“Martin Katz must surely be considered the dean of collaborative pianists,” said the Los Angeles Times. As one of the world’s busiest collaborators, he has been in constant demand by the world’s most celebrated vocal soloists for four decades. In addition to Mr. Blumberg, he has appeared and recorded regularly with Marilyn Horne, Frederica von Stade, Samuel Ramey, Karita Mattila, Piotr Beczala, Jose Carreras, Cecilia Bartoli, Kiri Te Kanawa, Soile Isokoski, Kathleen Battle, and Lawrence Brownlee, just to name a few. Season after season, the world’s musical capitals figure prominently in his schedule.

Mr. Katz is a native of Los Angeles, where he began piano studies at the age of five. He attended the University of Southern California and studied the field of accompanying with its pioneer teacher, Gwendolyn Koldofsky. While yet a student, he was given the unique opportunity of accompanying the master classes and lessons of such luminaries as Lotte Lehmann, Jascha Heifetz, Pierre Bernac, and Gregor Piatigorsky.

In more recent years, conducting has also played a role in Mr. Katz’s career. He has partnered several of his soloists on the podium for orchestras of the B.B.C., Houston, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, New Haven and Miami He has conducted staged productions of more than twenty operas for both the Merola Program, the Pacific Music Festival and the University Opera Theatre in Ann Arbor.

Finally, the professional profile of Martin Katz is completed with his commitment to teaching. For three decades, the University of Michigan has been his home, where he has been chair for the School of Music’s program in collaborative piano. He has been a pivotal figure in the training of countless young artists, both singers and pianists, who are working all over the world. In addition to his work there, he is a regular guest at innumerable music schools and institutes throughout North America, Canada and Europe.

Mr. Katz is the author of a comprehensive guide to accompanying, “The Complete Collaborator,” published by Oxford University Press, which is widely regarded as the seminal textbook on this specialized subject.

“Martin Katz must surely be considered the dean of collaborative pianists,” said the Los Angeles Times. As one of the world’s busiest collaborators, he has been in constant demand by the world’s most celebrated vocal soloists for four decades. In addition to Mr. Blumberg, he has appeared and recorded regularly with Marilyn Horne, Frederica von Stade, Samuel Ramey, Karita Mattila, Piotr Beczala, Jose Carreras, Cecilia Bartoli, Kiri Te Kanawa, Soile Isokoski, Kathleen Battle, and Lawrence Brownlee, just to name a few. Season after season, the world’s musical capitals figure prominently in his schedule.

Mr. Katz is a native of Los Angeles, where he began piano studies at the age of five. He attended the University of Southern California and studied the field of accompanying with its pioneer teacher, Gwendolyn Koldofsky. While yet a student, he was given the unique opportunity of accompanying the master classes and lessons of such luminaries as Lotte Lehmann, Jascha Heifetz, Pierre Bernac, and Gregor Piatigorsky.

In more recent years, conducting has also played a role in Mr. Katz’s career. He has partnered several of his soloists on the podium for orchestras of the B.B.C., Houston, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, New Haven and Miami He has conducted staged productions of more than twenty operas for both the Merola Program, the Pacific Music Festival and the University Opera Theatre in Ann Arbor.

Finally, the professional profile of Martin Katz is completed with his commitment to teaching. For three decades, the University of Michigan has been his home, where he has been chair for the School of Music’s program in collaborative piano. He has been a pivotal figure in the training of countless young artists, both singers and pianists, who are working all over the world. In addition to his work there, he is a regular guest at innumerable music schools and institutes throughout North America, Canada and Europe.

Mr. Katz is the author of a comprehensive guide to accompanying, “The Complete Collaborator,” published by Oxford University Press, which is widely regarded as the seminal textbook on this specialized subject.

Christopher Turbessi is a freelance collaborative pianist, vocal coach, and conductor based in Houston. In the 2016-2017 season he conducts Camelot for the Opera Institute at Augusta University, coaches L’Opera Seria at the Wolf Trap Opera Company, Carmen at Opera Santa Barbara, Lucia di Lammermoor at Utah Opera, and serves as Music Director and Conductor for Augusta University’s summer opera intensive. In-between gigs he maintains a private coaching studio and moonlights as a freelance assistant editor for Boosey & Hawkes. He was previously an Assistant Conductor and the Musical Supervisor of HGOco at Houston Grand Opera, where he shepherded the workshops and world premiere performances of Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players, Gregory Spears’ O Columbia, and David Hanlon’s After the Storm, among other new works. He also cultivated and performed on the first Veterans’ Songbook recital, a project to turn the words of Houston-area veterans into song cycles by local composers. Mr. Turbessi has served on the staff of the Castleton Festival and has been an Assistant Conductor at Virginia Opera and Chorus Master for productions at Virginia Opera and Syracuse Opera. He is a graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, as well as young artist programs at Virginia Opera, the Aspen Opera Theater Center, and Syracuse Opera. He holds a master of music degree in collaborative piano from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Martin Katz.