Mikael Eliasen is currently head of the Opera and Voice Departments
at the Curtis Institute of Music
in Philadelphia. For ten years, from 1984-1994, he served as the Artistic
Director of the European Center for Opera and Vocal Art (E.C.O.V.) in
Ghent, Belgium. After many years as guest artist for the Merola Program
of the San Francisco Opera Center, Mr. Eliasen was appointed Music Director
of the San Francisco Opera Center from 1994-1996. Mr. Eliasen has given
numerous master classes around the world, including the Shanghai Conservatory
of Music in China, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, Russia, the
Jerusalem Music Center in Israel, the National Opera of Prague, in the
Czech Republic and the National University of Seul, Korea. Mr Eliasen
is a regular guest at the International Opera Studio of the Netherlands,
in Amsterdam and for the past ten summers he has taught in the Chatauqua
Instituition of Music Summer Voice Program. In the fall of 1996, Mr.
Eliasen was invited to give classes for the Young Artist Development
Program at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Mr. Eliasen has collaborated
with numerous singers in recital, including Robert Merrill, Tom Krause,
Theodor Uppman, John Shirley-Quirk, Elly Ameling, Edith Mathis, Florence
Quivar, Sarah Walker and Joan Patenaude-Yarnell. He has participated
in many summer festivals including the Blossom Festival, the Wexford
Festival in Ireland, the Schwetzinger Festival in Stuttgart, Germany.
He has made numerous recordings for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,
Hilversum Radio in Holland, Polish State Radio, Kol-Israel and Irish
Radio and Television. He can be heard on London Records, MHS and Supraphon.
Mr. Eliasen received his early music training in his native Denmark,
continuing his musical studies in Montreal. Following four years of
study in Vienna, Austria, with the legendary piano teacher Dieter Weber,
he moved to the United States, where he maintains his residence.
