Kenneth Merrill

College Faculty:
Vocal Arts: Collaborative Piano; Related Studies in Vocal Arts: Vocal Literature, Vocal Coaching

In addition to his teaching at Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Merrill is on the faculty of the Juilliard School Vocal Arts department. He is also associated with the Aspen Music Festival, where he is head coach of the Aspen Opera Theater Center. He has also been a visiting lecturer at Princeton University, a visiting artist at the New National Theater of Tokyo, and a coach at the Chatauqua Institution Voice Program.

As pianist he has appeared in concert with such artists as Gérard Souzay, Anna Moffo, Robert Merrill, Eleanor Steber, James King, Jan DeGaetani, John Aler, Neil Rosenshein, Faith Esham, Anthony Dean Griffey, Charlotte Hellekant, Mary Ann McCormick, Randall Scarlata, Jennifer Aylmer, William Ferguson, and Jeanette Thompson. He has appeared in concert presentations of Regina Resnik Presents: Beethoven in Song, The Classic Kurt Weill, and The Gypsy in Classical Song, which were videotaped for broadcast on CUNY TV.

As conductor of opera, he has led Handel’s Giulio Cesare with the University of Maryland Opera Studio and Rossini’s La Cenerentola with the Juilliard Opera Center. He has also conducted many operas with the Juilliard Opera Workshop, including Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Albert Herring, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Thomson’s The Mother of Us All, Cavalli’s La Doriclea and La Calisto, Mozart’s Così fan Tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Die Zauberflöte, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.

In association with Houston Grand Opera, he was head of musical preparation for Rossini’s La Cenerentola with Cecilia Bartoli in the title role. He played continuo in that performance which was subsequently released on London CD and Video.

Mr. Merrill received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Arkansas, where he studied piano with Jerome Rappaport, and his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied piano with Josef Raieff and accompanying with Martin Isepp. He also studied accompanying with Dalton Baldwin at the summer program in Aix-en-Provence and chamber music with Antonio Janigro at the summer program of the Mozarteum in Salzburg.