Sarah Dyer, mezzo-soprano, enjoys a diverse career in opera, concert, musical theatre, and chamber music. She was a member of the 2023-2024 Houston Grand Opera “Opera-To-Go!” season, performing Katie in Katie: The Strongest of the Strong. Other recent engagements include concert appearances with Houston Choral Society and Ars Lyrica, a debut with Central City Opera as Hattie in Kiss Me, Kate, and two worldpremiere performances with Houston Grand Opera’s “Seeking the Human Experience” series. Ms. Dyer has been seen as Frederico García Lorca in Ainadamar, a featured soloist in Sondheim on Sondheim, Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin, Second Witch and Sorceress (cover) in Dido and Aeneas, Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music, Madame de la Haltière in Cendrillion, Florence Pike in Albert Herring, Miss. Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief, Tisbe in La Cenerentola, Sally in A Hand of Bridge, and Ipo in the premiere of Communicable by Brian Yeakley with Houston Grand Opera, Music Academy of the West, Ars Lyrica, Opera in the Ozarks, Moores Opera Center, and Operativo Houston, among others. In addition to performing, Ms. Dyer has a passion for musicology and music education. As an undergraduate student, she participated in several study abroad programs, including trips to Rwanda and Cuba, researching musical trends in both cultures during critical periods of historical and social change. She has a love for bringing music into the community and has founded an organization, ConTempo, that does just that. Sarah is also active with Houston Grand Opera’s outreach program and can be found hosting “Sing! Move! Play!” in the park, reading and singing storybook operas, and giving recitals throughout the community. Ms. Dyer recently completed a Certificate of Performance in Voice at the University of Houston Moores School of Music, where she also graduated with a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy. She previously received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Nebraska Wesleyan University. Ms. Dyer has won Second Place in the 2024 Ruth Burr Awards, a 2023 Fielder Grant through the Wednesday Morning Musical Club of Austin, an Encouragement Award at the Houston District of the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Second Place in the 37th Annual Young Texas Artists Music Competition, and the Audience Choice Award in the 2022 Houston Saengerbund Awards.
Isabelle Ganz is a D.M.A. in Voice and Music Literature from the Eastman School of Music. Fulbright Scholar to Jerusalem, Solo Recitalist grant from the N.E.A., former Affiliate Artist in Voice at the Moores School of Music, Lamar University and the University of St. Thomas. Mezzo-soprano soloist with the Slovak Radio Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic (Lukas Foss, conductor), Portland, Maine Symphony, Arad Philharmonic (Romania), Houston Ballet, Aspen Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Voxia Festival (Sao Paulo),
Texas Music Festival. Over 20 recordings, including "Ryoanji for Voice and Percussion" by John Cage (composed for her and Michael Pugliese), Luciano Berio's "Sequenza Ill", included on a 4-CD compilation of the Sequenzas and cited by the NY Times as "one of the best classical recordings of 2006". At the age of 10 Ms. Ganz performed Haydn's Piano Concerto in D Major (3rd movement) with the New York Philharmonic on a Young People's concert. Her original choral compositions have been published by Boosey and Hawkes, Transcontinental and Shalshelet Publications. In 1989 Ms. Ganz won first prize for her song "Go Away Tango" in the Lind Solo Song competition, sponsored by Cornell University. Recently the Apollo Chamber Players commissioned and performed her work for string quartet, mezzo (Cecilia Duarte) and percussion (Jesus Pacheco) titled "La Palomba", as well as her string quartet "A Sephardic Chanukah" (to be performed once again this coming December 14th. Her work "S'Brent" for oboe, English Horn, cello and piano was commissioned and performed by ROCO and by the Texas New Music Ensemble during their 2024 Festival.
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B. P. Herrington was born in the Big Thicket of eastern Texas and his music is rooted in the folk ballads, Pentecostal gospel music, rural singing styles and instrumental music of this unique region. His works have been performed by artists such as soprano Tony Arnold, conductor James Baker, Ensemble Linea, El Perro Andaluz, the London Sinfonietta, the Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, the BBC Singers, in venues such as Rothko Chapel, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Carnegie Hall, and London’s Purcell Room.
Composition awards include the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, Morton Gould Award (ASCAP), Leo Kaplan Prize (ASCAP), First Music Award (New York Youth Symphony) and two composition awards from the Royal Academy of Music. His music has been selected for performance at Old First Concert Series in San Francisco (2022), Texas New Music Ensemble Concerts (2021), ACO/Berkely Symphony EarShot Reading Session (2014), June in Buffalo (2013), Wellesley Composers Conference (2013), the Cleveland Composers Recording Institute (2013), Pharos Arts Festival in Cyprus (2012), the Soundscape Festival in Italy (2011), UMKC Cello Days (2010), the OMMAGIO memorial concert for Berio in London, the Royal Festival Hall Organ Recital Series, and the British Society for the Promotion of New Music.
Herrington earned a Ph.D. in music composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he studied with Simon Bainbridge. He also studied with Marc Satterwhite and Steve Rouse at the University of Louisville, and with Joe Alexander and Frank Felice at Lamar University. Herrington founded the New Music Lab contemporary music ensemble at Sam Houston State University and currently chairs the Music Department at Lone Star College-CyFair near Houston.
Wen-Hsiu Angela Lai hails from Taiwan and enjoys her musical life across Asia, Australia, and the United States. A prize-winning musician, Lai recently earned second place in the 2024 Colorado Flute Association Young Artist Competition, a finalist in the 2023 Houston Flute Club Young Artist Competition, and a finalist in the 2022 National Flute Association Young Artist Competition. Lai continually enriches her artistry by engaging with diverse musical scenes and exploring innovative repertoire and collaboration that deepen the flute’s expressive possibilities.
Lai holds her Doctoral of Musical Art degree from University of Houston Moores School of Music. Her main teachers include Hsiao-Pei Iris Ma at Taiwan National Sun-Yat Sen Univ., Vernon Hill at Queensland Conservatorium, and Aralee Dorough at the University of Houston.
Besides being a passionate flutist, Lai enjoys nurturing her students’ flute learning journey, pursuing her dedication to Art in Health, spending time with family and friends, and exploring culinary arts around the world.
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Neil Ellis Orts is a writer and performer living in Houston. His creative writing has appeared in several small press journals and anthologies and his novella, Cary and John is available wherever you order books. His interests have taken him to study theater and performance as well as theology as well as dabble in endeavors that don't fit neatly under those headers. He is writer, actor, peformance artist, director, publisher, collaborator, and a generally curious individual.
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Misha Penton is a singer-composer, recording artist, music video-maker, and writer. Her projects blossom in many forms: live performance, audio projects, video works, site specific installations, visual art works, lyrics, and writings. Her media works blend futuristic art song, avant-spoken word, and chamber electronica, featuring intricate video composite imagery in an exploration of beautiful things unseen and ephemeral. Her many-layered voices weave into swirling electronic landscapes embracing experimental, unconventional vocal techniques and neo-operatic vocality. Rooted in the sonority of language, she composes with and through the voice: combining formal structures with improvisation and chance methods, and relying on delightful indeterminacy and happy accidents. Misha draws inspiration from mythology, fairytale, and literature of the Western canon, from global sacred story, and the cycle of the seasons. She has conceptualized, produced, and directed over sixteen original evening-length performance works and many music media and video projects. Recent projects include a performance residency for Sculpture Month Houston; the release of her 3-music video EP, Blessings of the Moon; the music video Last Cicada, funded in part by the Houston Arts Alliance and the Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs; and the multimedia project Earthshine celebrating the winter solstice 2023 in partnership with Sawyer Yards Arts Complex Houston. Her PhD, ‘Vocality as / in Composition: solo and collaborative creation of new postopera works’ was awarded by Bath Spa University UK. Professional affiliations include Houston Grand Opera, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Menil Collection Houston, Dallas Museum of Art, and Classical:NEXT, EU. Misha’s guest artist residencies include The Juilliard School, Concordia University Montreal, University of Regina, and University of Houston Honors College; she was a Visiting Research Fellow at Bath Spa University School of Music & Performing Arts (2021-23). Misha is also an expressive arts facilitator, creativity coach, and teaching artist. Upcoming projects include a set of songs inspired by the Homeric Hymn to Apollo and a concept album of 19th century fairytales. mishapenton.com
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Cellist Daniel Saenz has performed and presented master classes throughout South America, Mexico, and the USA. Recent engagements have taken him to internationally renowned venues throughout the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia.
As a concerto soloist, he has performed with orchestras in the United States, France, and Bolivia. An advocate of the music of our time, Mr. Saenz has performed under the auspices of Aperio, Music of the Americas, The Foundation for Modern Music, the University of Missouri Kansas City Musica Aestas Composition Festival, and SoundSCAPEComposition and Performance Exchange in Maccagno, Italy.
More recently, Daniel performed at the Schlern International Music Festival in Völsam Schlern, the Rio International Cello Festival in Rio de Janeiro, and the National Arts Institute (UNA) in Buenos Aires.
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A graduate of the University of Houston, Rice University and the Eastman School of Music, Mr. Saenz is the Assistant Professor of Cello at Sam Houston State University School of Music where he teaches cello, coaches chamber music, and is a member of the Kolonneh String Quartet.
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A native of Houston, Andrew Schneider is a pianist and vocal coach whose virtuosic technique and interpretative daring has cemented his reputation among clients as a fearless musician. His extensive collaborative activity encompasses early music, standard operatic and art song repertoire, as well as contemporary music. Proficient in Italian, German, French, Latin -- and especially adept in less frequently encountered languages, such as Russian -- Andrew enjoys using his considerable linguistic skill to help make challenging texts accessible to his clients. Andrew’s wide ranging musical activities also includes harpsichord and organ performance, composition, and conducting. Andrew holds a B.Mus., summa cum laude, in music composition from Rice University, and in 2009, was a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Competition. From 2012-2016, Andrew served as organist at St. Michael Catholic Church in Houston and continues to perform as a church organist throughout the Houston area. Andrew has also served LSC-Kingwood as a staff accompanist since 2014. For Mercury Houston, a period instrument ensemble, Andrew regularly plays harpsichord continuo, and has participated in several performances for the Houston Early Music Festival. As a continuo player, Andrew has also played Handel’s Messiah with the San Antonio Symphony and the Kingwood Chorale, as well as Haydn’s Creation with the Woodlands Chorale.
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In the field of opera, Andrew has served as music director for a production of Sweeney Todd and has coached Ariadne auf Naxos for the Kingwood Summer Opera. Andrew has also served as music director for Lone Star Lyric Theatre's production of Victor Herbert's Madeleine, and rehearsal pianist for the Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society's production of A Topsy Turvy Mikado. Other operas Andrew has coached include Rita, L’heure espagnole, L’italiana in Algeri, and La scala di seta for Operativo Houston, as well as Hansel and Gretel. For a 2016 Pittsburgh production, Andrew also coached the leading role in Die schweigsame Frau. Recently, Andrew has worked with HGOco, Houston Grand Opera's community outreach initiative, to assist in coaching singers for performances of Kamala Sankaram's Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers, Mary Carol Warwick's Cinderella in Spain and Donizetti's The Elixir of Love.
In his spare moments, Andrew enjoys history, literature, linguistics, cartography, and mystery novels, all interests upon which he is apt to draw for his renowned store of indelible anecdotes. Andrew Schneider is represented by Seven Eight Artists.
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Mikhail Smigelski – Hailed as "phenomenal" by The Harvard Crimson, "impressively epic" by schwäbische.de, and praised for his "wine-dark bass" by The Boston Globe, bass-baritone Mikhail Smigelski enjoys a diverse and illustrious career in various musical genres, including opera, oratorio, early music, musical theatre, and contemporary music. As a vocal soloist, Smigelski has graced the world's most prestigious stages, including Carnegie Hall, Saint Petersburg's and Moscow's Philharmonic Halls, Berliner Philharmonie, and Kölner Philharmonie. He has collaborated with numerous European and American opera, musical theatre, concert companies, and festivals, such as Saint Petersburg Chamber Opera, Theater Aachen, Theater Solingen, Theater Leverkusen, Cohen New Works Festival, New York Ferus Festival, East Coast Contemporary Ensemble, Austin Symphony, Opera Leggera, Opera in the Heights, Miami Lyric Opera, The Cleveland Opera, and others.
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From the beginning of his professional journey, Mikhail Smigelski toured Russia, Europe, and the United States not only as an opera singer but also as part of various vocal ensembles, a conductor, and a collaborative pianist. His operatic portrayals include over 30 roles, encompassing characters like Figaro and Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte, Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Nikitich and Varlaam in Boris Godunov, and the title roles in Falstaff and Eugene Onegin, among others. Mikhail Smigelski is a passionate advocate for contemporary classical music and has participated in several world and USA premieres, including performances of works like "Switch" by John Aylward with the East Coast Contemporary Ensemble, "Golden" by Michael Zapruder at Cohen New Works Festival, and "Orpheus" by Evan Lawson with Density 512. As a recording artist, Smigelski has released two CD albums: "Russian Gems," a collection of art songs by Pavel Chesnokov and Alexander Grechaninov (KNS Classical, 2021), and "Mayn Shprach: Yiddish Art Songs by Lazar Weiner“ (Ladoga Records, 2023).
Dr. Smigelski began his musical studies at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance. Subsequently, he completed a Master of Music degree in opera performance at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne, Germany. After relocating to the United States, he obtained a Master of Music degree in choral conducting at Sam Houston State University and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in opera performance at the University of Texas at Austin.
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In addition to his performance career, Dr. Smigelski serves as a Lecturer in Voice at The University of Texas at Austin, a Music Director at the Houston-based musical theatre company Opera Leggera, a Vice President of Classical Auditions for the Greater Houston chapter of NATS, and a founder and director of the recording label Lagoda Records.
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Walter Owen Wagner received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Arizona State University and his Master of Fine Arts at The University of Texas at San Antonio.
His artwork consists of two-dimensional imagery, dynamic colors and expressive marks, with rich texture and depth. Wagner's work also explores relationships between meditation and creative processes, and the relationship between physical and spiritual natures. He hopes to promote environments for continual dialogue on spiritual concepts within art and beyond, and discussions on the dual realties of our physical and incorporeal existences.
Stephen Yip obtained his doctor of musical arts (D.M.A.) at Rice University. He has attended major music festivals including: Wellesley Composers Conference, Aspen Music Festival, Asian Composers’ League, ISCM World Music Days, Chinese Composers’ Festival, Darmstadt, Germany. Residencies include: Yaddo Colony and MacDowell Colony. Yip’s works have been performed in the Asia, Europe and America. He has received several composition prizes, included “Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award”, “Taiwan Music Center International Composition Prize”, “Singapore International Composition Competition for Chinese Orchestra”, the ALEA III composition Competition. His musical works are published by the Universal edition and Babelscores; and recorded on CD labels such as: Kairos, Albany, ERM-Media, PARMA, Capstone, North South recording, Ablaze records, ATMA Classique, and Beauport Classical labels and now serves faculty at HCC. More information: www.stephen-yip.com