05/21/2026
May 20, 2026
Nautilus announces the faculty
of the Wesley Balk Opera/
Music-Theater Institute 2026!
The WESLEY BALK OPERA/MUSIC-THEATER INSTITUTE is thrilled to announce an extraordinary faculty of directors, performers, movement specialists, music directors, and artist-teachers for this summer’s three-week intensive.
Drawn from decades of experience in musical storytelling, these artists bring a rare combination of professional accomplishment, rigor, curiosity, and generosity to the Institute process. Together, they represent the core values that have defined the Balk Institute for nearly fifty years: integrated musical storytelling, embodied performance, fearless exploration, and authentic human connection.
This remarkable faculty will guide participants through an intensive process of discovery, collaboration, and artistic growth. Here is our team (in alphabetical order):
• Music Director LARA BOLTON is a vocal coach, pianist, and arranger whose work centers on collaborative vocal performance across numerous genres. She has worked with major opera companies nationwide and has extensive experience in new works and numerous conceptual projects. A dedicated mentor, she trains emerging singers and pianists while sustaining an active performing and creative career.
• Stage Director GARY BRIGGLE is an acclaimed freelance singer-actor, director, and teacher who has worked with arts organizations nationwide for more than fifty years. He began his professional career in 1975 as a student of Wesley Balk at the Minnesota Opera Company and has collaborated with Nautilus since its inception. He currently serves as Executive Director of Raison d’Etre Opera.
• Music Director JUSTIN COOK is a music director, composer, and sound designer with an MFA in musical theater writing from New York University. His original work has been presented at Lincoln Center, Syracuse University, York Theatre Company, Illusion Theater, and Nautilus, among others. He has served as a music director and coach for numerous theater companies and universities.
• Music Director JAKE ENDRES is also a singer, actor, writer, and composer who has worked with the Minnesota Orchestra, Skylark Opera, Children’s Theatre Company, History Theatre, Border CrosSing, and many others, including frequent collaborations with Nautilus. He also produces Smoke House Stage, a summer performance series in his backyard.
• Movement faculty member MARILYN HABERMAS-SCHER has taught at the Institute since the late 1990s. A professional dancer in the 1970s and a singer herself, her choreography has always integrated voice and movement. Her teaching draws on Body-Mind Centering, T’ai Chi, Qi Gong, Gyrotonics, and yoga, expanding performers’ range, freedom, and expressive choices.
• Stage Director BEN KRYWOSZ is co-founder and Artistic Director of Nautilus Music-Theater. He has led master classes in singing-acting at universities nationwide, directed more than 70 Composer-Librettist Studios, hosted its Rough Cuts programs, and staged over 65 opera and music-theater productions, including 24 world premieres. He also serves on the faculty of Yale University.
• Stage Director TRACY MICHAILIDIS has been a professional actor for more than three decades, performing on and off Broadway and on U.S. national tours. Based in Toronto, she has appeared in leading roles at the Stratford, Shaw, and Charlottetown Festivals, originated roles in numerous new Canadian musicals, and operated her own coaching studio for the past sixteen years.
• Stage Director KAREN COE MILLER is Assistant Director of the Opera and Musical Theatre Program at Oklahoma City University and a co-founder of Nautilus Music-Theater. Throughout her career, she has directed more than 100 productions, including operas, musicals, plays, and new work across a wide range of genres.
• Stage Director RON PELUSO was Artistic Director of History Theatre for 27 years, where he commissioned, produced, or directed 100 original works, including the critically acclaimed hit GLENSHEEN. He has directed for numerous companies locally and nationally and holds an MFA in directing from the University of Minnesota, where he served as Wesley Balk’s teaching assistant in 1982–83.
• Stage Director JILL ANNA PONASIK serves as Artistic Director of Milwaukee Opera Theatre, where she expands access to opera through collaborations with community partners in dance, theatre, and music. She has directed more than 20 productions and performed with many other companies, including Nautilus. She holds degrees from the University of Minnesota and Rice University.
• Music Director JERRY RUBINO is a teacher, pianist, coach, and singer known for his diverse musical interests, engaging artistry, and passion for the performing arts. He served as associate conductor of the Dale Warland Singers for twenty-three seasons, is on the faculty of the MacPhail Center for Music, and has music-directed many Nautilus productions and Rough Cuts programs.
• Music Director CARSON ROSE SCHNEIDER works frequently as a duo partner, coach, music director, and rehearsal pianist with opera companies, chamber music groups, and choirs. She has collaborated with many organizations throughout the Midwest, including Nautilus, Lyric Opera of the North, AOT, Skylark Opera Theatre, and Fargo-Moorhead Opera.
• Music Director BRENDA VARDA is a composer, performer, and musician who has worked both locally and nationally. Her original pieces include musicals, solo shows, full cast epic plays, and short scripts. Currently, she is developing Sci-Arts in Minnesota, developing collaborations between scientists and artists. Her upcoming projects include a song collection about the planet.
Working with faculty of this caliber is one of the defining experiences of the Balk Institute. These are artists who understand how to challenge performers while creating an environment grounded in trust, curiosity, and deep listening.
Throughout the three weeks, participants engage in a demanding and transformative process that integrates voice, movement, acting, music, imagination, and emotional presence into a unified expressive practice.
Artists leave with new tools, an expanded range, and a renewed sense of artistic purpose; many describe the experience as a turning point in their creative lives.
June 21st to July 11th
on the campus of the
University of Minnesota
in Minneapolis/St Paul
Registration deadline is May 31st.
Tuition is $1,000 for the three-week intensive.
For more information and to register, visit:
www.wesleybalk.org
If you are an artist who is hungry for more connection, more risk, and more authenticity, the Wesley Balk Opera/Music-Theater Institute invites you into a rare space for serious exploration. This is not about becoming someone else’s ideal performer. It is about becoming more fully yourself.
