Stephanie Houtzeel

Mezzo-Soprano Stephanie Houtzeel is winning accolades for her opera and concert performances around the world. Appearances as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier at the Paris-Bastille Opera, the New Israeli Opera Tel Aviv and the Graz Opera have been heralded as “vocally, dramatically and physically sublime” (OPERA NEWS). She was nominated one of the best up-and-coming singers by OPERNWELT Magazine for her Graz performance of the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos (under Philippe Jordan), and has gone on to sing this role with success in Zurich, Tel Aviv and Antwerp.

She has sung all of the major Mozart roles for mezzo-soprano, most recently Sesto in La clemenza di Tito in Graz. On this occasion Austria’s largest paper DIE PRESSE wrote: “…rarely has one seen such a vocally outstanding and moving performance of Sesto as on this evening; thunderous applause for this world-class performance!” Her appearance as Idamante in Mozart’s Idomeneo with Opera Lafayette was noted by THE WASHINGTON POST as “thrilling, intelligent…filling her deep, azure mezzo with Idamante’s sorrow, longing and love.”

Ms. Houtzeel regularly sings the French lyric repertoire, including Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann (most recently at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos-Lisbon, but also in Antwerp, St. Gallen and Linz), Marguérite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust (Antwerp) and Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther (Sassari). Her debut in Werther was celebrated by the Italian press: “A surprise, a joy, has arrived with the Italian debut of mezzo-soprano Stephanie Houtzeel – a powerful, expressive voice and outstanding stage presence.”

Stephanie Houtzeel’s baroque performances are also wide-ranging, both on stage and in concert. Most recently she performed and recorded the title role in Lully’s Armide with Opera Lafayette, soon to be released on the Naxos label and acclaimed by the THE WASHINGTON POST as “the outstanding performance of the afternoon....her Armide seemed life itself, with its messy joys, sorrows, hungers and contradictions...the role was sung with all the ardor, intelligence and vocal luster at Houtzeel’s command, which was plenty.” In 2008 she sang both Juno and Mystery in Purcell’s Fairy Queen in Rennes, France, where she was noted for her “majestic presence and timbre.” Summer 2008 also marked her debut with the Ludwigsburger Festspiele, in an opera program of Jommelli and Mozart under the baton of rising star Michael Hofstetter. This performance prompted THE STUTTGARTER NACHRICHTEN to write: “The phenomenal Stephanie Houtzeel succeeded in packing high emotion into the broad and serpentine vocal lines of her Fetonte aria – exactly 240 years after the work’s world-premiere on the same stage of this Palace Theater.”

In the coming months Ms. Houtzeel will make her debut at the Opéra de Lyon as Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus – a role she has sung many times to outstanding acclaim – as well as her debut at the Opéra National du Rhin, Strasbourg, as Dorabella in the David McVicar production of Così fan tutte. She returns to Graz in 2009 to reprise Octavian in Marco Arturo Marelli’s production of Der Rosenkavalier.

Stephanie Houtzeel made her professional opera debut as Dorabella in Così fan tutte at the Hersfelder Festspiele, Germany and subsequently joined the Linz and Graz Operas, where she sang many Mozart and Strauss mezzo roles, the Rossini heroines Rosina and Cenerentola, the Handel roles Ariodante, Galatea and Ino, Nicklausse, Prince Orlofsky, Diana in Orphée aux Enfers as well as major roles in World Premieres by Austrian composers Peter Androsch and Balduin Sulzer.

Ms. Houtzeel’s international concert appearances include Mahler’s Third Symphony at both the Vienna Musikverein and Avery Fisher Hall, appearances with the Collegium Vocale Gent under Phillippe Herreweghe, the New York Festival of Song, Musicians from Marlboro, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, styriarte Graz, the International Bruckner Festival and Great Performers of Lincoln Center. She recently returned to the Musikverein to sing Mahler’s Lieder aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn with the Graz Philharmonic and also appeared in a program of Respighi and Saint-Saens at La Monnaie in Brussels. She has collaborated with conductors Dennis Russell Davies, Philippe Jordan, Pinchas Steinberg, Phillippe Herreweghe, Eric Ericsson, Claus Peter Flor and Michael Hofstetter, to name a few. Upcoming engagements include appearances with the Orchestre de la Monnaie, the Ludwigsburger Festspiele, the Real Filharmonia of Galicia, the Norddeutsche Rundfunk, the Grand Tour Orchestra as well as chamber music concerts with The Four Nations Ensemble and Opera Lafayette.

In addition to the Armide recording (Naxos), Ms. Houtzeel sings the title role on the world premiere CD of von Suppé’s Fatinitza (CPO), recorded at Austria’s Léhar Festival and lauded by OPERA NEWS as “wonderfully, brilliantly taken. Her spirit and charm are readily in evidence.” She appears on a CD of Handel chamber music with the Bouts Ensemble (Raumklang Label), which garnered high marks from both THE AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE and CLASSICS TODAY.

Stephanie Houtzeel was born in Kassel, Germany and grew up near Boston. She studied voice with Edward Zambara at New England Conservatory and at the Juilliard School, where she received her Masters of Music in 1996. She was the first recipient of Juilliard’s Vocal Arts Debut Award as well as a Laureate at the 1996 International Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition.

Marcy Rosen

Marcy Rosen has established herself as one of the most important and respected artists of our day. Los Angeles Times music critic Herbert Glass has called her “one of the intimate art’s abiding treasures.” She has performed in recital and with orchestra throughout Canada, England, France, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, and all fifty of the United States. She made her concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of eighteen and has since appeared with such noted orchestras as the Dallas Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, the Caramoor Festival Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, the Jupiter Symphony and Concordia Chamber Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall, and the Tokyo Symphony at the famed Orchard Hall in Tokyo. In recital she has appeared in New York at such acclaimed venues as Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street “Y” and Merkin Concert Hall; in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center, Dumbarton Oaks, the Phillips Collection and the Corcoran Gallery, where she for many years she hosted a series entitled “Marcy Rosen and Friends.”

A consummate soloist, Ms. Rosen’s superb musicianship is enhanced by her many chamber music activities. She has collaborated with the world’s finest musicians including Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, Andras Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida, Isaac Stern, Robert Mann, Kim Kashkashian, Lucy Shelton, Charles Neidich and the Juilliard, Emerson, and Orion Quartets. She is a founding member of the ensemble La Fenice, a group comprised of Oboe, Piano and String Trio, as well as a founding member of the world renowned Mendelssohn String Quartet. With the Mendelssohn String Quartet she was Artist-in-Residence at the North Carolina School of the Arts and for nine years served as Blodgett-Artist-in Residence at Harvard University. The Quartet tours annually throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

She performs regularly at festivals both here and abroad, including the Caramoor, Santa Fe, Ravinia, Saratoga and Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festivals, the Seattle International Music Festival, the Lockenhaus Kammermusikfest in Austria and the International Musicians Seminar in England. Since 1986 she has been the co-artistic director of the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival in Maryland and as a long time participant at the Marlboro Music Festival she has taken part in eighteen of their “Musicians from Marlboro” tours and performed in concerts celebrating the 40th and 50th Anniversaries of the Festival.

The recipient of many awards and prizes, Marcy Rosen won the 1986 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and was further honored with the Walker Fund Prize and the Mortimer Levitt Career Development Award. She is the winner of the Washington International Competition for Strings and was the first recipient of the Mischa Schneider Memorial Award from the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation.

Marcy Rosen was born in Phoenix, Arizona and her teachers have included Gordon Epperson, Orlando Cole, Marcus Adeney, Felix Galimir, Karen Tuttle and Sandor Vegh. She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. Ms. Rosen is currently Associate Professor of Cello at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and on the Faculty at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She has also served on the faculties of the North Carolina School of the Arts, the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory and the University of Delaware.

Her performances can be heard on recordings from the BIS, Bridge. Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, CBS Masterworks, Musical Heritage Society, Phillips, Nonesuch, Pro Arte, and Koch labels among others. You can visit her website at www.marcyrosen.com.

Pei-Yao Wang

Pianist Pei-Yao Wang has established herself as a prominent soloist and chamber musician.

She made her official orchestral debut with the Taipei symphony Orchestra at age 8 and has since performed as soloist with the Stamford Symphony, Orlando Symphony, and Taipei Philharmonic. She also has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia; including venues such as the Carnegie, Avery Fisher, Alice Tully, 92nd street Y, Merkin Halls in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Salle des Varietes in Monte-Carlo, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. As a chamber Musician, Pei-Yao has collaborated with members of the Guarneri , Orion, Chicago, Mendelssohn and Miro quartets; and has performed with other distinguished artists such as Claude Frank, Hilary Hahn, Nicola Benedetti, and Mitsuko Uchida. She is also regularly invited to perform at festivals including Marlboro, Caramoor, Chamber Music North West, La Jolla, Ravinia, and Bridgehampton in New York. During the 2002-2004 season, Ms. Wang was a member of Chamber Music Society Two at Lincoln Center, a program to promote emerging young artists.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, At age 12, Ms. Wang was invited to study at The Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with Seymour Lipkin and Institute Director Gary Graffman. She then studied with Claude Frank at Yale University, where she received the Master of Music degree, and also pursued a concentration in architecture. She currently resides in New York City, where for several years she was under the tutelage of celebrated pianist Richard Goode. Pei-Yao is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artists Program.