John Corigliano @ 80

Hailed by Fanfare Magazine as “simply gorgeous…with a fully loaded palette of tone color” Lindsay Kesselman is a soprano quickly becoming known for her soulful singing, broad versatility, and her exemplary musicianship.

During the 2015-16 season, Kesselman made her debut with both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Dutch National Opera in a leading role of a new opera by composer Louis Andriessen entitled Theatre of the World. A live audio recording will be released on Nonesuch later this season.

In 2012-2015 she sang with the Philip Glass Ensemble on an international tour of Philip Glass’ opera Einstein on the Beach that won the 2013 Laurence Olivier award for Best New Opera Production. Kesselman is also the resident soprano with the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. Other recent and upcoming performances include her debut at Carnegie Hall singing Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man , premieres of new works for soprano and wind symphony by Robert Beaser and John Mackey, and on Bright Angel and Atonement, recordings of American contemporary music released on the Fleur de Son Classics label. Kesselman’s trio HAVEN (www.haventrio.com) was the recipient of a 2015 Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant with composer Jon Magnussen.

Upcoming performances include Kesselman’s debut performance with the North Carolina Symphony singing Robert Kapilow’s Green Eggs and Ham, her debut with the Charlotte Symphony singing John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man, the premiere of a new piece by Ian Dicke, the Poulenc Gloria with the Buffalo Master Chorale, and multiple performances of Songs from the End of the World by John Mackey, written for Kesselman and chamber winds.

Kesselman holds degrees in voice performance from Rice University and Michigan State University. More information can be found at: www.lindsaykesselman.com

Contemporaneous is an ensemble of 21 musicians whose mission is to bring to life the music of now. Recently recognized for a “ferocious, focused performance” (The New York Times) and for its “passionate drive…setting an extremely high bar for other ensembles to live up to” (I Care If You Listen), Contemporaneous performs and promotes the most exciting work of living composers through innovative concerts, commissions, recordings, and educational programs.

Based in New York City and active throughout the United States, Contemporaneous has performed over 90 concerts at a wide range of venues, including Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory, (le) poisson rouge, Merkin Concert Hall, Baryshnikov Arts Center, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and the Bang on a Can Marathon. The ensemble has worked with artists as diverse as David Byrne, Donnacha Dennehy, Yotam Haber, Dawn Upshaw, and Julia Wolfe.

Contemporaneous has premiered more than 70 works, many of them large-scale pieces by emerging composers. Through its commissions and readiness to play challenging music, the ensemble encourages composers to take risks and defy constraints. Contemporaneous’ debut album, Stream of Stars — Music of Dylan Mattingly (Innova Recordings), has been featured on radio programs around the world, including WNYC’s “New Sounds” and WRTI’s “Now is the Time.”

Contemporaneous also leads participatory programs for public school students in the communities where the ensemble performs. These workshops are designed to instill a passion for new music and to convey the power of careful listening and meaningful expression through music. The ensemble has held residencies at Simon’s Rock College, the University of New Orleans, Williams College, and Bard College, where the group was founded in 2010.

Contemporaneous is a federally tax-exempt not-for-profit organization, supported by a dedicated community of listeners. Read more at contemporaneous.org.

The dazzling American pianist MOLLY MORKOSKI performs as both soloist and collaborative artist throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Europe and Japan.

Molly Morkoski made her Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2007, and has been presented in New York City’s Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Miller Theatre, (le) poisson rouge, Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall, Boston’s Gardner Museum and Jordan Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, St. Louis’ Powell Symphony Hall and Washington, DC’s Smithsonian Institution and Los Angeles’ Herbert Zipper Concert Hall, while internationally she has been heard in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptoteket (Denmark), Conservatoire de Strasbourg (France), Suntory Hall (Japan), Teatro Nacional (Santo Domingo) and the United States Embassies in Nice and Paris. Ms. Morkoski has also appeared at the Aspen, Bang on a Can, Big Sky, Mendocino, Norfolk Chamber Music, Pacific Rim and Tanglewood festivals.

Highlights of Molly Morkoski’s recent schedule include an invitation by John Adams and The San Francisco Symphony to participate in his 70th Birthday celebration, the world premiere of John Harbison’s Bag of Tails at New York City’s National Sawdust and a performance of Strauss’ Burleske with the Mendocino Festival Orchestra. During the 2017-18 season, she returns to National Sawdust as a featured artist in the 80th Birthday concert for composer John Corigliano.

An avid chamber musician, Molly Morkoski collaborates with today’s leading musicians, among them John Adams, John Corigliano, Jessica Rivera, David Roberston, Orli Shaham and Dawn Upshaw. She has also performed with the Chiara, Lark and Momenta string quartets and ensembles drawn from the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and is a returning guest artist with Camerata Pacifica, Brooklyn Chamber Music Society and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Ms. Morkoski is a dedicated and enthusiastic proponent of the music of our own time, and has worked closely with many of today’s most distinguished composers, including: John Adams, Louis Andriessen, John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, Mark Grey, John Harbison, Martin Kennedy, Aaron Jay Kernis,
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David Lang, Magnus Lindberg, Oliver Knussen, Steve Reich, Joan Tower, Andrew Waggoner and Charles Wuorinen.

Molly Morkoski’s critically acclaimed 2012 debut solo CD, “Threads,” followed by “Compadrazgo,” a 2013 album of solo and chamber music compositions by the Grammy Award-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank, are both released on Albany Records. Her recording of Martin Kennedy’s Piano Concerto (written for her) is available on a 2013 release on Ansardy Records with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra. Current projects include a multi-media presentation of newly commissioned Nocturnes for live piano and film, as well as an abstract animation film to be paired with live performances of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

The recipient of many awards, Molly Morkoski holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Indiana University Bloomington the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She was a Fulbright Scholar to Paris, where she was an apprentice with the famed Ensemble Intercontemporain.

Molly Morkoski has conducted masterclasses at universities throughout the United States and abroad, and has served as a chamber music coach for, among others, programs of the Juilliard School Pre-College, Columbia University, New York Youth Symphony and SUNY-Stony Brook. She is currently Associate Professor of Piano at CUNY-Lehman College in the Bronx.

Molly Morkoski makes her home in New York City.

www.mollymorkoski.com