ART SONG SUMMIT

Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956 in Oceanside, NY) studied piano, composition and acting, at Carnegie Mellon University. After moving to New York City, he quickly emerged as a leading writer of vocal music that spans art song, opera, and musical theater. Mr. Gordon’s songs have been performed and or recorded by such internationally renowned singers as Renee Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Nathan Gunn, Nadine Sierra, Stephanie Blythe, Denyce Graves, Judy Collins, Kelli O’Hara, Audra MacDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Nicole Cabell, Frederica Von Stade, Andrea Marcovicci, Harolyn Blackwell, Betty Buckley, and the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, among many others. Ricky Ian Gordon’s most recent premieres include:

Ellen West (2019, libretto by Frank Bidart, commissioned and premiered by Opera Saratoga and Beth Morrison Projects for Prototype 2020) an opera based on a case study by a Dr. Ludwig Binswanger, about a woman in a Swiss hospital with an eating disorder, which The Wall Street Journal described as a “Riveting one-act opera,” and Opera News called “a fine haunting score by the chameleonic Ricky Ian Gordon.”

The House Without A Christmas Tree (2017, libretto by Royce Vavrek, commissioned and premiered by Houston Grand Opera) a holiday opera for young audiences that The Wall Street Journal describes as “a charming, family-friendly piece,” “Houston Grand Opera offers a charming, family-friendly piece, in an alternative performance space, that manages to be heartwarming without being sappy … Mr. Gordon’s score employs accessible, Coplandesque tonality, which has its apex in Addie’s arias … they capture a young girl’s imagination and optimism….The text is clearly set, and well crafted ensembles vary the texture as do bigger choruses.”– Wall Street Journal

“Not only does this opera have to find its place among the “Nutcrackers,” “Christmas Carols” and “Messiahs,” as a world premiere, it also has to bid for a permanent spot in the operatic canon. Gordon’s melodic, tonal score makes a strong bid for that spot, falling easily on the ears, often bringing to mind the late operas of Richard Strauss in its naturalistic setting of Vavrek’s dialogue to melodically compelling music. The pleasing score, congenial vocal demands and modest scale of “The House Without a Christmas Tree” give it a good shot at achieving staying power, attractive to professional opera companies of all sizes and to conservatories and universities. It was warmly received by the opening-night audience, some granting it a standing ovation.” – Houston Chronicle

The Grapes of Wrath (2017 two-act version commissioned and premiered by the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, consequently done in Detroit, and Aspen (summer 2020); “This is a great American opera to stand alongside earlier evocations of specifically American periods and subjects by George Gershwin, Carlisle Floyd, Robert Ward, John Adams and others.”- Chicago Tribune

A highly prolific composer, Ricky Ian Gordon’s catalog also includes:

Morning Star (2015, libretto by William Hoffman, premiered by the Cincinnati Opera and later, OnSite Opera in New York City)
about Jewish immigrants in New York’s Lower East Side in the beginning of the 20th century; “Chicago-born opera “Morning Star” shines powerfully”- Chicago Tribune

27 (2014, libretto by Royce Vavrek, premiered at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, consequently done in New York, City, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Detroit, Las Vegas, Bozeman, Montana,) about Gertrude Stein’s salons at 27 rue de Fleurus;
“A Hit is a Hit is a Hit”- Opera Today

A Coffin In Egypt (2014, libretto by Leonard Foglia, premiered by the Houston Grand Opera, The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and Opera Philadelphia) a haunting tale of memory and murder, racism and recrimination; “A Coffin in Egypt” is a splendid opera of spite.”- Los Angeles Times

Rappahannock County (2011, libretto by Mark Campbell, commissioned by Virginia Arts Festival, Virginia Opera and University of Texas in Austin, premiered at the Harrison Opera House) inspired by diaries, letters, and personal accounts from the 1860s during The Civil War; “Rappahannock County” is a work of great economy, but immense emotional breadth — and depth.”– Opera Today

Sycamore Trees (2010, libretto by composer, Signature Theater, Helen Hayes Award) a musical about suburban secrets and family differences; “If “Sycamore Trees” were simply an autobiographical tribute to Gordon’s past, it would have limited force, but it’s aimed at the American dream itself, which gives it broader emotional resonance. With his ability to put old ideas about love, unity, and community into new post- modern musical settings, full of unconventional tunes and harmonies, Gordon ultimately achieves in “Sycamore Trees” a fresh and stimulating tribute to the thing he seems to cherish most: family — his, yours, everyone’s. ” – Washington Examiner; “Ricky Ian Gordon’s deeply personal, strikingly impressionistic new musical,”- Washington Post

The Grapes of Wrath (2007 and 2010, libretto by Michael Korie, 2007 premiere by the Minnesota Opera, Utah Opera, Alaska Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera, and in 2010 The American Symphony Orchestra and The Collegiate Chorale in New York’s Carnegie Hall, with Jane Fonda, narrating); “As far as I was concerned — and this is a minority opinion — the nearly four-hour opera was too short. Had Gordon and Korie been allowed to follow their original bliss and create a two-night or more American “Ring” cycle, I would have gladly returned for more.”- Los Angeles Times

“Gordon, who first made his name in the theatre and as a composer of Broadway-style songs, fills his score with beautifully turned genre pieces, often harking back to American popular music of the twenties and thirties: Gershwin-esque song-and-dance numbers, a few sweetly soaring love songs in the manner of Jerome Kern, banjo- twanging ballads, saxed-up jazz choruses, even a barbershop quartet. You couldn’t ask for a more comfortably appointed evening of vintage musical Americana. Yet, with a slyness worthy of Weill, Gordon wields his hummable tunes to critical effect…”- The New Yorker

Green Sneakers (2008, libretto by the composer, premiered by the Miami String Quartet and Jesse Blumberg at Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Pittsburgh Opera, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Birmingham Opera and Lincoln Center, for the Great American Songbook Series) a theatrical song cycle for Baritone, String Quartet, and Empty Chair;
“Gordon Creates Masterpiece with “Green Sneakers”- Opera Today
“Green Sneakers” is a significant contribution to the culture sprung from the AIDS
crisis. In its forthright honesty and passion it could be compared to the film “Longtime Companion” (1990), which brought home the emergency with a similar immediacy and eloquence. It heals while it hurts.”- New York Times

Orpheus and Euridice (2005, for Lincoln Center’s Great Performances Series, Rose Theater, OBIE Award); “Both Gordon’s text and music are couched in an accessible idiom of disarming lyrical directness, a cleverly disguised faux naïveté that always resolves dissonant situations with grace and a sure sense of dramatic effect—the mark of a born theater composer.”- New York Magazine

My Life with Albertine with playwright Richard Nelson (2003, Playwrights Horizons, AT&T Award); “The music swirls with regret, romance, and a sense of lost time.”- The New York Times

Night Flight To San Francisco (for Renee Fleming) and Antarctica (2000) Harper’s monologues from Tony Kushner’s Angels In America; Dream True (1999, Vineyard Theater, Richard Rodgers Award); States Of Independence (1992 for The American Music Theater Festival); The Tibetan Book of the Dead (1996 for Houston Grand Opera and Eastman School of Music); Only Heaven (1995 for Encompass Opera…an opera using poems by Langston Hughes as it’s libretto) Genius Child (a song cycle of ten songs using poems by Langston Hughes, commissioned by Harolyn Blackwell).

Upcoming projects include the opera Intimate Apparel with Playwright, Lynn Nottage, commissioned by New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the Lincoln Center Theater premiering March 23rd, at The Lincoln Center Theater, Private Confessions with Playwright, Richard Nelson, commissioned by The Goodman Theater in Chicago, and an opera based on Giorgio Bassani’s novel, The Garden of the Finzi Continis with librettist Michael Korie, for New York City Opera and The Yiddish Theater.

Mr. Gordon has been a visiting professor at colleges and universities throughout the country including Yale, NYU, Northwestern, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Bennington, Vassar, Carnegie-Mellon, Elon, Michigan State, University of Michigan, Point Park (McGinnis Distinguished Lecturer), Texas Lutheran University, Eastman School of Music, Florida State University, Texas Christian University, and San Francisco Conservatory. He has been the featured Composer-in-Residence at Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, The Van Cliburn Foundation, Voices of Change, Santa Fe Song Festival, Songfest at Pepperdine University, Chautauqua, Aspen Music Festival, and Ravinia.

Among his honors are an OBIE Award, the 2003 Alumni Merit Award for exceptional achievement and leadership from Carnegie-Mellon University, A Shen Family Foundation Award, the Stephen Sondheim Award, The Gilman and Gonzalez- Falla Theater Foundation Award, The Constance Klinsky Award, The National Endowment of the Arts, The American Music Center, and many awards from ASCAP, of which he is a member. Mr. Gordon’s works are published by Williamson Music, Carl Fischer Music, and Theodore Presser Company and available everywhere. His works are also widely recorded on various labels.

Recognized by The New York Times for her “rich sound, deep expressivity and uncanny sense of pitch,”mezzo-soprano Julia Bentley followed apprenticeships with the Santa Fe Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera of Chicago with a series of leading operatic roles from Anchorage to New York and was featured as a soloist with orchestras led by George Manahan, Raymond Leppard, Oliver Knussen, Robert Shaw, and Pierre Boulez. She has performed frequently with numerous Chicago ensembles, including Contempo, eighth blackbird, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and appeared to critical acclaim at Alice Tully Hall and Weill Hall with Pierre Boulez, as the soloist in Le Marteau Sans Maître. After leading the Composer Focus project at the DePaul University School of Music for six years and teaching voice at Concordia University and the graduate Art Song Seminar at North Park University, she joined the faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia, teaching voice and graduate vocal pedagogy before joining the Jacobs School. She recently received the 2018 NATS Foundation Voice Pedagogy Award.

Andrew Goldman is visiting assistant professor of music in music theory at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

A music theorist and cognitive scientist, Goldman earned a Ph.D. from the Centre for Music and Science at the University of Cambridge in 2015. He was in the inaugural cohort of Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience at Columbia University and held a postdoctoral position with the Music, Cognition, and the Brain initiative at Western University before joining the faculty at IU.

Goldman’s research considers how scientific methods can be used to learn about musical perception and cognition in principle, and he also designs and conducts behavioral and neuroscientific experiments with musicians. His research has primarily focused on improvisation in music and dance, but he has also worked on projects concerning the perception of musical form, and embodiment in music.

His work has been published in both music and psychology journals and has been presented at national and international conferences, including the Society for Music Theory, International Conference for Music Perception and Cognition, and American Psychological Association.

Also a pianist and composer, Goldman’s original musical, Science! The Musical, provides an alternate platform to explore the worlds of music and science. Songs include “The Interdisciplinary Rag,” “The Real World,” “Publish or Perish,” and more!

Lynn Helding serves as Coordinator of Vocology & Voice Pedagogy and studio voice teacher at the USC Thornton School of Music. She is the author of The Musician’s Mind: Teaching, Learning & Performance in the Age of Brain Science, the chapter “Brain” in Your Voice: An Inside View 3^rd ed. by Scott McCoy, and an associate editor of the Journal of Singing. A devoted teacher, she was recognized as a “legendary figure in the field of voice pedagogy” by the Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah University, receiving their 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Helding created the “Mindful Voice” column in the Journal of Singing, authoring it from its debut in October 2009 to the final installment in October 2017, in order to advance her proposition that cognitive science must be considered the “Third Pillar of Voice Science” . Helding’s extensive research in the cognitive and neurosciences, with an emphasis on motor learning theory and “expertise studies” from social psychology, forms the foundation of both “Mindful Voice” and The Musician’s Mind.

Helding’s voice science honors include the 2005 Van L. Lawrence Fellowship, jointly awarded by the by the Voice Foundation and the National Association of Teachers of Singing Foundation to singers who have “demonstrated excellence in their profession as singing teachers, and have shown knowledge of voice science,” and election to chair the founding of the first non-profit vocology association PAVA, incorporated in 2014 as a 501(c)(6) non-profit association.

Helding’s stage credits include leading roles with Harrisburg Opera, Nashville Opera, and Ohio Light Opera. Her passion for contemporary American song inspired her to commission new works and to refashion the traditional recital into theatrical performance pieces presented throughout the United States, Australia, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Iceland where her performances were broadcast on Icelandic National Radio. Highlights in chamber music include Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, broadcast on Nashville Public Television, and Good Night, written for her and the Baltic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra by Icelandic composer Thorkell Sigurbjornnson.

Helding studied voice at the University of Montana with Esther England, in Vienna, Austria with Kammersänger Otto Edelmann, and at Indiana University with Dale Moore, where she was the first singer ever accepted to pursue the prestigious Artist Diploma. She earned her master’s degree in vocal pedagogy from Westminster Choir College of Rider University under the direction of Scott McCoy, and in the voice studio of Chris Arneson. She completed the Summer Vocology Institute directed by voice scientist Ingo Titze at the National Center for Voice and Speech, and periodically returns as guest SVI faculty. Previous to USC, she served twenty-two years as Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Performance Studies at Dickinson College. Please see www.lynnhelding.com for more information.

A Native of Brooklyn, New York, Tislam Swift has performed on a wide array of concert stages, theaters and opera houses. In 2007, Mr. Swift was a background vocalist for Elton John’s 60th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden. He was also a member of the 2013-2014 season of the Atlanta Opera chorus, under the direction of Maestro Walter Huff. In 2014, he participated in the Princeton Opera Festival’s production of Porgy and Bess. He has made Indiana University Opera Theater appearances in La Boheme, South Pacific, The Barber of Seville, Die Fledermaus as Dr. Blind, as the Comic Marcellus Washburn in Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man and as Scaramuccio in Strauss’ Ariadne Ariadne Auf Naxos. He is a frequent performer in Hamilton Bermuda where he has performed the tenor solo in John Stainer’s Crucifixion at St. Paul’s AME Church. As a Young Artist, he has spent a summer at the Utah Festival Opera Musical Theater performing in productions of Ragtime, Porgy and Bess and Peter Pan. Mr. Swift has been a World-Premier Artist with the Negro Spiritual Scholarship Foundation. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music from Morehouse College and a Masters of Music from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.

David Sisco is a multi-hyphenate artist whose life work centers around exploring music, drama, writing, and teaching, finding great inspiration and commonalities in each. David received his BA in Vocal Performance and Composition Honors from Syracuse University, and a MM in Vocal Performance from Boston University School for the Arts.

A member of the esteemed BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop (Advanced), David is a passionate writer for the stage. He is the author of Here I Am: A Musical Personal Ad, for which he received the Alex Libby Award for Best Musical Performance at the 2002 Columbus National Gay & Lesbian Theatre Festival. Other musicals include Variations on a Theme of You, Sopranos (featured at the 2002 NYC International Fringe Festival), and a one-act opera called The Catbird Seat. With collaborator Tom Gualtieri, David has written Falling to Earth, which received a five-week workshop at Syracuse University in January 2009 and was part of The Developmental Reading Series at the York Theatre the following Fall. Tom and David are the creators of the video series  about equity in the theatre industry entitled “Draw the Circle Wide” and are working with book writer Michael Zam (“Feud”) on a musical adaptation of Henry James’ The Wings of the Dove. For more information about their collaboration, or to hear their work, please visit their website.

David is also a playwright. His first play, BAIT, premiered at the 2006 Columbus Theatre Festival, winning six awards including Best Comedy and Best of the Festival. Directed by Laura Josespher, starring Gualtieri and Sisco, the show has since been featured at the Inaugural Left Out Festival in New York. It extended three times after critical acclaim and sold out houses. BAIT was also part of the 2008 Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Theater Festival and has been featured entertainment on several Atlantis Cruises. BAIT was later developed into two one-act comedies called BAIT n’ SWISH. BAIT n’ SWISH ran at Stage Left in New York in the Fall of 2011 and extended into 2012 with rave reviews.  For more information, click here.

Sisco is a prolific art song composer, receiving a stipend from the National Endowment for the Advancement of Arts to present a recital of his music at the prestigious Liederkranz Club in New York. A winner of the 2010 NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Composition Award, David’s songs have been heard at concerts produced by Friends & Enemies of New Music, Joy in Singing, Lyricfest, and Songfest, and in venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Additionally, he has written several commissions, including pieces for Cayuga Vocal Ensemble, Manhattan Girls Chorus, and Minnesota State University Moorhead Concert Choir.

As a singer, David feels at home as a recitalist, musical theater performer, and chorister. The Boston Herald praised his performance of the AIDS Quilt Song Book, saying he sang with “heart-breaking sincerity.” For over 12 years, David was a frequent soloist and member of the professional sanctuary choir at Marble Collegiate Church, recording three albums with the premier ensemble. He formed a cabaret duo with Alexandra Foucard called Comes Love. The duo regularly performed at Tin Pan Alley in Provincetown and were featured artists in the Inaugural International Cabaret Festival in New York. Every once in a while, you can catch David performing live on Facebook or see his performances on social media.

Having been raised by two teachers, Sisco has a deep love of teaching. He has served on the faculties at Northeastern and Suffolk University, teaching voice and musical theater performance. He taught private voice at Marymount Manhattan College for over ten years. He currently is an adjunct professor at Wagner College. David also maintains an active private studio and has taught around the country and internationally. He was a keynote speaker for the 2018 ANATS (Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing) National Conference in Leura, Australia, and served on the faculty of Taipei Performing Arts Center’s Musical Theatre Workshop. In addition, David has been a guest teacher at Dean College, Five Towns College, SUNY New Paltz, ANATS Victoria, The Street Theatre (Canberra), Ingraham High School, West Genesee High School, and Reversal Children’s Theatre.

In 2012, David co-founded ContemporaryMusicalTheatre.com, which he now runs with business partner Laura Josepher. The site is the largest database of contemporary musical theatre writers and songs, searchable by voice and song type. In 2016, they built an online sheet music platform, allowing subscribers to purchase full songs and audition cuts directly from the writers. Given that the site is a subscription model, writers receive 100% of their sheet music sale. ContemporaryMusicalTheatre.com is the only company to do this. Out of the website, Laura have created other work, including a masterclass and workshop series on learning contemporary musical theatre, and a book entitled “Mastering College Musical Theatre Auditions,” now in its second edition (available on Amazon).

David thanks his family and friends for their unwavering support and belief in him as he continues to expand his understanding and use of the gifts God gave him.

Darryl Taylor’s performances have been noted for their compelling artistry and authority. His is an international career highlighted by performances of art song, opera and oratorio. His repertoire extends from Bach to Britten, and beyond.

Recent performance highlights include singing the title role in Phillip Glass’Akhnaten for Long Beach Opera; L.A. Opera’s groundbreaking production of Dido and Aeneas; Pergolesi and Vivaldi Stabat Mater with Lyra Baroque Orchestra of St. Paul, Minnesota; performances with the Carmel Bach Festival; the Bach Collegium San Diego under Richard Egarr, and performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Havana, Cuba, and Shanghai, China.

Founder of the African American Art Song Alliance, his recordings on Naxos and Albany record labels have received lavish praise.Love Rejoices: Songs of H. Leslie Adams was a Number One Critic’s Choice for American Record Guide for the year 2001. Complete Solo Cantatas by Rosanna Scalfi Marcello (Naxos Records) was named a Critics Choice by Opera News Magazine.

Through Verismo Communications, Beth Stewart amplifies the authentic voices of women, queer folks, and people of color in classical music. Respected for her creativity and candor, Beth draws on her breadth of experience in the industry – as publicist, producer, and performer – which has fueled her deep empathy for those working onstage and behind the scenes.

Beth’s determination to inspire those around her has shaped Verismo as a classical music PR firm that creates space and opportunity in clients’ lives and operates with unswerving integrity. Verismo specializes in helping artists and arts organizations identify their distinctive brand voices, and works to infuse that genuine thread throughout each client’s presence, on- and off-line.

Beth’s work has propelled clients to glossy magazine covers, successful appearances on international networks including CNN, BBC World, SBS, and ABC, and features in top international print publications including The New York Times, Washington Post, The Times, Billboard, Opera News, BBC Music Magazine, and Gramophone. She has played an integral role in major promotional and award campaigns, cultivating rising artists and keeping the spotlight on established talents, with clients such as mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, conductors Eun Sun Kim and Lidiya Yankovskaya, Chicago Opera Theater and Against the Grain Records.

Her clients have won many of classical music’s most prestigious prizes, earning recognition from the Metropolitan Opera, Solti Foundation U.S., Richard Tucker Music Foundation, International Opera Awards, Juno Awards, Latin Grammy Awards, and BBC Music Magazine Awards.

Beth’s multi-pronged education – a BA from Johns Hopkins University in Latin American Studies; BM, MM, and GPD degrees from Peabody Conservatory in Voice Performance; and marketing and global business studies via the Eller MBA Programs at the University of Arizona – prepared her to thrive while juggling the demands of multiple constituents.

Her trademark drive and infectious energy have been instrumental in the launch of Turn The Spotlight, a non-profit foundation created to identify, nurture, and empower leaders – and in turn, to illuminate the path to a more equitable future in the arts. Under Beth’s leadership, Turn The Spotlight offers mentorship by and for exceptional women, people of color, and members of other equity-seeking groups, with a particular interest in supporting artists who are using their talents and skills to strengthen their communities and pursue social justice.

In increasing demand as a speaker, Beth has shared her vision for the industry in recent sessions at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Bard College, Carnegie Mellon University, Dallas Opera Hart Institute for Women Conductors, National Association of Teachers of Singing Fall Workshop, Opera America Conference 2019, Opera America Marketing & PR Forum, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, SphinxConnect, Sphinx LEAD, University of Michigan’s Arts Leadership Forum, Young Concert Artists, and the Women in Classical Music Symposium presented by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Beth lives in Chicago with her husband Louis and their three mischievous cats who – he assures her – will one day be best friends.

26-year-old tenor Spencer Lawrence Boyd is from the small town of Canal Fulton, OH. He’s had an exciting launch into his singing career, Boyd has sung leading opera roles including Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), Don José (Peter Brook’s adaptation: La tragedie de Carmen), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), and Vincent (Gounod’s Mireille), among others. Other highlights have included Henrik Egerman (A Little Night Music) with Broadway conductor Andy Einhorn, the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 with the Louisville Orchestra conducted by Teddy Abrams, and a number of fulfilling oratorio, recital, and concert performances. Spencer has performed several excerpts from other leading roles such as Il duca di Mantua (Rigoletto), Faust (Faust), Des Grieux (Manon), and Tom Rakewell (The Rake’s Progress) across the United States and is awaiting the next challenge. Other favorite moments have included Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus) and Nika Magadoff (Menotti’s The Consul).

Summer of 2020, Boyd was scheduled to return to Aspen Music Festival for a third consecutive summer to cover the role of Tamino and sing First Armored Knight in Die Zauberflöte with the newly titled ‘Aspen Opera Theater and Vocal Arts Program’ co-directed by Renée Fleming and Patrick Summers. This, among other potential engagements, was cancelled. The tenor is looking forward to the coming performance seasons and a time when we can all return to experiencing live theater.

TanTan Wang – is a recent graduate of Yale University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computing and the Arts. He has worked both as designer and developer, and is interested in drawing on both disciplines to shape new digital experiences. TanTan’s most recent work was his senior thesis Liquid Dreams, where he explored the intersection between digital and physical materiality with abstract light and projection. He looks forward to exploring more of these avenues in upcoming projects. ➞ tantanwang.com

Marika Yasuda is currently a Doctoral student at the Jacobs School of Music’s Collaborative Piano program under the mentorship of Kevin Murphy and Anne Epperson. As a soloist, she has received top prizes at competitions including the Hellam Young Artists’ Competition, Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, Julia Crane International Piano Competition, and was named a winner of the 2015 Oberlin Conservatory Concerto Competition. Ms. Yasuda maintains an active schedule collaborating with vocalists and instrumentalists during the year. Recent engagements include recitals and orchestral concerts at Seiji Ozawa Hall, Bennett Gordon Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall with ensembles such as the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Oberlin Orchestra, Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, and eighth blackbird. This past summer, Ms. Yasuda worked as an apprentice pianist for the vocal program at Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute. She has previously held fellowships at Tanglewood Music Center, SongFest, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and Gijon International Piano Festival. 2018/2019 has brought diverse performance and coaching experiences such as Music Director/Vocal Coach at Finger Lakes Opera, the world premier of Michael Gandolfi’s In America (2018) with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, a coproduction of Mason Bates’ opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at the Indiana University Opera Theater with Santa Fe, Seattle, and San Francisco Operas, and concerts at the Boulanger Initiative’s Woco Launch Fest in Washington D.C. 2019/2020 includes serving as coach accompanist for Indiana University Opera Theater’s upcoming production of Gianni Schicchi. Ms. Yasuda holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Vocal Accompaniment from Oberlin Conservatory (2015), and a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Jacobs School of Music (2017).

Calista Small fosters innovation in the arts by creating opportunities for artists to work outside of their chosen mediums and collaborate in interdisciplinary teams. Trained as an actor, she has performed with The Neo-Futurist Theater, Redmoon Theater, and Filament Theater in Chicago as well as Richard Schechner of East Coast Artists in New York. She is a co-founder of The Merchant St. Gallery for Artists with Autism, a non-profit studio space in Kankakee, IL, and is the former director and creator of Play On!, a summer theater program for ESL students in Chicago. She holds a B.A in Humanities from Yale University, where she received the Susan J. Smith Arts Prize for outstanding contribution to the arts. ➞ calistasmall.com

Charlotte McCurdy is an award-winning interdisciplinary designer and researcher who works at the intersection of technology, futuring, and existential threats. Her work on carbon-negative materials, “After Ancient Sunlight,” debuted as part of “Nature — The Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial.” Fast Company selected it as the winner in the Experimental category in the 2019 Innovation by Design Awards and her work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Wallpaper, Dezeen, NowThis, Buzzfeed, and beyond. Based in New York City, McCurdy is a partner of the One X One initiative with the support of Swarovski, the UN Office for Partnerships and the Slow Factory Foundation; a member of the New Museum’s cultural incubator, NEW INC with the support of Science Sandbox; and a member of Alternative Thinkers, a collective of change-making designers. She is a 2019 PopTech Fellow and a co-founder of cofutures, a platform for futurist creatives focused on directly impacting the world around them. She is a visiting professor at the Rhode Island School of Design where she previously served as the inaugural Global Security Fellow with the support of the MacArthur Foundation. She holds a Master of Industrial Design from RISD, and a Bachelor of Arts in Global Affairs from Yale University. ➞ charlottemccurdy.com

Erika Switzer is an accomplished collaborative pianist who performs regularly in major concert settings around the world, including at New York’s Weill Hall (Carnegie), Geffen Hall, Frick Collection, and Bargemusic, at the Kennedy Center, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Spoleto Festival (Charleston, SC). Her performances have been called “precise and lucid” by the New York Times, and Renaud Machart of Le Monde described her as “one of the best collaborative pianists I have ever heard; her sound is deep, her interpretation intelligent, refined, and captivating.”

From 2000-2007, Switzer performed and studied in Germany, an experience that profoundly inspired and shaped her work. During that time, she appeared at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and in the Munich Winners & Masters series and won numerous awards, including best pianist prizes at the Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf, and Wigmore Hall International Song Competitions.

Switzer has long been a leader in envisioning and promoting the future of art song performance. In 2009, in collaboration with soprano Martha Guth, she founded the organization Sparks & Wiry Cries, which commissions new works, presents the songSLAM festival in New York City, and publishes The Art Song Magazine. She is also devoted to new music, and has recently premiered new compositions in the 5 Boroughs Music Festival Songbook II; at the Brooklyn Art Song Society; and at Vancouver’s Music on Main. 

Switzer collaborates with a range of top singers, including Hai-Ting Chinn and Martha Guth, among others. A frequent collaborator is baritone Tyler Duncan, and as a duo, Switzer and Duncan have performed in major concert halls and music festivals around the world. She is also an active teacher, serving on the music faculty at Bard College and the Vocal Arts Program of the Bard Conservatory of Music. Switzer holds a doctorate from The Juilliard School, and lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Brazilian-American soprano Sophia Hunt is currently pursuing her master’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she holds the Hirsig Family Fellowship and studies with Carol Vaness. This season, Sophia sings Vitellia in MERCY, a film by the Curtis Opera Theatre based on Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito. She also performs as the title role in a scene from Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, as part of Curtis’s virtual opera scenes program, Opera OnDemand.

Sophia recently made her Opera Philadelphia debut, performing a program of songs entirely by female composers in the Curtis in Concert recital series as part of Festival O19. She is passionate about recital work and has frequently collaborated with pianists Mikael Eliasen and Grant Loehnig in song programs as part of the Curtis Student Recital Series and Curtis on Tour. She has sung in recitals and art song master classes through SongFest, the Art Song Preservation Society of New York, and the Highlands Chapel Series in Seattle, WA. Her recent song performances include George Crumb’s Apparition and Three Early Songs, Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Copland’s 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson, and various Brazilian art songs.