VOICE INSTRUCTORS

 Oxana Senina

Voice

After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory with degrees in both voice and cello, Oxana made her operatic debut as Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. The following year, as the winner of Russia’s prestigious Mozart Competition, she was invited to perform at the Mozart Festival in Moscow. Shortly thereafter, she moved to the United States and was awarded a scholarship to Princeton’s CoOPERAtive program, where she was featured in roles as Rosina, Zerbinetta, and Lakme. Settling in Los Angeles, Oxana also won several competitions there, including the Village Voice, Society of Singers, and Concerto Competitions, and was a semi-finalist in LA Opera’s Young Artist program. She has since performed with many of Southern California’s opera companies, including Opera Santa Barbara, Long Beach Opera, Opera San Diego, Repertory Opera Company, & Opera Nova and has performed roles such as Tatiana (Eugene Onegin), Mimi and Musetta (La Boheme), Rosina (il Barbiere di Siviglia), Ann Page (The Merry Wives of Windsor) and Verdi’s Requiem. She has also performed roles in modern repertoire such as Queen Tye (Akhnaten), Martha Sheldon (The Crucible), and Cunegonde (Candide).

Over the past year Oxana has been featured in productions in the U.S., Europe, & Russia. In 2019, she was featured as a soloist in Opera Santa Barbara’s 25th Anniversary Concert, performed the role of La Prima Cercatrice in a production of Suor Angelica at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and made her debut in Amsterdam, singing cantatas with the Bach Academy of Amsterdam. In the opening season for 2020, she will be singing in productions of Stabat mater (Pergolesi) and the Nursery (Mussorgsky) with the Amstel Strijkers Ensemble in Amsterdam, and will perform the role of Micaela in Carmen, with Opera op de Lelie.

Mentored since 2018 by renowned Italian tenor Salvatore Fisichella, the two have worked regularly together to hone her voice in the Italian Bel Canto style. Oxana is passionate about helping aspiring singers and musicians fulfill their dreams and has a very successful teaching practice in Los Angeles.

“Soprano Oxana Senina surrounded Kowalski with the beauty of sure high notes” — Los Angeles Times

Matthew Lourtie

Guitar, Voice, piano, composition & arranging, electronic music

Matthew Lourtie is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, electronic musician, and sound designer from Hermosa Beach, CA. His extensive and diverse background in performance and sound art includes classical music, playing in rock bands, musical theater (as actor, director, and musician), choral music, church music (traditional and contemporary), interactive computer music, and several Folk/World music genres.  He received a piano performance scholarship and earned a degree in music composition from California State University, Long Beach where he studied composition with Dr. Martin Herman and Dr. Alan Shockley. He has been Assistant Director of the CSULB Laptop Ensemble since Fall 2013.  With the ensemble, Matthew was an artist in residence at La MaMa Umbria during the 2013 Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. He received performances of his work in Seoul, Korea in 2013, and he participated in a tour to Hamburg and Berlin in January 2017.  Other notable performances of his works include a performance by the Electro-Acoustic Consort at the University of Southern California, and a world premiere by The California E.A.R. Unit. He also sang for a music video by Golden Globe winner, Rachel Bloom.

Matthew has instructed children, youths, and adults for over 15 years. His eclectic experience, from performing at Carnegie Hall to the Whiskey a Go Go, have brought him a unique perspective that gives him the ability to adapt lessons to the unique interests of his students.

Kristen Choi

Voice

Mezzo-soprano Kristen Choi is making waves in the world of opera, with Opera News dubbing her a “powerhouse in the making” for her performance as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. Engagements this 2025-2026 season include returning to Dallas Opera as Mercedes in Carmen. and a role and house debut at LA Opera as one of Ahknaten's daughters. She will also make a house debut with Colorado Opera in her signature role as Suzuki in Madame Butterfly. 

Past seasons include a role and house debut with the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance as Bloody Mary in South Pacific, her debut with the Boise Philharmonic as the alto soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, and Virginia Opera as Dorabella in Così fan tutte. Ms. Choi has also joined Florentine Opera, Kentucky Opera, Austin Opera, and Opera San Antonio in her signature role of Suzuki. Described as “steadfast…solidly empathetic and ferocious” (KCStudio); “warm and lovely” (Washington Post); and “theatrically potent” (Opera News), she has performed the role with eleven different companies since her debut with the Glimmerglass Festival in 2014, including Opera Philadelphia, Virginia Opera, Detroit Opera, the Lubbock Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and her Kennedy Center debut with the Washington National Opera.

Ms. Choi recently joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera covering Dimitri in Fedora.  Other credits include the 2nd Maidservant in Elektra (Dallas Opera), Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Omaha, Sarasota Opera), the Cook in Stravinsky’s Le rossignol (West Edge Opera), Maddalena in Rigoletto (Opera Philadelphia), Annina in La traviata (HALO), Third Lady in The Magic Flute (Opera Maine, Virginia Opera), Dorabella in Così fan tutte (Pacific Opera Project), Zerlina in Don Giovanni (West Bay Opera), and Sesto in La clemenza di Tito (Bay Area Summer Opera Theatre Institute).

Highly sought after for her interpretations of contemporary works, Ms. Choi recently returned to Opera Philadelphia in Toshio Hosokawa’s The Raven. Wall Street Journal writes: “Ms. Choi embraced the piece’s wide range of pitch and dynamics, shifting from whispers and Sprechstimme to full-throated song… She was equally intense in her movement.” She sang Mother in a workshop of Derrick Wang’s Fearless with Opera Delaware, Hiroko Kobayashi in Jack Perla’s An American Dream with Opera Idaho and Virginia Opera, Stewardess in Flight with Dallas Opera, and Phoung Tran in a workshop of Ruo/Hwang’s The Rift with Washington National Opera. Ms. Choi also created the title role in Murasaki’s Moon, a new work with On Site Opera and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other roles include Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Virginia Opera, Ruth Sherwood in Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with the Seattle Symphony, Jo in Little Women with Opera North, and St. Teresa II in Four Saints in Three Acts with Opera Parallèle.

Ms. Choi went on tour with the Lincoln Center Broadway Production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I as an ensemble member and Lady Thiang understudy in 2018-2019, having completed eighty-five performances of the role with the Marriott Theatre a few years prior, to critical acclaim:  Chicago Tribune described her performances as “exceptionally rich and moving.” She has sung the role of Paquette in Bernstein’s Candide with the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and the Glimmerglass Festival, where “she showed off a well-schooled, appealingly smoky mezzo” (Opera Today). She has also covered the role of Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd with Virginia Opera.

On the concert stage, Ms. Choi has sung as the alto soloist in Messiah with the Naples Philharmonic and Phoenix Symphony, as well as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Dayton Philharmonic. In 2024, she joined the Hart Institute for Women Conductors singing excerpts from Suor Angelica. She has appeared in concert with the Paesaggi Musicali Toscani and performed as a soloist in Rene Orth’s Tak Tak Shoo with Opera Philadelphia.

Ms. Choi completed training with Santa Fe Opera (Wowkle in La fanciulla del West), Virginia Opera, and Sarasota Opera. Ms. Choi is a Lotte Lenya Competition semi-finalist, a winner of the San Diego District and an encouragement award winner from the regionals of the Laffont Competition, and a Jensen Foundation finalist.  She received a Career Bridges grant as well as a scholarship with the Pasadena Opera Guild and East Bay Opera League in Oakland, California, placed first in the Coeur d’Alene Young Artist Competition and holds the Lisa Kavelage award from the Henry and Maria Holt Competition. A native of California, Ms. Choi holds a Master of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.