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COMPOSERS & THE VOICE
2007-08 Season
Composers
 Clint Borzoni
Clint Borzoni (b. 1981) is an American composer of Italian and Ecuadorian decent. He started studying music when he was seven and wrote his first piece at the age of eleven. He has written over forty pieces, including a piano concerto, song cycle, percussion quartet, piece for orchestra, two string quartets, and several works for chamber orchestra. Among Borzoni’s awards are the Morton Feldman award, a New York Youth Symphony commission, and the Maurice Liberman music scholarship. He received a BA and MA in music composition from CUNY where he studied with Douglas Cohen, Tania Leon, Amnon Wolman, Daniel Sonenberg, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici. Clint's percussion quartet was recently premiered by the Mannes School of Music’s percussion ensemble. He is currently working on a commissioned piece for Choir and Organ, and the full-length musical, My Life as a Bald Soprano with playwright Margaret H. Baker.
 Kristin Kuster
Kristin Kuster “writes commandingly for the orchestra,” and her music “has an invitingly tart edge” (The New York Times). Kuster’s compositions take inspiration from architecture, the weather, and mythology. Her “lush and visceral” Myrrha for voices and orchestra was premiered by American Composers Orchestra in Carnegie Hall in May 2006. The Annapolis Symphony will premiere Kuster’s new work Beneath This Stone in May 2008 for the Charter 300 Young Composers Competition. Upcoming projects include pieces for the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, the New York Central City Chorus, the St. Louis Symphony’s flutist Jennifer Nitchman, and the University of Georgia Wind Ensemble. Kuster’s awards include an American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Charles Ives Fellowship and American Composers Orchestra’s Underwood Emerging Composer Commission. Kuster earned her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan. Born in 1973, she grew up in Boulder, Colorado, and now lives in New York City.
 Raymond J. Lustig
Currently completing his doctorate at the Juilliard School, Lustig is this year’s winner of ASCAP’s prestigious Rudolf Nissim Prize. His works have been performed by the Juilliard Symphony, the Da Capo Chamber Players, pianist Blair McMillen, violinists Curtis Macomber and Ariana Kim, counter)induction, the New Juilliard Ensemble, and Avian Orchestra, and have been presented at Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, the Caramoor Music Festival, and the New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute. Avian Orchestra has just released its recording of Lustig's You Catching? for ensemble and narrator. His teachers have included John Corigliano, Robert Beaser, Samuel Adler, Sebastian Currier, Jonathan Kramer, Derek Bermel, Philip Lasser, Pia Gilbert, and Shirish Korde. Before pursuing graduate study in composition, Lustig was a published researcher in molecular biology at Columbia University.
 Jack Perla
Jack Perla has composed extensively for orchestra, instruments, voice and chamber ensembles. Jack is also the winner of the 1997 Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Composers Award. He has earned awards and fellowships from the American Composers Forum, the James Irvine Foundation, the American Music Center, Meet the Composer, the Chicago Symphony, Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony and numerous other organizations. He received a DMA in composition from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Pulitzer prize winner Jacob Druckman and renowned composer Lukas Foss. He earned his MM at the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Academy Award winner (The Red Violin) John Corigliano. The Louisiana and Hamilton (Ontario) Philharmonic Orchestras, the Oakland Symphony, Absolute Ensemble (New York City), New Music Chicago and various other groups have performed Jack's compositions. His compositions have also been performed at Music at the Anthology, the Yerba Buena Arts Center (San Francisco), Merkin Concert Hall (New York) and at the British Music Information Center (London).
 Gregory Spears
Gregory Spears writes music that combines elements of Early Music and Minimalist structural practices within a Romantic sound world. In addition to classical music sounds, his pieces have used dog-whistle choirs, wobbling microcassette players, crackling record players, patty-cake routines, shattering glass, and burning matches. Eighth Blackbird's performance of his piece Soar-Stop was described by the New York Times as "scintillating." The Philadelphia Inquirer has called his music "remarkable" and a "glistening sonic soup." Spears has written for groups including So Percussion, the Eighth Blackbird Ensemble, the Traces Percussion Duo, the vocal group Ars Nova, the Zapolsky Quartet and the Synapse Ensemble Chamber Orchestra in Montreal. He was awarded a First Music Commission in 1999 to write a piece for the New York Youth Symphony, which was given its premiere in Carnegie Hall in May of 2000. In 2001 the American Composers Orchestra played his orchestral work Circle Stories during their annual Whitaker New Music Readings in New York. Recent commissions have come from The Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra, the Present Music Ensemble in Mikwaukee and New York choreographer Christopher Williams.
 Andrew Staniland
Andrew Staniland is a composer and new media performer whose music is performed and broadcast internationally. Recent commissions include works the virtuoso group Toca Loca, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Andrew’s music has been described as “beautiful and terrifying” (New Yorker Magazine) and as a composer who “will emerge as one of the most individual voices in this country” (National Arts Centre Press Release, November 2002). He holds a doctorate in composition from the University of Toronto, and has received numerous accolades, including top prizes in the SOCAN young composers competition, and the 2004 Karen Keiser Prize in Canadian Music. Staniland is currently Affiliate Composer with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Mr Staniland's participation in the Composers and the Voice program is made possible through the Canada Council for the Arts, and Tapestry New Opera Works.
Singers
 Matthew Curran (bass)
Matthew Curran, bass, was recently heard as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte and Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette with New Jersey Opera where he previously sang Pistola (Falstaff), Don Alfonso (Cosi Fan Tutte) and Dr. Bartolo (Le Nozze di Figaro). He was Mozart’s Figaro for Skagit Opera, WA. Contemporary opera credits include Basil in Lowell Lieberman’s The Picture of Dorian Gray with Center City Opera Theater and Edwin Cheney in Daron Hagen’s Shining Brow with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. As a Seattle Opera Young Artist, he sang Colline (La Boheme), Don Magnifico (Cenerentola) and Zaretsky and The Captain (Eugene Onegin) on the main stage. In the Zurich Opera Studio he sang Macrobio in Rossini’s La Pietra del Paragone, Max Hammer in Der Musikfeind and numerous small roles on the main stage. Other credits: Central City Opera, New Orleans Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Company of Brooklyn, and Aspen Opera Theater.
 Abigail Fischer (mezzo-soprano)
Abigail Fischer is a versatile singer whose has been praised for her “sumptuous” (The Boston Globe) and “impressive” (Newsweek) voice. Equally expert at music from the Baroque era and contemporary work, Ms. Fischer has performed with New York Collegium, Early Music New York, the Rebel Ensemble, and has given world premieres of music by Zorn, Muhly, Rands, and the Bang on a Can artists. Recent highlights include the title role in Dido and Aeneas with the Bronx Opera, and principal artist in Continuum’s premiere of Probowo’s opera The King’s Witch. In 2005, she was a soloist for a Sondheim tribute with the Boston Pops. Ms. Fischer’s other opera roles include Cherubino(Mozart), Mother Marie (Poulenc), Sesto (Mozart), and Mrs. Lovett (Sondheim). She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (MM) and Vassar College (BA).
 Matthew Garrett (tenor)
Matthew Garrett is a graduate of the Juilliard Opera Center, Juilliard Masters Program, and Brown University. Operatic engagements have included Houston Grand Opera, Opera Omaha, Glimmerglass Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and the Merola Opera Center. Recent concert performances have included the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Cincinnati May Festival, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Arion Ensemble, National Chorale, Basel Festival Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, and the Oratorio Society of New York. Upcoming appearances for the New Jersey native include Ernesto with Syracuse Opera, Belmonte with Connecticut Opera, the Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion with the Grand Tour Orchestra, and the Verdi Requiem with the Ashland Symphony. Mr. Garrett has won awards from the Puccini Foundation, Opera Index, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council.
 Donna Smith (soprano)
Donna Smith recently returned from her second season with Glimmerglass Opera performing the role of Venus in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. Ms. Smith made her debut with Glimmerglass Opera in 2005 as Strolling Player and French Girl in Death in Venice, while holding further responsibilities of the title role in Lucie de Lammermoor. Engagements for the 2006-2007 season began in NYC with the creation of the role of Ana Lucia in the World premiere of SHOT by American composer, Christian McCleer, followed by performances as Josephine in Dayton Opera’s H.M.S. Pinafore. Highlights of recent seasons for Ms. Smith include: Blonde in Abduction from the Seraglio (Skylight Opera Theatre), Genevieve in Suor Angelica, Crobyle in Thaïs (Opera Theatre of St. Louis), Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel (Utah Symphony & Opera), and Norina in Don Pasquale (Utah Symphony & Opera Tour). The Missouri native was a National Semi-Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a grant recipient from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music.
 Caroline Worra (soprano)
Caroline Worra has performed with New York City Opera and Glimmerglass Opera for 6 seasons and has just joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera. She was nominated for a Grammy for The Best Opera Recording for The Mines of Sulphur and her recording of The Greater Good was just released. She will be making another recording of a World Premiere Cantata, Blizzard Voices, in Omaha next year. Other highlights include Amy (Little Women) - NYCO/Glimmerglass, Donna Elvira - NYCO, Donna Anna and Musetta - Connecticut Grand, Arianna - Gotham Chamber, The Merry Widow and Micaela - Opera Memphis, Semele - Long Beach, Curly's Wife - Kansas City, Adina - Cedar Rapids, The Countess - Chattanooga, Anne Trulove - Teatro Massimo Bellini (Sicily), and two U.S. Tours with Western Opera Theatre as Violetta and Rosalinda. Future Engagements include Mrs. Naidoo (cover) in Satyagraha - The Met, Constance in Dialogues - Kentucky, and Marguerite in Faust - Opera Memphis.
 Matthew Worth (baritone)
A graduate of the Juilliard Opera Center, Matthew Worth has enjoyed successes on both the operatic and concert stages. Upcoming performances for Mr. Worth include Cosí fan tutte with James Levine at Tanglewood, Béatrice et Bénédict at Chicago Opera Theater and Die Zauberflöte at Lyric Opera of Kansas City. He will also be singing Carmina Burana with the symphonies of Lansing and Baton Rouge. Highlights of recent seasons for Mr. Worth include the world premieres of two operas: Stephen Hartke’s The Greater Good, or the Passion of Boule de Suif at Glimmerglass Opera (recorded for the Naxos record label) and Lowell Liebermann’s Miss Lonelyhearts at JOC. He made his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem under James DePriest and has performed recitals at Alice Tully Hall, Zankel Hall and Weill Hall. Mr. Worth holds degrees from the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music and the University of Richmond. He is the recipient of a 2006 Richard F. Gold Grant from the Shoshana Foundation, the 2006 DeRosa Career Grant, a grant in 2006 from the Julian Autrey Song Foundation and a grant in 2005 from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation.
Music Directors
 Kelly Horsted
Pianist Kelly Horsted, enjoys an active career in NYC as an accompanist and vocal coach. His AOP projects have included readings of Heart of Darkness, The Bridge of San Luis Rey and assisting preparations for the cast of Patience and Sarah at the Lincoln Center Festival. Kelly has served on the faculty of New Jersey Opera Theatre as Assistant Conductor of L’Elisir D’Amore, and with Intermezzo Opera as assistant Conductor for L’Enfant et les Sortileges, and head coach for performances of Little Women. At Mannes College of Music, he was music director for performances of Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters. An enthusiast of contemporary music, he has performed with Friends and Enemies of New Music, Vector 5, Cutting Edge Music, Downtown Music Productions, and the Guggenheim Museum’s Works and Process series. Kelly holds both BM and MM from Eastman School of Music, where he was a fellowship recipient and 1st place winner in the Kneisel Competition.
 Jennifer Peterson
Born in Anchorage, Alaska, American conductor, pianist and harpsichordist Jennifer Peterson is respected for her informed and spirited interpretations in a wide range of musical styles, including opera, early music, new music, chamber music and art song repertoire. She conducted the United States première of Handel’s 1713 opera SILLA at the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute in July of 2007, after serving as Chorus Master for the past two seasons with the Des Moines Metro Opera. She has held positions in both the United States and internationally with numerous opera companies, including the New York City Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Florida Grand Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Opera Memphis, Connecticut Opera, and the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel.
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