Noted for her “dazzling, virtuoso singing” (Boston Globe), LUCY FITZ GIBBON is a dynamic musician whose repertoire spans the Renaissance to the present. She believes that creating new works and recreating those lost in centuries past makes room for the multiplicity and diversity of voices integral to classical music’s future. As such, Ms. Fitz Gibbon has given U.S. premieres of rediscovered works by Baroque composers Francesco Sacrati, Barbara Strozzi, and Agostino Agazzari, as well by 20th century composers including Tadeusz Kassern, Roman Palester, and Jean Barraqué. She has also worked closely with numerous others, workshopping and premiering works by a wide range of composers including John Harbison, Kate Soper, Sheila Silver, David Hertzberg, Reena Esmail, Roberto Sierra, Anna Lindemann, and Pauline Oliveros. In helping to realize the complexities of music beyond written notes, the experience of working with these composers translates to all music: the commitment to faithfully communicate not only the score, but also the underlying intentions of its creator.

As a recitalist Ms. Fitz Gibbon has appeared with her collaborative partner, pianist Ryan McCullough, in such venues as London’s Wigmore Hall; New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Park Avenue Armory, and Merkin Hall; and Toronto’s Koerner Hall. Their discography includes Descent/Return (May 2020), featuring works by James Primosch and John Harbison, and Beauty Intolerable (February 2021), Sheila Silver’s complete Art Song repertoire alongside performers including Dawn Upshaw and Stephanie Blythe. In concert, Lucy has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra; the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra; the Albany, Richmond, Tulsa, and Eureka Symphonies, and the American Symphony Orchestra in her Carnegie Hall debut. She has also premiered major works by John Harbison and Shirish Korde with Boston Musica Viva, appeared in concert with the Aizuri Quartet, and will tour with Musicians from Marlboro in such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Kimmel Center through the 21-22 season. Debuts with Seattle Opera and the Lexington and Kalamazoo Symphonies, as well an appearance with the Doric Quartet at the West Cork Festival in Ireland and a guest recital at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, were all delayed because of COVID-19.

A graduate of Yale University, Ms. Fitz Gibbon is the recipient of numerous awards for her musical and academic achievements. She holds an artist diploma from The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory and a master’s degree from Bard College-Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program; her principal teachers include Monica Whicher, Edith Bers, and Dawn Upshaw. She has spent summers at the Tanglewood Music Center (2014-2015), Yellow Barn (2020), and Marlboro Music Festival (2016-2019, 2021). She is currently Interim Director of Vocal Programs at Cornell University and on the faculty of Bard College Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, and serves as voice faculty for Kneisel Hall’s 2020 and 2021 seasons. For more information, see http://www.lucyfitzgibbon.com.

SARAH KAPUSTIN’S musical activities have taken her across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia in performances as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Born in Milwaukee, WI, she has performed with such orchestras as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Vogtland Philharmonie and the Pro Arte Orchestra of Hong Kong. Sarah has received prizes and honors in numerous competitions, including 1st prize of the International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen, resulting in solo appearances throughout Germany. She has appeared in such prestigious concert venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Mexico City’s Sala Nezahualcoyotl, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, and Capella State Hall in St.Petersburg.

A devoted and passionate chamber musician, Sarah has appeared at various international festivals, most notably the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland), Musique de Chambre à Giverny (France), Sitka Summer Music Festival (AK), El Paso ProMusica (TX), Peter de Grote Festival (Netherlands) and the Marlboro Music Festival (VT) where she has performed with such distinguished artists as Claude Frank, Joseph Silverstein, David Soyer, and Kim Kashkashian. She shows great interest in contemporary music, and has had the honor to work with several composers on their own compositions, including Henri Dutilleux, Kryzstof Penderecki, Jörg Widmann, Ned Rorem and Joey Roukens. Sarah plays recitals regularly with pianists Jeannette Koekkoek and Shuann Chai, and her recordings of the Beethoven sonata cycle (with Koekkoek) and solo works by Bartók, Bach and Fulmer, among others, have received international acclaim. Sarah was the 1st violinist of the renowned Rubens Quartet from 2008 until the group’s final season in 2016.

Sarah received a Masters degree in violin performance at The Juilliard School with Robert Mann in 2005. She previously received a Bachelor of Music and an Artist Diploma from Indiana University as a pupil of Mauricio Fuks, and formerly studied with Mimi Zweig and James Przygocki at the String Academy of Wisconsin. She has participated in masterclasses with Joshua Bell, Midori, Leonidas Kavakos, Mihaela Martin and Ruggiero Ricci, among others. After receiving a Fulbright Scholarship, Sarah spent 2006 to 2008 in Paris as a student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, studying chamber music with Michel Strauss and Vladimir Mendelssohn as member of the Trio Archiduc. She also served as concertmaster of the Orchestre des Lauréats du Conservatoire during the 2007-08 season.

Currently Sarah resides in Zwolle, the Netherlands, where she is active as a chamber musician and soloist. From 2017 to 2019 she played in the Noord Nederlands Orkest (Groningen) as first concertmaster. She also performs and tours regularly with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Increasingly sought after as a teacher, she has been professor of violin at the ArtEZ Conservatorium in Zwolle since 2011, professor of chamber music at the Prins Claus Conservatorium in Groningen since 2014, and in 2017 she joined the faculty of the Sweelinck Academie (preparatory division of the Amsterdam Conservatory). She has given masterclasses in the US, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Brazil, Columbia and Hong Kong, and is a faculty member of the Indiana University Summer String Academy.

Sarah plays on the ”Nico Richter and Hetta Rester” G.B. Rogeri, Brescia, ca. 1690, on loan to her from the Nationaal Muziekinstrumentenfonds in Amsterdam.

KINGS RETURN is a vocal band of brothers – Gabe Kunda, Vaughn Faison, J.E. McKissic & Jamall Williams. The Dallas, Texas-based a cappella group was formed unintentionally in 2016 after first singing together for Gabe’s college graduation recital. Their popularity grew when they began posting videos to social media from the stairwell where they rehearse. Avoiding the confines of a single genre, Kings Return’s sound is proudly born out of gospel, jazz, R&B, and classical music. “The name Kings Return is a reflection of ourselves. We are Kings who go forth to conquer but most importantly we return to give back to our community.”