Photography by Simon Pauly
Beginning her first year on the music staff at Louisiana State University School of Music, Elena Lacheva was until recently involved as a vocal coach with the productions of The Crucible, the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by Robert Ward, The Secret Marriage by Cimarosa, and Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the University of Houston's Moores Opera Center. During her previous seasons at MOC, she prepared the productions of Manon by Massenet, Mozart's Così fan tutte and the Houston premiere of Anna Karenina by David Carlson, in addition to Les contes d'Hoffmann, Gianni Schicchi, and another Houston premiere - Frau Margot by Thomas Pasatieri. Elena also collaborates with Opera in the Heights, where she most recently assisted with the productions of Der Fledermaus, I pagliacci and La cenerentola. Elena is Program Director of the Collaborative Piano Institute, a summer program for current and potential collaborative pianists featuring world-renowned faculty.
As a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, she was involved in the rehearsal process and performances of Wagner's Das Rheingold, Weinberg's The Passenger (in Houston, and at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York in the summer of 2014), Verdi's Aida, and Il trovatore, Kern's Showboat and Puccini's La Boheme; and performed extensively with the Studio singers in recitals in Texas and Louisiana. Elena completed her collaborative piano studies with Martin Katz at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance in 2012 and that summer she was an apprentice coach in the Merola Program at the San Francisco Opera Center, working on Dominick Argento’s Postcard from Morocco and participating at the Schwabacher Summer Concerts. She was a répétiteur and coach for Verdi's Falstaff at the University of Michigan School of Music, and was a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center where she collaborated in Stravinsky’s Renard with the Mark Morris Dance Group. At the Chicago College of Performing Arts Elena rehearsed and performed Ravel’s The Spanish Hour for the annual OPERAFEST festival. Elena has performed internationally in solo and chamber music concerts in Berlin, Germany and Reykjavík, Iceland.
As a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, she was involved in the rehearsal process and performances of Wagner's Das Rheingold, Weinberg's The Passenger (in Houston, and at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York in the summer of 2014), Verdi's Aida, and Il trovatore, Kern's Showboat and Puccini's La Boheme; and performed extensively with the Studio singers in recitals in Texas and Louisiana. Elena completed her collaborative piano studies with Martin Katz at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance in 2012 and that summer she was an apprentice coach in the Merola Program at the San Francisco Opera Center, working on Dominick Argento’s Postcard from Morocco and participating at the Schwabacher Summer Concerts. She was a répétiteur and coach for Verdi's Falstaff at the University of Michigan School of Music, and was a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center where she collaborated in Stravinsky’s Renard with the Mark Morris Dance Group. At the Chicago College of Performing Arts Elena rehearsed and performed Ravel’s The Spanish Hour for the annual OPERAFEST festival. Elena has performed internationally in solo and chamber music concerts in Berlin, Germany and Reykjavík, Iceland.
