A native of Istanbul, Elif Savas Felsen studied violin at the Istanbul University Conservatory and opera at Mimar Sinan and at the Peabody Conservatory; she took master classes with Leyla Gencer. Ms. Savas has performed with the Turkish Opera, was featured at the Istanbul International Festival, and has given many recitals. She is the winner of several competitions. In addition to her vocal work, Ms. Savas has directed the award-winning documentary film COUP, about the 20th-century Turkish military interventions and coups d'etat, and has published two cookbooks. She currently lives in Los Angeles.
Martin Hennessy is an eminent pianist and vocal coach in New York City. He has toured extensively through Europe, the United States and Asia with the Bel Canto Trio and the Ambassadors of Opera and he has served on the faculties of the Juilliard American Opera Center and Carlo Bergonzi’s Bel Canto Seminar. As a composer he has received awards from ASCAP and Meet the Composer; a compact disc featuring seven of his songs, paired with Ned Rorem’s cycle, Women’s Voices, can be found on the Newport Classic label (Women’s Voices, NPD 85613). His music is published by Glendower Jones at Classical Vocal Reprints (http://www.classicalvocalrep.com). Since receiving a positive HIV diagnosis in 1988, Hennessy has forged a creative-spiritual approach in living with HIV; as part of this approach, he organizes three-day Enlightenment Residentials with therapists from London’s Helios Centre (for more information: http://www.heliosenlighten.com).