artistic &     
executive director     
vocalist     

Gilda Lyons (Artistic & Executive Director) composer, vocalist, and visual artist, combines elements of renaissance, neo-baroque, spectral, folk, agitprop Music Theater, and extended vocalism to create works of uncompromising emotional honesty and melodic beauty. Tom Strini of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel describes her "Nahuatl Hymn to the All-Mother" for treble choir (Clarion CLCD-936), commissioned by The Milwaukee Choral Artists, as "hair-raising, yet elegant [with] slides, dips, yips and yelps amid ceremonial intensity."

Highlights of 2012/13 include commissions for Mirror Visions Ensemble for two extended song cycles; pianist Thomas Bagwell and soprano Adrienne Danrich for the AIDS Quilt Song Book; and the Seasons Music Festival for orchestra, voice, and pre-recorded sound. Recent projects include "walk, run, fly" for voice and pre-recorded sound, premiered at The Flea Theater in Manhattan; "Lady Beetle," commissioned by koto virtuoso Yumi Kurosawa, premiered at Torifony Hall, Tokyo; the Five Boroughs Music Festival commission "rapid transit" (GPR Records); a new chamber opera commissioned by Opera Theater of Pittsburgh; and "Coney Run" for voice, piano and pre-recorded sound commissioned by Two Sides Sounding.

Ms. Lyons has received commissions from American Opera Projects, The ASCAP Foundation / Charles Kingsford Fund, Amy Pivar Dances, Beijing New Music Ensemble, ComposersCollaborative Inc., Fort Greene Park Conservancy, Paul Sperry, Sweet Plantain String Quartet, and The Walt Whitman Project, among many others. Composer-in-Residencies include Vermont's New Music on the Point (2013); the Seasons Music Festival in Washington State (2009-present); and the Hartford Women Composers Festival (2011). An active vocalist and fierce advocate of contemporary music, Ms. Lyons has commissioned, premiered, and workshopped new vocal works by dozens of composers. Of her performance in Daron Hagen's opera Shining Brow (Buffalo Philharmonic/Falletta) (Naxos) David Shengold of Opera, UK writes "Gilda Lyons' clear soprano compels admiration."

While best known for her work as composer and performer, Ms. Lyons also serves as Artistic and Executive Director of The Phoenix Concerts series on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Her music is published by Schott, E.C. Schirmer and Burning Sled. Ms. Lyons made her professional debut as composer and vocalist with the American Symphony Chamber Orchestra in 1997, performing the world premiere of her orchestral song cycle "Feis." She received her Ph.D. in Music Composition from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Bard College. (www.gildalyons.com).

pianist     

Jocelyn Dueck is a native of Kleefield, Manitoba. She has appeared on national broadcasts of Music da Camara with the MacPhail Trio, in recital at the fortepiano for the Schubert Club's Courtroom Concert Series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and at Seiji Ozawa Hall as a Tanglewood Fellow. This summer, Jocelyn was an apprentice coach and pianist for Glimmerglass Opera's productions of Lucia de Lammermoor and Death in Venice. She was an assistant conductor and pianist for the Tanglewood Music Center's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2004. A frequent performer of new music, she collaborated on the Princeton Atelier premiere of The Antient Concert by composer Daron Hagen and poet Paul Muldoon, and was the pianist for the east coast premiere of Hagen's one act opera Broken Pieces. In the fall of 2003, Jocelyn was awarded a grant from the University of Minnesota Graduate School and traveled to Paris to meet with the family of French composer Louis Durey, a member of Les Six. She continues to document and perform the unpublished song cycles of Durey, a generous gift of his daughter, Arlette Durey. Jocelyn completed the D.M.A. in Accompanying and Coaching under Professors Margo Garrett and Karl Paulnack at the University of Minnesota in March 2004. Together with her pianist siblings, Byron Dueck and Valerie Dueck, Jocelyn has formed a trio known as Dueck Three that specializes in solo, four- and six-hand works for the piano. The featured young artist for the Steinbach Arts Council Young Artists in Concert series this past winter, Jocelyn performed alongside her brother and sister to a sold-out crowd. She lives in New York City with her husband, Nathan Dyrud, where she works as a freelance coach and pianist. (www.jocelyndueck.com).

tenor     
pianist     
conductor     

Robert Frankenberry leads a multi-faceted career as a tenor, pianist, actor and conductor. He has performed roles ranging from Mozart in Amadeus and John Adams in 1776 to Cavaradossi in Tosca and Pollione in Norma. Recent operatic engagements have included Don Jose in Carmen for Erie Opera Theater, 1st G’Bich in Twilight of the Gods for Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and the dual position of assistant conductor and cover for the title roles of Don Carlo and Poliuto for daCorneto Opera. Other credits in music direction include productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors, Madrigals of Love and War, La Serva Padrona, The Old Maid and the Thief and La Clemenza di Tito for the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh; the staged premier of Daron Hagen’s Vera of Las Vegas for the Center for Contemporary Opera; and The Tales of Hoffmann for Mercyhurst College and New York City’s After Dinner Opera Company. At the piano, Frankenberry is a member of the IonSound Project and the University of Pittsburgh’s Music On The Edge Ensemble. Devoted to new and recent works, he has participated in the premieres of solo and chamber music by such composers as Roger Zahab, Eric Moe, Bruce Taub, J. H. Kwabena Nketia, Dennis Riley and Barbara White. In 1999, Robert gave one of the first performances in the United States of Judith Weir’s Piano Concerto and last season played the North American premiere of her Piano Trio Two with violinist Roger Zahab and ‘cellist David Russell. Mr. Frankenberry holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Mercyhurst College, where he studied piano with Sam Rotman and conducting with Walter Hendl; and a Master’s Degree from Carnegie Mellon, where he was a student of John Shirley-Quirk.

pianist     
conductor     

Daron Hagen was born in Milwaukee in 1961 and has lived in New York since 1984. A full-time composer of opera and concert music, he divides his time between family and composing. One of America's most versatile, prolific, and respected opera composers, all eight of his major operas are currently in production or revival somewhere in the U.S., Europe, or Asia.

Mr. Hagen has collaborated with distinguished musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, JoAnn Falletta, Gary Graffman, Nathan Gunn, Jaime Laredo, David Alan Miller, Sharon Robinson, Gerard Schwarz, Leonard Slatkin, and Robert Spano, among others. His work has been widely commissioned and performed by most of North America's major musical institutions, and numerous institutions abroad, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, Seattle Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Curtis Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Swan (UK), Seattle Opera, Opera Theater of Ireland, as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing), and the Royal Albert Hall.

His music (he has served frequently as conductor and collaborative pianist for recordings of his works) can be heard on the Albany, Arsis, Bridge, Clarion, Klavier, Naxos, and New World/CRI labels, among others. Among other honors, he has received the Guggenheim Fellowship, Kennedy Center Friedheim Prize, two Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellowships, and the Seattle Opera Chairman's Award. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Curtis Institute of Music and of the Juilliard School, he has taught at Bard College, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Princeton Atelier, and fulfilled numerous composer-in-residencies around the U.S. He is a Lifetime Member of the Corporation of Yaddo, former president of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, and a Trustee of the Douglas Moore Fund for American Opera.

A complete list of his over 200 art songs, song cycles, and choral works, eight operas, four symphonies, twelve concerti, and over forty chamber works may be found, along with information about upcoming performances and premieres, at his website. (www.daronhagen.com).

guitarist     

Paula Kimper is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and has been active in New York City for over 30 years as a composer of opera, theater, dance, film and song. Ms. Kimper's first opera, Patience & Sarah, premiered in Lincoln Center Festival '98. The Captivation of Eunice Williams, commissioned by the PVMA of Deerfield, MA, premiered in July 2004, and was most recently performed in Skopje, Macedonia. The Bridge of San Luis Rey, based on Thornton Wilder's novel, was seen at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA in 2007. Ms. Kimper's latest opera TRUTH, about the life of Sojourner Truth, premiered in February 2012 at the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA. She has received commissions from The Phoenix Concerts, Old Deerfield Productions, Amy Pivar Dances, Richard Daniels, Downtown Music Productions, The Walt Whitman Project, American Opera Projects, Opera America, and others. The composer is grateful for the generous support of American Music Center, International Music and Art Foundation, Lincoln Center Festival, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Meet the Composer and Theatre Communications Group. Her complete catalog was recently acquired by the Loeb Music Library of Harvard University. (www.paulakimper.com)

cellist     

Hailed as a "superb cellist" in the Boston Globe, David Russell maintains a vigorous schedule both as soloist and as collaborator in the U.S. and Europe. He was appointed to the teaching faculty of Wellesley College in 2005 and currently serves as Director of Chamber Music. He is a busy performer in the Boston area making regular appearances with such ensembles as Cantata Singers and Ensemble, and Emmanuel Music. He served as Principal Cello of Opera Boston from 2005 to 2011.

A strong advocate and performer of new music, Mr. Russell has performed with such ensembles as Phantom Arts Ensemble for American Music, Dinosaur Annex, Collage New Music, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Music on the Edge, Firebird Ensemble, and the Fromm Foundation Players at Harvard. He collaborates with violinist Rolf Schulte, pianist Geoffrey Burleson and clarinetist Pat O’Keefe at the Composers’ Recording Institute at Cleveland State University each summer.

Recent projects include new recordings of works by Lee Hyla, Tamar Diesendruck, Roger Zahab and Eric Moe, the premieres of concertos by Laurie San Martin and Derek Hurst, and the recording of Suite for Cello and Chamber Winds by Chen Yi with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. He teaches at the Cello Seminar, a summer program for study of contemporary cello music, associated with Music from Salem and developed by Rhonda Rider. He has recorded for the Albany, Centaur, New World, and Composers Recordings labels.

mezzo-soprano     

Elaine Valby sang the role of Catherine Wright in Daron Hagen’s opera Shining Brow with the Buffalo Philharmonic in November of 2006, and will sing May Joyce in Hagen’s The Antient Concert in upcoming performances in New York and Washington. Valby originated the role of the grown-up Eunice in the premiere of Paula M. Kimper's opera, The Captivation of Eunice Williams, and sang the part again in October 2006 in performances at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. The mezzo-soprano also played Sarah in the premiere of Kimper’s first opera, Patience and Sarah, at Lincoln Center Festival 98. Valby recently formed the ensemble SERAPHIM with cellist Robert La Rue and singer/composer Gilda Lyons; the group’s repertoire includes music composed especially for them by Daron Hagen, Hayes Biggs, Paula M. Kimper and Gilda Lyons. A long-term project has been an ongoing collaboration with dancer/choreographer Amy Pivar and director Freda Rosen, in performances titled “Songs for Solo Dance and Voice” – venues have included Dance New Amsterdam in Manhattan and BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance). Favorite past projects include the first concert performance of Ari Frankel's opera about Primo Levi, to scratch an angel; a concert of American folksongs and spirituals with the jazz and improvisational pianist Uli Geissendoerfer; and Connie Beckley's performance piece The Aquarium. CD releases include Frank Lewin's song cycle Variations of Greek Themes, and April 15th Blues — a 30-minute musical by Ben Yarmolinsky about doing your taxes.

percussion     

Matt Ward has performed with groups such as the Boston Symphony, Albany Symphony, New World Symphony, New Music Consort and Associated Solo Artists. Mr. Ward has received a bachelor of music degree from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Duncan Patton and Chris Lamb. He has a masters degree from the State University at Stony Brook under the direction of Ray DesRoches and is currently enrolled in the school's DMA program. Through organizations such as Arts Connection, Flushing Council on the Arts, Young Audiences, and Marquis Studios, he has actively been working with elementary school children throughout New York City. He has also been working as a chamber and sectional coach with the Empire State Youth Orchestra, New York Inter-School Orchestra and the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Ward was the recipient of the Ridley-Tree Fellowship at the Music Academy of the West in 1998 and in 1999 he participated in the Tanglewood Music Center under the direction of Seiji Ozawa and returned the following year as a member of the 60th Anniversary TMC Alumni Concert. Recent performance highlights include a concert with Emmanuel Ax on the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center as well as a concerto performance with the North Shore Philharmonic. He can be heard on the recording labels Argo, Newport Classics, and Winston Ma. (www.timetablepercussion.com)

violinist     
conductor     

Roger Zahab’s multifaceted career as composer, violinist, conductor, teacher and writer has been encouraged by living in one of the most interesting vantage points of Time. His work straddles so many areas of endeavor that there are suspicions of a band of clones working all over the country under his identity.

He has written much chamber, vocal and orchestral music in addition to work in dance, theater and video. Recently, recordings on Albany Records have been made of levitation of pianos during a waltz played by pianist Eric Moe, and Earth’s Jig and Silence Orchids played by pianist Bennett Lerner. These recordings and others are also available on iTunes. Recent works include Ohio transparence for piano trio, ardent life for trumpet and orchestra, and Ohio entelechron, a multi-media performance work which uses various kinds of Time to explore the connections between identity, history and community.

As a violinist, Zahab has premiered more than a hundred works by such composers as John Cage, Daron Hagen, Gilda Lyons, Steven Mackey, Ursula Mamlok, Eric Moe, J.N. Kwabena Nketia, Dennis Riley, Tison Street, Orianna Webb and Christian Wolff. Recordings as violinist and composer are available on the Truemedia, Albany and Koch International Classics labels. His version of John Cage’s Thiurteen Harmonies for violin and keyboard instrument is published by C.F.Peters Corporation.

His conducting repertoire encompasses the history of ensemble music from Andrea Gabrielli up to the present. As conductor of the both the Music on the Edge Chamber Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra at the University of Pittsburgh he seeks to give students a well-rounded overview of Western music while exploring increasingly porous boundaries.

Zahab was awarded the first Louis Lane Scholarship (given by the Akron Symphony Orchestra) in 1978 and received an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Grant in 1995 and an Individual Artist Fellowship in 2005. Zahab has been Director of the Orchestra and instructor at the University of Pittsburgh since 1993 and became a full-time Lecturer in 1999. At home in Akron he helps foster the ideal of communal music-making with the Highland Square Philharmonic. (www.rogerzahab.net)