestra of The Americas in New York and is an active voice in promoting classical music education in Latin America.

Tim Starnes, Music Editor and Audio Engineering
Mr. Starnes has edited music for a list of feature fi lms, most recent work includes: Soul Men (Dimension, 2008), Sin Nombre (Focus, 2009), and Chelsea On The Rocks (DeerJen, 2008). Documentaries including: Alive Day Memories (HBO, 2007) and Tom & Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale (Warner, 2007). In addition, he
music edited on DeNiro’s The Good Shepperd (Universal, 2006), and assisted film composer Howard Shore as a music editor on Bob Shaye’s The Last Mimzy (New Line, 2007), Martin Scorcese’s The Departed (Warner, 2006) and The Aviator (Miramax, 2004), and on Peter Jackson’s King Kong and The Lord Of The Rings:  The Two Towers and The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (New Line, 2002/2003) feature fi lms and DVDs. Starnes orchestrated and arranged Baroque period music for Lasse Hallstrom’s Casanova (Touchstone, 2005). In 2004, Starnes made his theatrical composing debut in Clara’s Christmas Dreams, a musical theater adaptation of The Nutcracker, which performed in New York City through the end of 2004. For composer Stephen Endelman, he orchestrated and arranged And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself (HBO Films, 2003), Blue Butterfl y (Galafi lm, 2003), and De-Lovely (MGM, 2004).

Starnes currently teaches Film Music Editing, a graduate class at New York University. In 2003, he received
a master’s degree in Music Technology with a Tonmeister certifi cation from NYU.

Lori McCann, Voice Direction
Lyric soprano and Professor of Voice, Lori McCann, has performed and taught extensively in the United States and abroad appearing in opera, oratorio, and recital and maintaining voice studios from San Diego, CA, Cincinnati, OH to Berlin and Münster, Germany and currently in New York City. As a performer, she has been regularly featured with the Berliner Kammeroper and the Neue Opernbühne (Berlin, Germany) and has also performed with the Virginia Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Company of Brooklyn, Whitewater Opera, Sorg opera, Shreveport Opera, and Pacifi c Chamber Opera and with many orchestras and choruses
throughout the United States. Currently, Dr. McCann is on faculty of the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in vocal performance. She has also served on the voice faculties of New York University’s Steinhardt School and Teacher’s College of Columbia University in Manhattan. In the summers Dr. McCann teaches at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz Austria, and this coming July she will be performing and lecturing on the Zarzuela, a form of Spanish lyric opera, at the Barcelona Festival of Song in Barcelona, Spain. Dr. McCann is the current President of the New York City chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and serves on the Board of Directors for the New York Singing Teacher’s Association.

She holds a D.M.A. and Artist Diploma in Opera from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, M.A degree from San Diego State University and a B.M. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and has won many awards including National Finalist of the Metropoitan Opera National Council Auditions and fi rst place in the Opera Columbus competition, and the Virginia Hawk Young Artist Awards in San Diego.

Simona DeFeo, Executive Producer
Ms. DeFeo has over twelve years of combined experience in managing large scale cultural and organizational development projects both in the private and public sector. Leveraging her corporate experience and passion for the arts for the past four years, DeFeo has been working solely on using the power of music as catalyst for innovation and social change. Her repertoire of cultural projects includes producing concerts and planning music festivals in the United States, Italy and Russia. Prior to working in the arts, was a corporate advisor to many “C” level executives, for Fortune 100 companies on operational risk and organizational strategy. Simona’s repertoire of client work includes Citigroup, TIAA-CREF, Wachovia, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, UBS, Goldman Sachs and Johnson and Johnson and many others. She has advised management to make signifi cant changes that affect growth, corporate culture, mitigation of risk and availability of operations. Most recently, she has been involved in converging her passion for art with corporate responsibility and strategic initiatives. DeFeo is the co-author of “Business Continuity for E-Commerce Environments”. When not working with her corporate and country partners, she can be found in the dance studios of Manhattan and writing and reciting poetry.

Frank Shines, Co-Executive Producer
A former jazz vocalist, cellist and IBM executive, Frank Shines is the VP of Business Process Improvement at CCS Medical. Frank has flown Air Force jets, trained
and competed with Olympic athletes and traveled the world as an award-winning business and technology advisor. He has been published by John Wiley & Sons (The Controller’s Function: “Performance Measurement”
Chapter, 1999) and is the author of a book examining the impact of the next generation of the Internet and its impact on individual jobs and organizations (The New Science of Success: How to Outsource Proof Your Job in a Web 2.0 Economy, 2007). Frank holds a BS in Management from the US Air Force Academy and MBA in Marketing Statistics from National University of Sacramento. He has lived in Brazil and currently resides with his wife and daughter in Tampa, FL where he mentors at-risk youth through the Computer Mentors Group, BDPA and the Tiger Woods Foundation.

Inez Schachter - Pauta Cultural Productions - Brazilian Production Branch
Pauta Cultural Productions is a company based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, performing a wide range of activities in the fi eld of classical music. Pauta represents instrumentalists, singers, dancers, chamber music ensembles, conductors, composers and directors from Brazil and abroad. The company also develops, organizes and produces instrumental and vocal music concerts, operas and multimedia shows. Pauta is headed by Inez Schachter and international opera singer Licio Bruno. Inez Schachter has worked as Production Director of Rio Metropolitan Theater (Theatro Municipal) at two different periods (1990-93 and 1995-99), the most important opera house in Brazil. She also worked as house manager and PR for Sao Paulo Opera House (1993-95). After launching Pauta, Inez has been responsible for a roster that includes some of the most outstanding Brazilian performers in the field of Classical music and a number of major events. In 2007 she was Headline Talent Executive during the XV Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro, working with executive producer Scott Givens and the international team responsible for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. The Opening Ceremony alone included a cast of 4,000 and a $17 million (US) budget.

Entre-Tanto, Art Production
Entre-tanto is an art development company directed by Cila MacDowell and Lavinia Góes. Based in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, the Company is responsible for the local production branch of Tamanduá, as well as for all the visual art content. Entre-tanto is known for its exciting and innovative work using multimedia art forms in live performance productions. Entre-tanto has developed visuals for numerous musical theater productions in Brazil, such as “Renato Russo” (directed by Mauro Mendonça Filho) and “Brasilicum,” (by Swedish artist Harald Erici). Entre-tanto has also produced dynamic multi-media components for major Opera productions in Brazil, and for international events. These operas have been produced on a project called “Music and Image”, staged at the historic Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Theater (Theatro Municipal), the most important opera production venue in Brazil. Through the work of video artist Cila MacDowell, Entre-tanto has been associated with recent productions directed by Carla Camurati and conducted by Maestro Roberto Minczuk such as “Charles Lindbergh Flight” and “The Seven Sins” by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht; as well as “Alexander Nevsky” with video footage by Sergei Einsenstein and music by Prokofi ev, the fi lm was reedited and projected on a scenario by the art director Gringo Cardia. The offi ce Entre-tanto has also developed international projects such as “Made by Brazilians,” a book about Brazilian contemporary arts (to be published in 2009 Gallerie Enrico Navarra – based in Paris, France). In 2008 the studio also coordinated an exhibit of Brazilian visual artists at “The Demolition Party”- an event celebrating the upcoming remodel of Hotel Royal Monceau, Paris.