DUDLEY ORCHESTRA GUEST ARTISTS

'07-'08 SEASON

ALAN STEPANSKY (Harvard A.B. '82), soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, has concertized internationally, with recitals broadcast by National Public Radio and the CBC. In demand as a chamber artist, he has been a guest of the Mostly Mozart Festival and has appeared in many of the nation's most prestigious chamber music series including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Washington National Gallery, Frick Museum in Pittsburgh, Bargemusic (Brooklyn, New York), New York Philomusica and the New York Philharmonic Ensembles.

His multi-disc recording of American chamber music for the EMI label received many honors, including Editor's Choice by Gramophone, four stars from BBC Magazine, Critic's Choice by the New York Times and Chamber Music Record of the Year Award by the British Music Industry Association. He has also recorded for the Cala and Elysium labels.

In 1998, Mr. Stepansky completed a distinguished nine-year tenure as the New York Philharmonic's associate principal and acting principal cellist after making his solo debut with the Philharmonic under Kurt Masur. He performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and became principal cellist of the Boston Pops at age 24. As a recording artist, he has appeared on the albums of such diverse artists as David Byrne, David Bowie, Natalie Merchant, Shawn Colvin and Lou Reed, and served as principal cellist for many notable film score recordings, including Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Kinsey.

After studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Stepansky graduated with a degree in music theory and musicology from Harvard University, where he was awarded the Horblit Prize, conferred for outstanding musical accomplishments. He is professor of cello and head of the cello department at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and on the cello faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. He has appeared and taught at many summer festivals, including the Music Academy of the West, the National Orchestral Institute, and the Domaine Forget Music Academy in Quebec, Canada. Mr. Stepansky has given masterclasses internationally at many conservatories including the Juilliard School, Toho School in Tokyo, Hong Kong Academy and Faculdades de Artes Alcântara in São Paulo, Brazil.

Baritone SIDNEY OUTLAW has already developed an extensive operatic repertoire, having performed more than 15 major roles throughout the United States, including Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Zurga in The Pearlfishers. He was recently appointed to the Florida Grand Opera Young Artist Development Program.

Mr. Outlaw's 2007 season opened singing in the "Wednesday at One" recital series in Alice Tully Hall in New York City. He also participated in the premiere of H. Leslie Adams's opera Blake at the prestigious Schomburg Center for African American Culture in Harlem, New York, the opening concert for the 2007 National Opera Association Convention. In February, Mr. Outlaw presented his debut recital under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation's "On Wings of Song" recital Series at St. Bartholomew's Cathedral, with pianist Tamara Sanikidze. Mr. Outlaw made his Avery Fisher Hall debut in May 2007 under the baton of Maestro James DePriest as the soloist for Beethoven's Ninth, a part he'd previously sung in Cambridge, MA with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra. Later this year, Mr. Outlaw will be the baritone soloist for Handel's Messiah with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall and will sing Achilla in Florida Grand Opera's Production of Handel's Giulio Cesare.

Mr. Outlaw has received numerous awards for his singing, from the Metropolitan Opera National Council (semi-finalist), the Oratorio Society of New York (2nd place), the Marilyn Horne Foundation, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and the Orpheus National Vocal Competition, among many others. He has sung with conductors such as David Atherton, the late Moses Hogan, Steven Osgood, Andre Thomas, Valery Ryvkin, Louis Burkot, and Stuart Malina. While at The Juilliard School he studied with W. Stephen Smith and worked closesly with coaches Arlene Shrut, Steven Blier, Margo Garrett, Nico Castel, Robin Guarino, Reed Woodhouse, and Brian Zeger. On the recital stage Mr. Outlaw has performed in many venues and is frequently seen in collaboration with his mentor, internationally renowned pianist Warren Jones.

Sidney Outlaw is a native of Brevard, NC and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he studied with Levone Tobin-Scott and earned a bachelor of music degree. Mr. Outlaw is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfinia Fraternity and of the Riverside Church Choir in New York City.

RECENT SEASONS

LAURA BIRON , winner of Dudley's concerto competition, started playing the clarinet at the age of eleven; she wanted to learn the saxophone, but her hands were too small. Fortunately, she took quite a shine to the instrument, and became a highly accomplished young musician in Canterbury, England, where she spent her school years. During this period she won numerous prizes for performance, gave regular solo recitals, and played concertos by Krommer, Mozart and Weber. She continued her clarinet studies during her gap year, passing the Royal College of Music's Diploma Examination (with distinction) under the instruction of internationally acclaimed clarinetist David Campbell.

In 2003 Laura gained a place to read Philosophy at Queens' College, Cambridge. She was awarded an Instrumental Scholarship by the University, which allowed her to continue her clarinet playing during her philosophical studies. She performed concertos by Finzi and Copland in the University Concert Hall, and played regularly with the Aquilo Quintet. She also participated in masterclasses with the Britten Sinfonia, the Fitzwilliam Quartet, the Academy of Ancient Music and the London Mozart Players. In addition to her clarinet playing, Laura was heavily involved in the music life of Queens' College: singing with the Chapel Choir, directing the swing band, and, in her final year, taking on the role of music society President.

A keen chamber musician, Laura has been involved with projects ranging from the Schubert Octet to Django Rienhardt style gypsy jazz. She also enjoys opera and music theatre, recent performances of which include Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, and a staged production of L'Histoire du Soldat in Christ's College Chapel, Cambridge. In addition, Laura has extensive orchestral experience with the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain, the Kent Country Youth Orchestra, and the Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra. With these and other ensembles, she has performed in prestigious venues such as The Barbican, The Royal Albert Hall, and St John's Smith Square (London); Dvorak Hall (Prague); Duna Palace (Budapest); Chiesa di Santo Stefano al Ponte Vecchio (Florence); Le Madeleine Church (Paris), and her proudest musical achievement to date, Disneyland, Florida (on the tenor saxophone).

Now at Harvard on a Kennedy Scholarship, Laura is studying at the Longy School of Music with Jonathan Cohler. In addition to working with her on the Mozart concerto, Jonathan is guiding Laura through Brahms' clarinet works in preparation for a CD she is making of the two sonatas and the cello trio with URM Recording, LTD, in 2008. Next year,Laura will return to Cambridge for a PhD in Philosophy.

The BAY COLONY BRASS is Massachusetts' premier performing large brass ensemble. Uniting virtuoso brass performers and a cadre of imaginative arrangers, BCB bridges the Atlantic by combining a distinctly British Brass Band approach with American Wind Band and Orchestral traditions.

Founded in 2000, Bay Colony Brass performs a broad range of repertoire, spanning five centuries of music, not only of the brass or orchestral genre, but also encompassing vocal music, Broadway musicals, and even the occasional pop song. Often, in the course of a two hour performance, BCB will take you from the 1550s through and beyond the 1950s on a journey not just of musical enjoyment, but musical enrichment as well.

Music Director Jerry Cadden (principal tuba of the New Philharmonia) is a renowned ethnomusicologist whose educational interjections make the Bay Colony concert experience all the more exceptional. His brass literacy and expertise, combined with his performing and conducting chops, honed on both sides of the Atlantic, have made BayColonyBrass what it is today.

A native of Alabama, SUSANNA PHILLIPS has studied and performed throughout the United States and Europe. Through Master classes and private study, Ms. Phillips has worked with artists such as Marilyn Horne, Elly Ameling, Leontyne Price, Thomas Hampson, Barbara Bonney, Jose Van Dam, Grace Bumbry, Malcolm Martineau, Steven Blier, Brian Zeger, Margo Garrett, and Warren Jones.

This summer Ms. Phillips will be featured with the Santa Fe Opera, the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, the Oratorio Society of New York, and the Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music. With the Lyric Opera of Chicago she will sing Diana (Iphigénie en Tauride) and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), and will cover Juliette (Romeo et Juliette) and Blanche (Dialogues of the Carmelites) in the 2006-2007 season.

As a 2005-2006 member of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, Ms. Phillips sang Frasquita (Carmen), Pamina and Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) with the ensemble this summer. This fall, she will perform Frasquita and Countess Ceprano (Rigoletto), and will cover the roles of Pamina and 1st Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Michaela (Carmen) and Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice) with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Ms. Phillips’ recent operatic roles include Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Ermione (Oreste), Venus (Blow’s Venus and Adonis), Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) and Juliette (Romeo et Juliette). Recent concert and oratorio engagements include Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and the Fauré and Mozart Requiems. In April 2004, Ms. Phillips made her Carnegie Hall debut under the batons of Skitch Henderson and Rob Fisher with the New York Pops.

Ms. Phillips has sung in such exciting venues as Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, and Alice Tully Hall. She performed under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation’s On Wings of Song Series, the Lyceum Concert Series, the Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music, the Juilliard Honors Recital, Wednesdays at One, Sacred Music in a Sacred Place, The Mozart-Haydn Festival in Mexico City, and the Nativity Early Music Concert Series in Alabama.

In 2005, Ms. Phillips was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Operalia Competition, The MacAllister Awards, and was awarded a grant from the George London Foundation. While an apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera, she was awarded the Judith Raskin Memorial Award. She received a 2004 Encouragement Award from the Sullivan Foundation, was a 2004 finalist in the Joy in Singing competition, and was a joint winner of the Marilyn Horne Foundation competition in 2002. Most recently Ms. Phillips was the first prize winner of the American Opera Society Competition.

Ms. Phillips received the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School in New York. She apprenticed at the Santa Fe Opera, the Cleveland Art Song Festival, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, the Music Academy of the West, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and the Academie Musicale de Villecroze. Ms. Phillips is a student of Cynthia Hoffmann.

UPDATE: Since performing with Dudley, Ms. Phillips has been contracted to sing at the Metropolitan Opera! In December of 2008, she'll sing Musetta in the Met's production of La bohème, opposite Anna Netrebko and Ramón Vargas. Congratulations, Susanna!