Tony Kostecki, General Director
Tony Kostecki was appointed General Director of Seagle Music Colony in January of 2008. Previous to this appointment, Tony held the position of General Manager of the Colony from 2006-2007.Before moving into management, he was on the faculty of Seagle Music Colony as a coach/accompanist and conductor for ten years.Between 2002 and 2007, Tony was Director of Education at Fort Worth Opera and also Director of the Fort Worth Opera Studio.During his tenure with Fort Worth Opera, Tony oversaw the creation of the Fort Worth Opera Studio Young Artists Program and all outreach aspects of Fort Worth Opera.From 2002-2007 he was also the Fort Worth Opera Chorus Master and writer of many of the supertitle translations for Fort Worth Opera.

As a coach/accompanist, Tony worked for Fort Worth Opera, Shreveport Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Utah Opera, Kansas City Lyric Opera Express and Kansas City Civic Opera.A native of Topeka, Kansas, he received his undergraduate degree in Music from BenedictineCollege in Atchison, Kansas and his Master of Music Degree in Piano Accompanying and Organ Performance from the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Darren K. Woods, Artistic Director
Darren K. Woods was appointed General Director of the Seagle Music Colony in the summer of 1996. Since that time, the Colony has experienced incredible growth in almost every aspect including budget, production quality, facilities and faculty/staff. The caliber of young artists at the Colony continues to rival any other program in the world with recent debuts of our artists at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera and even on Broadway.Because of this extensive growth and the need for Seagle Music Colony to have a full-time presence in SchroonLake, Darren has transitioned to Artistic Director as of January 2008. Darren is also General Director of the Fort Worth Opera, where he has been since 2001. Under his leadership, the Fort Worth Opera has increased subscription and donor bases and also moved from a full season to a festival format company. Expanding on Mr. Woods’ dedication to young artists, the Fort Worth Opera Studio was founded during the 2002-2003 season with four members who participate in main stage productions, perform for more than 50,000 children each year and receive coaching and lessons from resident and guest artists. Prior to his appointment in Fort Worth, he was the General Director of the Shreveport Opera in Louisiana. While in Shreveport, Mr. Woods founded Shreveport Opera Express, or SOX, a touring, arts in education program that involved school children working with professional artists in the schools.

Mr. Woods is a frequent vocal competition judge. Over the past few years, he has served as a panel judge for the Richard Tucker Foundation, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Lieber Competition, the Denver Opera Guild Competition, the Dallas Opera Guild Competition and the Marguerite McCammon Competition.  He has been a guest grant panelist for the State of Louisiana (Music, Opera and Theater), the National Endowment for the Arts, the State of Nevada and the Fort Worth Arts Council.

Mr. Woods performed as a professional operatic tenor for twenty years prior to beginning his management positions in such venues as: The New York City Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Washington Opera, L’Opera Madrid, Opera Trieste, Seattle Opera, the Dallas Opera, Baltimore Opera, the Santa Fe Opera and many others.

Dr. Chad R. Payton, General Manager
Dr. Chad R. Payton returns to Schroon Lake for his fifth summer at Seagle Music Colony.  He is a two-time colony young artist (2002 and 2005), and will be serving as General Manager for his third summer in 2012.  Dr. Payton is an Assistant Professor of Music at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, where he teaches private voice instruction, English and Italian diction, the sophomore aural skills sequence, and the general music education course, Experiencing Music.  He transitioned to countertenor repertoire in 2005 after making his Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and off-Broadway debuts in Michael Ching’s opera, Corps of Discovery: A Musical Journey, which traces the Lewis and Clark expedition.  Since transitioning to countertenor repertoire, Dr. Payton has focused on both oratorio and chamber music engagements with his professional chamber ensemble, Payton and the Pipes.  In addition, he is a founding member of the professional American vocal consort, Voices of Prometheus, under the direction of Dr. Paul Crabb. 

He received his DMA in vocal performance with honors at the University of Kansas in 2011, and both his MM (2006) and BM (2004) in vocal performance from the University of Missouri.  He has found success in several voice competitions, including National Association of Teachers of Singing, National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Award, and Music Teachers National Association.

His duties at Seagle Music Colony include organizing the daily schedule for both young artists and faculty, managing ticket sales and the box office for each of the performances, serving as a interim voice instructor for young artists until the voice faculty arrives, and overseeing major events at the colony, such as the Patrice Munsel Gala.