SEASON 3

Critically acclaimed as “a soprano of extraordinary agility and concentration” by The New York Times, soprano Mary Mackenzie has emerged as one of contemporary music’s most compelling storytellers. With a career that has taken her to performances in 11 U.S. States and Washington D.C., as well as a seasoned discography spanning eleven years, Ms. Mackenzie is particularly known for her evocative chamber music performances. For her efforts, she has earned praise for a “sensational, epically unsettling” rendition of George Crumb by the Boston Globe and her “mystifying” vocal effects by The Financial Times.

Examples of some of her most immersive work to date includes several “one-woman” performances, like the United States premiere of Héctor Parra’s monodrama Hypermusic: Ascension at the Guggenheim Museum, a highly technological experience which utilized Harvard professor of theoretical physics Lisa Randall as librettist. At the Bravo! Vail Festival, Ms. Mackenzie performed and designed the storyline for a cabaret-style, costumed and staged rendition of De Leeuw - Im wunderschoenen Monat mai, a Pierrot-style “recomposed” adaptation of works by Schumann and Schubert, with new music collective Le Train Bleu—she has since continued to perform the work with the Redlands Symphony and with The Knights ensemble. Elsewhere, she has performed chamber music with American Contemporary Music Ensemble, the Chameleon Arts Ensemble, Ekmeles, the Da Capo Chamber Players, Collage New Music, Fulcrum Point, and the Talea Ensemble, among many others.

In keeping with her contemporary bonafides, she has performed leading roles in world premieres of numerous operas, including as Sister Leonide (Mata Hari by Matt Marks), Despina (Cosi faran tutti by Jonathan Dawe), and Angelica (Cracked Orlando by Jonathan Dawe). Ms. Mackenzie finds particular enjoyment in the collaborative element of designing new work in tandem with the fresh ideas of emerging composers, and in that vein has premiered over 20 works.

Ms. Mackenzie’s discography includes five albums of collaborations with a bevy of modern composers. On Albany Records, she has frequently collaborated with the MacArthur Grant awardee composer John Harbison on albums such as Vocalisms: Songs of Daniel Crozier, John Harbison, James Primosch, and Ned Rorem; Closer to My Own Life with the Albany Symphony; Songs After Hours (a World Premiere). Her other album work includes Cathedral Music with The 21st Century Consort, Louis Karchin: To the Sun and Stars on Bridge Records, and The Opera America Songbook.

As a soloist, Ms. Mackenzie has collaborated with the Albany Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard Percussion Ensemble, and the Borromeo String Quartet. Particularly dear to her heart was a performance of Boulez’s Improvisations sur Mallarmé Nos. 1 & 2 for the composer’s 85th birthday celebration at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, as well as a performance of Elliott Carter’s Warble for Lilac Time with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Occasionally found in traditional opera productions, Ms. Mackenzie made her professional opera debut as Despina (Così fan tutte) at Madison Opera, and has appeared as the soprano soloist (Carmina Burana) with both the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and the Phoenix Symphony.

Originally from Madison, Mary Mackenzie holds education from The Manhattan School of Music (M.M.) and the Cleveland Institute of Music (B.M., Professional Studies Certificate). She lives with her husband Barry in Boston, where she enjoys hiking, cooking, photography, and gardening.

Taiwanese-American violinist Pei-Ju Wu enjoys a musical career both as a performing artist and as a teacher. She joined the first violin section of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in 2013 and was appointed Principal Second Violin of the Des Moines Metro Opera in 2018.

Pei-Ju's experience in symphonic orchestra has taken her to perform with the Nashville Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, the Houston Grand Opera, Fort Worth Symphony and Dallas Chamber Symphony. She has served as the concertmaster for the Woodlands Symphony (TX), Opera in the Heights (TX), interim concertmaster for the Huntsville Symphony (AL), and is now the principal second violin of Des Moines Metro Opera. Her love of chamber music has inspired her to found several chamber music ensembles and series in the past. In 2018 she co-founded a new string quartet in Birmingham, Iron City Strings.

Pei-Ju studied with Kathleen Winkler at Rice University, Roman Totenberg at Boston University, Shirley Givens at the Juilliard Pre-College, and Rodney Friend at the Royal College of Music. She graduated magna cum lauda from Boston University and has a Master's Degree in Violin Performance from Rice University.

Born and raised in Costa Rica, currently calling Chicago home. Dalia is a sound explorer. Often using flutes as a basis for explorations, but also no stranger to using voice and the sounds of the world around her. Dalia strives to intuitively create music as a performer, improviser, and collaborator.

Dalia believes in forging deep connections between her, collaborators, and audience which allows to communicate the essence of a work at the highest level of excellence and whenever possible invite community participation in the creation of works.

Collaboration and aesthetic variety are at the center of her work as a soloist and chamber musician. It is through collaboration and work with composers such as Mesias Maiguashca, Julio Estrada, Fernanda Aoki Navarro, Darlene Castro, Tiffany Skidmore, James Dillon, Bethany Younge, Stratis Minakakis, Ivan Sparrow Ayub, Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Pablo Santiago Chin, that her work as a soloist and creator of sounds has grown. Dalia’s work with ensembles, such as Fonema Consort where she is a founding member, and as a guest flutist with Eighth Blackbird, Fulcrum Point, Fifth House, Unsupervised, and Chicago Composers Orchestra, offer an active platform for chamber music collaborations.

Dalia received her music degrees from University of Costa Rica, Florida State University, and DePaul University studying with Maria Luisa Meneses, Eva Amsler, and Mary Stolper.

Gregory Oakes is an exciting and energetic clarinetist performer and a passionate champion of the music of our time. From his Carnegie Hall debut with members of Ensemble Intercontemporain and Pierre Boulez to his performances as a member of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Oakes has been praised by critics for his “outstanding performance” (New York Times) and “jazzy flourishes” (Denver Post). His performance highlights include a concerto with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Telluride Jazz Festival with Grammy® Award-winner Terence Blanchard, a concert at Amsterdam’s venerable new music hall De IJsbreker, and a solo feature at Berlin’s prestigious MaerzMusik festival*.* Oakes has performed at multiple International Clarinet Association ClarinetFests, the University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, the New Music Gathering, and the International Computer Music Conference. He has performed throughout the United States, Brazil, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Thailand*.* He has held residencies at Princeton, Harvard, Dartmouth, Aspen, and Amsterdam's STEIM. His CD Aesthetic Apparatus: Clarinet Chamber Music of Helmut Lachenmann appears on the New Focus Recordings label. His other recordings appear on Bridge, Centaur, CRI, Gothic, Karnatic Lab Records, and Naxos and broadcasts on National Public Radio. Oakes is on the faculty of Iowa State University and is principal clarinet of the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra. He is a Buffet Group USA and Vandoren Performing Artist.

Soloist, collaborator, teacher—cellist Samuel DeCaprio is an active performer and freelancer based in New York City. He was recently awarded the Doctor of Musical arts degree from The Juilliard School together with a Norman Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant. Among his numerous honors he won the Aldo Parisot Prize at the Yale School of Music and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, along with top prizes from the Arlington, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, National Federation of Music Clubs, and William C. Byrd competitions.

DeCaprio’s New York debut featured the North American premiere of Grażyna Bacewicz’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with the Juilliard Orchestra and conductor David Robertson in Alice Tully Hall. Appearing across the globe as a soloist and chamber musician, he has been featured on prominent radio programs including WQXR New York, WFMT Chicago, NPR, and WCNI, and has recorded for ECM Records, MSR Classics, and Nonesuch Records. He has played as a substitute with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, and Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and appears regularly with the Metropolis Ensemble and New York Classical Players.

A passionate chamber musician, DeCaprio’s festival appearances include Ravinia Steans Music Institute, IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, Les Rencontres Musicales de Noyers-sur-Serein, Domaine Forget, Kneisel Hall, Lake George, Meadowmount, and Orford Musique, among others. His enthusiasm for collaboration has led to the opportunity to perform with many distinguished chamber musicians, including Atar Arad, Paul Biss, Natasha Brofsky, Steven Doane, Vladimir Feltsman, Joseph Lin, Daniel Phillips, David Shifrin, Barry Snyder, and Irma Vallecillo. In 2022, DeCaprio founded the Arazzo Music Festival—an annual chamber music festival focused on bringing high-level chamber music and educational events for free to his home state of Connecticut.

A strong advocate for contemporary music, DeCaprio has sought to collaborate with living composers on their own music, working with notable composers such as Tyondai Braxton, Yu-Hui Chang, Chaya Czernowin, Tina Davidson, Brett Dean, and David Virelles. He is also the founder and creator of Project Mx2, a multifaceted project to commission and perform new works for the cello. DeCaprio’s forthcoming solo album, Project Mx2: Stories—four commissions for solo cello by Matīss Čudars, Soomin Kim, Udi Perlman, and Evdoxia Ragkou—is presented with generous support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts Artists Respond grant program.

DeCaprio holds degrees from the University of Connecticut (Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude), Eastman School of Music (Master of Music), Mannes School of Music (Professional Studies Diploma), Yale School of Music (Master of Musical Arts), and The Juilliard School

(Doctor of Musical Arts). His principal teachers include Joel Krosnick, Aldo Parisot, Marcy Rosen, Steven Doane, and Kangho Lee. At Juilliard, DeCaprio is Teaching Assistant to Joel Krosnick, Chair of the Cello Department.

New York-based Australian pianist and teaching artist, Dr. Joanne Kang, has been praised for her fleet-fingered virtuosity and stylistic versatility. As a performer and prolific prizewinner of national and international competitions and scholarships, Joanne enjoys a career teaching, concertizing, and curating solo recitals, chamber concerts, and multi-disciplinary collaborations.

Collaboration highlights include performances with Reena Esmail, Julia Wolfe, The American String Quartet, The Afield, American Modern Opera Company, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, members of the Silk Road Ensemble, and Kaija Saariaho for the world premiere of her final chamber composition, Semafor for eight instruments.Joanne has appeared on the stages of the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Town Hall, Perth Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Weill Recital Hall and Stern Auditorium presented by Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Lincoln Center, and the Guggenheim Museum, among others. Most recently she was selected as the pianist of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect (2020-23): “one of the strongest ensembles in the city”- New York Classical Review.

Joanne holds Associate, Licentiate, and Fellowship in Music diplomas from AMEB Australia, and Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Manhattan School of Music as the recipient of the Harold and Helene Schonberg Pianist and International Advisory Board Scholarships. Her primary mentors include the late Nikolay Evrov and the late Phillip Kawin. Joanne was awarded Manhattan School of Music’s 2015 Harold Bauer Award and 2023 Helen Cohn Award in recognition of an outstanding DMA graduate. Her doctoral thesis explores the history of Ukrainian Classical Music and the preludes of Ukrainian contemporary composer, Boris Lyatoshynsky.

As a passionate music educator and teaching artist, Joanne strives to uphold the values of empowerment and community accessibility to music and music education. She aims to inspire and nourish self-confidence, self-expression, curiosity, and creativity in her students. Joanne has curated and performed countless interactive concerts for the wider NY community and NYC public schools. Joanne maintains a private teaching studio while directing the Piano Lessons program at Absolute Piano in Brooklyn. As the assistant of Prof. Phillip Kawin and as a teaching fellow (2017-21) of the Keyboard Skills department, Joanne has taught undergraduate and graduate piano and keyboard skills classes, piano lessons, and studio classes at the Manhattan School of Music. She has also held residencies from 2020 to 2023 at Skidmore College NY, teaching piano lessons and coaching chamber groups.

Video recordings for Carnegie Hall’s YouTube channel include various self and live recorded concerts with Ensemble Connect, and music videos produced by FourTen Media production of Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio and a commissioned Deep River Spiritual piano trio arr. by Grammy Award winning Venezuelan composer, Gabriel Chakarji.

Upcoming album recordings include a contemporary classical chamber and jazz crossover album under ODD SOUND records with musicians Sahara von Hattenberger (cello), Jim Doxas (drums), and Adrian Vedady (bass). The album, to be released in the summer/fall of 2024 will explore this peculiar crossover genre through French composer Claude Bolling and newly commissioned works by Malcolm Sailor and Grammy-nominated composer, Remi LeBoeuf. Joanne will also be joining Canadian group Duo Étrange on an album, under the ATMA Classique label, featuring newly commissioned works by acclaimed Canadian contemporary composers Nicole Lizée, Airat Ichmouratov, and Laurence Jobidon.

Jake Darnell, originally from Emerson, Georgia, is a percussionist now residing in Houston, Texas. He is the Principal Timpanist of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra.

Active as an orchestral and chamber musician, Jake is passionate about performing contemporary works of all sorts. Jake performs as a member of the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO) and its associated chamber ensembles. It is with the LFCO that he recently performed world premieres of works by Liza Lim and Thomas Adès, and Swiss premieres of works by Mathias Spahlinger, Unsuk Chin, Wolfgang Rihm, and Tyshawn Sorey.

Well-established in the field of ensemble librarianship, Jake has worked as a regular part-timer in the libraries of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Houston Symphony Orchestra. He also spent four seasons each as the librarian of Music Academy of the West and Spoleto Festival USA.

Jake holds an Artist Diploma from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, a Master of Music degree from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School.