ANDRIUS ŽLABYS
piano

Grammy-nominated pianist ANDRIUS ŽLABYS has received international acclaim for his appearances with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including The New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Rotterdam Symphony, and Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires.

He is a featured soloist in “Between two Waves” by Victor Kissine for piano and string orchestra released on ECM in 2013 in collaboration with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica.

In 2012 Andrius Žlabys made his concerto debut at the Salzburg Festival performing Mozart’s Concerto K.467 with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra conducted by Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla.

Andrius Žlabys—born in Lithuania and trained at the Curtis Institute of Music—was 18 years old when the Chicago Tribune wrote: “Pianist-composer Andrius Žlabys is one of the most gifted young keyboard artists to emerge in years.” Žlabys was also heralded by The New York Sun in a review titled “A Shining Hope of Pianists” after his recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Žlabys’s artistry has received many other accolades from the press for his performances of “easy virtuosity” (The Strad), “generous and all encompassing“ sound (The Philadelphia Inquirer),“spell-binding interpretation” (The Plain Dealer) and his “wealth of musical perception” (The Greenville News). This international acclaim has followed his uniquely honest approach to music, as described by The Philadelphia Inquirer: “The beloved C-major chord… rippled off Žlabys’ hands with such open-hearted rightness that you couldn’t escape the notion that the pianist was acting as Bach’s ventriloquist…”

Mr. Žlabys’s concerts have included appearances on many of the world’s leading stages, such as Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Phillips Collection, Teatro Colón, Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and Suntory Hall. He has also appeared at numerous festivals both in the U.S. and abroad, including the Menuhin, Salzburg, Lockenhaus and Caramoor music festivals, and made his Carnegie Hall debut at the Isaac Stern Auditorium with the New York Youth Symphony conducted by Misha Santora in 2001 in a performance of Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. He was also invited the following season as soloist with Kremerata Baltica to perform Benjamin Britten’s Young Apollo at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall.

Andrius Žlabys has enjoyed collaborations with several esteemed musicians, including violist Yuri Bashmet, violinist Hilary Hahn, and an enduring collaboration with violinist Gidon Kremer with whom Zlabys has toured extensively in Europe, Japan, South America, and the U.S.

In 2003, Žlabys received a Grammy nomination for his recording of Enescu’s Piano Quintet with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica. A multifaceted musician of wide-ranging repertoire, Andrius Žlabys holds a special reverence for J. S. Bach, while remaining a strong advocate for the contemporary stage with numerous works commissioned by and written for him. He was a winner of 2000 Astral Artists National auditions.

Andrius Žlabys began piano studies at the age of six in his native Lithuania with Laima Jakniuniene at the Ciurlionis Art School,  and continued his studies in the U.S. with Victoria Mushkatkol (Interlochen Arts Academy), Seymour Lipkin (Curtis Institute of Music), Sergei Babayan (Cleveland Institute of Music), and Claude Frank (Yale School of Music).
 
 

JESSICA SINDELL

Flutist JESSICA SINDELL joined The Cleveland Orchestra in October 2018. Prior to winning this audition, she was the solo piccolo player of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. After graduating from the Eastman School of Music, she won her very first orchestral audition at the age of 22 to be principal flute of the Oregon Symphony. Ms. Sindell has been performing with the Lake Tahoe Music Festival orchestra since 2012, and also acted as principal with the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego as well as the Colorado Music Festival. She has also performed and recorded at the new Tippet Rise Arts Center. A Cleveland native, Jessica Sindell was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (2005-07) and is a high school graduate of Western Reserve Academy.

DENIS SAVELYEV

Originally from Western Ukraine, DENIS SAVELYEV was born in Lviv and began studying flute at the young age of five. After completing a combined Bachelor’s and Master’s degree at the ‘Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow, he moved to the USA to pursue a MM and Professional Studies at the Mannes School of Music, The New School University, where he studied under Judith Mendenhall. He was later a member of The Orchestra Now, graduating from Bard College with a Master’s degree in Curatorial, Critical, and Performance Studies.

Denis has won multiple prizes, including the 1st Prize at the New York Flute Club Competition, the New Jersey Flute Society, and the 2nd Prize at the Young Artist Competition of the National Flute Association. He is also a recent recipient of the “Rising Star” award at Galway Flute Academy.

Orchestrally, he has worked with the Mariinsky Theater in Vladivostok, as well as with Orchestra Now, the Manhattan Symphonie, and the New York Symphonic Ensemble on its Japanese tour in 2016, under conductors such as Neeme Järvi, Fabio Luisi, Hans Graf, Gerard Schwarz, Tan Dun, JoAnn Falletta, and Leon Botstein amongst others.

He has performed at various international venues, including the Kennedy Center in Washington DC; Merkin Concert Hall, the Morgan Library, and the Metropolitan Museum in NYC; Lviv Philharmonic, Kremlin Concert Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus; Suntory Hall in Tokyo, as well as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Currently, Denis is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in the studio of Marina Piccinini.

About our Rising Stars
ChamberFest Cleveland’s Rising Stars are recognized for their extraordinary talent. They are invited to deepen their connection to the art of chamber music by immersing themselves in the festival, rehearsing side by side with the leading chamber musicians of our time, and performing in a professional concert setting for discerning audiences and critics alike.

BRANDON PATRICK GEORGE

BRANDON PATRICK GEORGE is a GRAMMY® award-winning flutist whose repertoire extends from the Baroque era to today. He is the flutist of Imani Winds and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Albany symphonies, American Composers Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, among others. He has been praised as “elegant” by The New York Times, as a “virtuoso” by The Washington Post, and as a “knockout musician with a gorgeous sound” by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Brandon has performed at the Elbphilharmonie, the Kennedy Center, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Prague Spring Festival. In addition to his work with Imani Winds, Brandon’s solo performances include appearances at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 92nd Street Y, Tippet Rise, and Maverick Concerts. In 2021, Brandon was part of the inaugural class of WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, a program designed to advance the careers of early and mid-career artists and support the future of classical music. During his yearlong residency at WQXR, Brandon guest hosted Evening Music, interviewed Ford Foundation president Darren Walker about diversity and equity in the performing arts, and recorded with pianist Aaron Diehl and harpist June Han.

Prior to his solo career, Brandon performed as a guest with many of the world’s leading ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). He has appeared as guest principal flute with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and has performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl with Music Director Gustavo Dudamel. His ensemble work allowed him to work closely with some of the foremost composers of our time including John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Tania León, Steve Reich, and George Lewis.

Brandon has collaborated with many illustrious musicians and composers in chamber settings, including with the Escher Quartet, pianists Aaron Diehl and Lowell Liebermann, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, harpist Bridget Kibbey, and composers Valerie Coleman and Sullivan Fortner.

In September 2023, Brandon’s latest album, Twofold, was released on In a Circle Records. Twofold, Brandon’s second solo album, explores musical dialogues that transcend space, time, and identity by pairing canonical works for solo flute with new compositions. The recording features music by C.P.E. Bach, Claude Debussy, Reena Esmail, Saad Haddad, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Toru Takemitsu. BBC Music Magazine gave Twofold a four-star rating for both the performance and recording, calling the album “a superb collection.” Twofold follows the success of Brandon Patrick George’s debut solo album, which includes music by Kalevi Aho, J.S. Bach, Pierre Boulez, and Sergei Prokofiev, and was released in 2020 on Haenssler Classics. Brandon was profiled in The New York Times around the album’s release, in an article titled “A Flutist Steps into the Solo Spotlight,” which described the album as “a program that showcases the flute in all its wit, warmth and brilliance.”

Brandon Patrick George regularly serves on panels about diversity in classical music, being repeatedly asked what institutions can do to support and reflect the communities they serve. The many conversations, and desire to use his platform for change, inspired him to create his latest commissioning initiative, BPG: The Community Concerto Project. Brandon proposes a new concerto which features students that he will mentor during his collaboration in the community. Having a new commission which tells the story of that community, while also representing the community on stage, encompasses Brandon’s vision of helping orchestras deepen their connections with their audiences, inspire young musicians of color, and expand the repertoire with programming that reflects the community in which they serve. In June 2024, the Albany Symphony presented BPG: The Community Concerto Project in a new concerto performed by Brandon and the Albany High School Choir composed by Michael Gilbertson. Brandon will continue to work with symphonies and students across the country in future seasons, helping to build connections between various communities and orchestral institutions.

Raised by a single mother in Dayton, OH, Brandon is the proud product of public arts education. He draws on his personal experiences in his commitment to educating the next generation, performing countless outreach concerts for schoolchildren every year, and mentoring young conservatory musicians of color embarking on performance careers. Brandon trained at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with Michel Debost, in Paris with Sophie Cherrier, and received a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music studying with Marya Martin. He continued his studies under the guidance of Lorna McGhee, now principal flutist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Brandon has served on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music since 2021, and was appointed to the flute faculty at Mannes School of Music in January 2025. He has spent many summers on the faculty of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada. In 2024, he was appointed as the Music Consultant at The Morgan Library & Museum, where he oversees the development and implementation of its music program.

BRIDGET KIBBEY

Extraordinary harpist BRIDGET KIBBEY, called “the Yo-Yo Ma of the harp (Vogue Magazine),” is in demand for her virtuosic and soulful performances that transcend her instrument. At ease crossing classical, global, and jazz genres, Kibbey dives deep into historic narratives —from the Baroque, to the French Belle Époque to Persian Modes, to Nuevo Latino traditions – while resonating within the vanguard of the new. According to the New York Times“…she made it seem as though her instrument had been waiting all its life to explode with the energetic figures and colors she was getting from it.”

Kibbey is a winner of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Premiere Prix at the Journées de les Harpes Competition, made her NPR Tiny Desk Solo Debut, and is the only harpist to win a place in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program. In 2023/24, Kibbey makes solo debuts at Dumbarton Oaks, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, Rockport Music, Festival Napa Valley, the VIVO Festival, Saratoga PAC, and in Alice Tully Hall with Artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Alongside solo recitals and concerti, Kibbey tours programming of her own creation– with mandolinist Avi Avital, The Dover Quartet, celebrated Persian singer Mahsa Vahdat, Latin-Grammy winning percussionist Samuel Torres, among others.

Listen to Bridget’s newest record release with Pentatone: Crossing the Ocean, and follow bridgetkibbey.com for more details! “She has the world at her fingertips.” [The Star Tribune]

JASON VIEAUX

GRAMMY®-winner JASON VIEAUX, “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists” (Gramophone), is described by NPR as “perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation”.

In appearances from New York’s Lincoln Center to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Seoul Arts Center, Jason Vieaux has cemented his reputation as an artist of brilliance and uncompromised mastery. Cited for his “eloquent and vibrant performances” on disc (Gramophone Magazine) he is hailed as “virtuosic, flamboyant, dashing and, sometimes ineffably lyrical” (New York Times) on stage.

Sought-after for his extensive concerto repertoire, Vieaux has performed with a long list of orchestras including Cleveland, Toronto, St. Louis, Houston, Columbus, and has made premiere recordings with the Nashville Symphony (Leshnoff Concerto) and the Norrköping Symphony (Beal Six Sixteen). He has worked with renowned conductors including Giancarlo Guerrero, Jahja Ling, Gerard Schwarz, and David Robertson. Vieaux’s passion for new music has fostered premieres from Jeff Beal, Avner Dorman, Vivian Fung, Pierre Jalbert, Jonathan Leshnoff, David Ludwig, Mark Mancina, and Dan Visconti, among many others.

Vieaux’s extensive discography includes his “Bach Volume 2: Works for Violin” released on Azica in 2022 to rave reviews for his “eloquent and vibrant performances” (Gramophone). Additional 2022 releases include “Shining Night” featuring his duo with acclaimed violinist Anne Akiko Meyers (Avie Records) and Michael Fine’s “Concierto del Luna” with flutist Alexa Still (Sony Classical), both enjoying strong critical acclaim. Vieaux recorded Pat Metheny’s “Four Paths of Light”, a solo work dedicated to him by Pat, for Metheny’s 2021 album “Road to the Sun”. Jason Vieaux won the 2014 Best Instrumental Classical Solo Grammy Award for “Play”. The Huffington Post declared PLAY is “part of the revitalized interest in the classical guitar”.

A busy touring performer, Jason Vieaux enjoys repeated invitations from distinguished series, including San Francisco Performances, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the 92nd Street Y, among others. Festival engagements include Ravinia, Caramoor, Domaine-Forget, Music@Menlo, Round Top, and the Eastern Music Festival. Overseas performance venues include Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Seoul Arts Center, Shanghai Concert Hall, Sala Sao Paolo, and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.

Jason Vieaux enjoys ongoing performing and recording collaborations with the Escher String Quartet, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, accordion/bandoneon virtuoso Julien Labro, and saxophone virtuoso Timothy McAllister.

In 2011 Vieaux co-founded the guitar department at the Curtis Institute of Music (with David Starobin). He has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music for 25 years. Jason’s online Guitar School for Artistworks Inc. has hundreds of subscribers from all over the world. He plays a guitar by Gernot Wagner, 2013, made in Frankfurt.

For more information, visit jasonvieaux.com.

ERROLLYN WALLEN

ERROLLYN WALLEN CBE is a multi award-winning Belize-born British composer named as one of the world’s top twenty most performed living classical composers. Her prolific output includes over twenty operas and a large catalogue of orchestral, chamber and vocal works, which are performed and broadcast throughout the world. She has composed for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games 2012, for the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees, a specially commissioned song for COP 26, a re-imagining of Jerusalem for the Last Night of the Proms 2020. BBC Radio 3 featured her music for Composer of the Week, and she has made several radio documentaries. Errollyn collaborated with artist Sonia Boyce on her installation, Feeling Her Way, for the British Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale, which won the Golden Lion prize. Her acclaimed opera, Dido’s Ghost was premiered at the Barbican in 2021 and received its US première in San Francisco in November 2023. She is currently working on a new opera which will premiere at Aldeburgh in 2026. Recent premieres include a Wigmore Hall debut performance of songs from The Errollyn Wallen Songbook, a violin concerto for Philippe Quint, Dances for Orchestra for Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Irish Chamber Orchestra, Night Thoughts, a song cycle for Dame Sarah Connolly and pianist Joseph Middleton and PARADE commissioned by Academy of St Martin in the Fields which toured Germany and Austria in January 2025.

As well as the release of her violin concerto on the PENTATONE label, a recording of her orchestral works recorded at Abbey Road Studios, will be released in March on the Resonus label.

Errollyn Wallen’s book, Becoming a Composer published by Faber in 2023, has been translated into Spanish. The paperback will be published this year.

Errollyn Wallen’s recordings have travelled 7.84 million kilometers in space, completing 186 orbits around the Earth on NASA’s STS-115 mission.

In August 2024 Errollyn Wallen was appointed Master of the King’s Music.

Errollyn Wallen is generously sponsored by The Kulas Foundation.

DOMINIC ARMSTRONG

DOMINIC ARMSTRONG has been celebrated for his musicality and characterization on stages both nationally and internationally. Mr. Armstrong has made important debuts with companies including Opera Philadelphia, Chicago Opera Theatre, DeutsOper Berlin, Opera Regioegio Torino, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, LA Opera, Syracuse Opera, Memphis Opera, Dayton Opera, Opera Colorado, the Ojai Festival, Wolf Trap Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and Opera Omaha.  

Other highlights include operas, concerts, and recitals with companies such as Wexford Opera, Musica Viva Opera (Hong Kong), New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Symphony, Boston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, National Orchestra (US), the Kaoshiung (Taiwan) Symphony Orchestra. 

Recently, Mr. Armstrong has appeared in operas with Odyssey Opera (Adamo; Lysistrata), Dayton Opera (Kaminsky world premiere; Finding Wright), Opera Carolina (Redler; The Falling and the Rising, and La Traviata), and Utah Opera (Der Fliegender Holländer); recitals with University of South Carolina, Mirror Visions Ensemble, Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, and The Castleton Festival; and a soloist with American Symphony Orchestra (Schoenberg; Gurre-Lieder), the Indianapolis Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony, and Vox Anima London (world premiere; Todd Requiem Gravare).  This summer he will participate in festivals in Brevard, NC, Chautauqua, NY, and Castleton, VA.

SARAH SHAFER

Praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer for her, “crystalline sound, perfectly true intonation, glowing warmth, and total presence” and named “remarkable, artistically mature … a singer to watch” by Opera News, American soprano SARAH SHAFER actively appears on the leading operatic and concert stages of the world.

The 2023-24 season sees Ms. Shafer returning to the role of Nuria in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar with Pacific Opera Victoria, and creating the role of Sophia in the world premiere of Layale Chaker’s Ruinous Gods at the Spoleto Festival, USA. She will also appear with the Florida Orchestra singing Handel’s Messiah, and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra singing Faure’s Requiem. She recently created the role of the Empress in the world premiere of Jacob Bancks’ Karkinos and also portrayed Krystyna Zywulska in Jake Heggie’s Two Remain with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. Last season she made her debut with the Kalamazoo Symphony as the soprano soloist in Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem and with the Bellingham Symphony singing Mozart’s Requiem. Recent performances have included a return to Opera Philadelphia, first in a program entitled “Larry Brownlee and Friends” and then for a concert of arias hosted at the Mann Center. She also joined frequent collaborator Opera Lafayette as Jeanette in Philidor’s La maréchal ferrant, and presented a virtual recital for Friends of Chamber Music Portland (Oregon).

During the 2019-2020 season, Ms. Shafer returned to Opera Philadelphia for a comedic turn as Iris in Semele, sang Cupid in John Blow’s Venus and Adonis with Opera Lafayette, and joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in Le nozze di Figaro, covering the role of Barbarina. She presented Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Pari with the Cincinnati Symphony, a concert entitled “Emerging Voices” with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Omaha Symphony. Recital appearances included a collaboration with Martin Katz and the University Musical Society at University of Michigan presenting Hugo Wolf’s Mörike Lieder. Two recordings were released: Poul Ruders’ The Thirteenth Child with Bridge Records, and with Naxos Records, Richard Danielpour’s Talking to Aphrodite.

In opera, Sarah Shafer is experiencing a burgeoning career, including a debut with the Metropolitan Opera as Azema in Semiramide, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro with San Diego Opera, and her role and company debut in the title role of L’incoronazione di Poppea with Cincinnati Opera. Ms. Shafer has appeared with San Francisco Opera as Pamina in Jun Kaneko’s production of Die Zauberflöte, Mary Lennox in the world premiere of Nolan Gasser’s The Secret Garden, Zerlina in Jacopo Spirei’s new production of Don Giovanni, and the world premiere of Marco Tutino’s Two Women in the role of Rosetta, opposite Anna Caterina Antonacci and conducted by Nicola Luisotti. She had an enormous success in her return to Opera Philadelphia as Adina in Stephen Lawless’ production of L’elisir d’amore. Elsewhere, she has sung Leïla in Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles at Tulsa Opera, Barbarina and the cover of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival and with the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall, and several roles for Opera Philadelphia including Nuria in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar and Voce dal Cielo in Don Carlo.

In her young career, Ms. Shafer has enjoyed notable success in concert work. She has performed Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and San Antonio Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, and Oregon Bach Festival, Bach’s St. John Passion with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Voices of Ascension in New York City, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Bergen Symphony Orchestra and Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Les Illuminations and “L’amerò, sarò costante” from Il Rè Pastore with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Mass in C minor with the Utah Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s “Talking to Aphrodite” with the Sejong Soloists at Carnegie Hall, Bach’s Mass in B minor with the New York Choral Society, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Poulenc’s Gloria and Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, and Shanan Estreicher’s Songs of Emily Dickinson with the Chamber Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall.

An avid recitalist and chamber musician, Ms. Shafer enjoys an active collaboration with legendary pianist Richard Goode, having performed Schumann and Brahms lieder with him at Carnegie Hall, Spivey Hall, Chamber Music Sedona, and Chamber Music Society of Detroit as well as other venues in Palm Beach and New York. She has performed Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen with clarinetist Anthony McGill at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Five Borough Music Festival. She has also collaborated with such musicians as guitarist Jason Vieaux, Anna Polonsky, and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. Ms. Shafer was a resident artist at the Marlboro Music Festival for five summers, where she worked with Richard Goode, Mitsuko Uchida, Benita Valente, Sir Thomas Allen, and Martin Isepp. She actively appears with the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Mozart and Handel Académie in Aix-en-Provence, Bard Summer Music Festival, and Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary.

A native of State College, PA, Ms. Shafer holds degrees in voice and opera from the Curtis Institute of Music, and is currently based outside Philadelphia.

SUSANNA PHILLIPS

Alabama native SUSANNA PHILLIPS (soprano) continues to establish herself as one of today’s most sought-after singing actors and recitalists. Ms. Phillips is a recipient of the prestigious Met Opera2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award. She’s sung at the Met Opera for 12 consecutive seasons in roles including Musetta and most recently Countess Almaviva. Role highlights include Fiordigili, which The New York Times called a “breakthrough night”, and Clémence in the company’s premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s, L’Amour de Loin. Desired by the world’s most renown orchestras, Ms. Phillips most recently opened the Oregon Symphony’s 125thAnniversary season performing Mahler’s Second Symphony. She has appeared with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Philadelphia Orchestra. She is dedicated to oratorio works with credits including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and the Fauré and Mozart Requiems. Other career highlights include Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare and the title role of Agrippina with Boston Baroque, Stella in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Renée Fleming, and Birdie in Blitzstein’s Regina. Ms. Phillips co-founded Twickenham Fest, a chamber music festival in her native Huntsville, Alabama with bassoonist and Huntsville native, Matthew McDonald. She returns frequently to her native state for recitals and orchestral appearances