Voice Faculty
Voice Faculty
Amanda Moody-Schumpert
Soprano Amanda Moody-Schumpert has had the priviledge of directing Summer Voice since 2013. The combination of her love of singing and stagecraft with her passion for working with young singers drives the creativity behind Summer Voice.
Earning her post-graduate degree in Opera Performance from the UNCSA A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, as well as her bachelor and masters degrees from Westminster Choir College, Amanda has enjoyed performing both locally and with companies throughout the US.
Elizabeth Pacheco Rose
Lyric soprano Elizabeth Pacheco Rose possesses an alluring stage presence with dramatic flexibility, whether singing a Mimi, Pamina or Mélisande; she captures the essence of each role. Her repertoire encompasses a wide range of works from Baroque to Contemporary. With a warm, radiant and richly expressive voice, she excels on the operatic stage, as well as in concert and recital venues.
Polina Khatsko
A native of Belarus, pianist Polina Khatsko has established herself both as an active performer, coach, and a dedicated teacher. Passionate about instrumental collaboration, she enjoys continuous performances and recordings with fellow artists, encompassing a substantial repertoire for strings, woodwinds, and brass. Currently on staff at UNCSA, she is also a sought-after freelancer, regularly working with the violin studios of Ara Gregorian and Hye-Jin Kim at ECU, cello studio of Nancy Green, participating in several projects of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival and Piedmont Opera.
Polina Khatsko served on the piano faculty of the University of Michigan preparatory department and Leipzig Summer Piano Institute. Her collaborative piano faculty appointments include the Vivace festival, Sphinx Competition, University of Northern Iowa, University of Michigan string department, International Music Academy in Pilsen, Czech Republic, and Cambridge International String Academy, England. Dr. Khatsko received her education from the Belarusian State Academy of Music, University of Nebraska, completing her graduate work at the University of Michigan. Her most influential mentors and musical partners include Anthony Elliott, Randy Grabowski, Arthur Greene and Ariadna Guzhalovskaya.
Norris Norwood
Pianist Norris Norwood has established a career nationally and internationally in a wide range of venues as soloist, chamber musician and collaborator. He has been guest artist with The London International Choral Festival, playing concerts in Westminster Central Hall and, as organist, playing services at Southwark and Exeter Cathedrals. In addition to chamber music appearances throughout the southeastern US and festivals in New York and Michigan, he has performed locally with both the Winston-Salem and Greensboro Symphonies, Piedmont Opera and Bel Canto Company.
For 19 years he was a member of the Wake Forest Baptist Health’s Arts for Life Committee which advocated for arts in healing, co-founding Healing Voices which produced live performances of music in patient areas, as well as programming and performing annual concerts with the WFBH Chorale.
Mr. Norwood is currently the Professor of Piano at Guilford College and is also collaborative pianist with UNCSA, Wake Forest University and the Piedmont Chamber Singers.
He received his B.M. in Piano Performance from and pursued further graduate studies from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Jodi Burns
Soprano Jodi Burns is recognized as an exciting new voice in opera. After viewing her debut as Ann Trulove with The Princeton Festival's "The Rake's Progress," Anthony Tommasini wrote in The New York Times of her “plush voice and rich expressivity.” And her “soprano soared” as Josephine in "H.M.S. Pinafore" with Piedmont Opera, according to The Winston-Salem Journal.
Burns' reflective, deliberate character interpretations and graceful presence lit up the stage during her study as a fellow at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at UNCSA. She holds a Master of Music from UNCSA and a B.M.E. from Ohio State University.
Prior to her professional debut with the Piedmont Opera, Burns appeared numerous times on the stage of the Stevens Center. Roles include Barbarina ("The Marriage of Figaro"), the Dew Fairy ("Hansel and Gretel"), and Ida ("Die Fledermaus") — all with conductor Jamie Allbritten. She performed with the Princeton Festival under conductor Richard Tangyuk as Ann Trulove ("The Rake's Progress") and Lauretta ("Gianni Schicchi"). With the Fletcher Institute she gave commanding performances as Maria ("Maria Stuarda"), Adina ("L'Elisir d'Amore"), Rose ("Street Scene") and Flaminia ("Haydn's Il Mondo della Luna"), again with Jamie Allbritten conducting.
Other appearances include Lauretta ("Gianni Schicchi") with Opera Theatre of the Rockies and concert performances with the North Carolina Symphony (Mozart, Exsultate Jubilate, Mass in C Minor, Martern Aller Arten) conducted by Grant Llewellyn; the Winston-Salem Youth Symphony (Poulenc Gloria, Vaughan Williams' Benedicite); and with the UNCSA Symphony Orchestra (Mahler, Symphony No. 2), conducted by John Mauceri. She also is the singer/songwriter in the band Judy Barnes, which performs throughout the state, having had features spots at Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh and Phuzz Phest in Winston-Salem.
Burns competed in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions where she won at the district level, claimed first place in the Southeast Regional Competition, and sang in the semi-finals at the Metropolitan Opera House.