As the New York Times Aptly States, MIRROR VISIONS' “Programs Are
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As the New York Times aptly states, MIRROR VISIONS’ “programs are shaped with an ear to the poetry of song texts.” The initial interest of the ensemble – comprised of soprano Vira Slywotzky, tenor Scott Murphree and baritone Jesse Blumberg – was the back-to-back performance of multiple settings of a single text. Led by Artistic Director and co-founder Tobé Malawista, the ensemble has commissioned more than 80 vocal chamber music works from 18 composers, including Christopher Berg, Tom Cipullo, Richard Lalli, Gilda Lyons, Russell Platt, Richard Pearson Thomas, Francine Trester, Scott Wheeler and Yehudi Wyner. Past seasons include performances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, Bargemusic, SubCulture, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Lincoln Center’s Library for the Performing Arts, New York University’s Frederick Loewe Theatre, and Bard College’s Longy School of Music, as well as frequent appearances in Paris at the American University of Paris, the American Church in Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Musée Nissim de Camondo and Musée des Arts Décoratifs. This fall soprano VIRA SLYWOTZKY makes her Chelsea Opera debut as the playwright Marla in Henry Mollicone's Emperor Norton. Last season included a return to Seattle Opera, where she sang Magda in The Consul. Slywotzky has performed with Chautauqua Opera, Sarasota Opera, Light Opera of New York, Opera Company of the Highlands, Boston Midsummer Opera, Center for Contemporary Opera and Cape Cod Opera. Favorite roles include Nedda (Pagliacci), Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos), Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and the title role in Vanessa. The recipient of a 2007 Richard F. Gold Career Grant, she has twice been a New England Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and in 2009 represented the United States at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Tenor SCOTT MURPHREE is a distinguished singer of the concert, recital and opera stage. He recently appeared at Nevada Opera as Anthony in Sweeney Todd. Other recent engagements include performances with the Utah Opera, Opera Delaware, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the New York Festival of Song, and the Five Boroughs Music Festival. Additionally, he has appeared in concerts at Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, 92nd Street Y, and Town Hall. Mr. Murphree currently serves as an adjunct professor on the voice faculty in the Steinhardt School at New York University. Mirror Visions Ensemble Williams College Baritone JESSE BLUMBERG is equally at home on opera, concert, and recital stages, performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to the 20th and 21st centuries. Appearances include the world premiere of The Grapes of Wrath at Minnesota Opera, Niobe and Regina di Tebe at the Boston Early Music Festival, Bernstein’s MASS at London’s Royal Festival Hall, and appearances with New York City, Pittsburgh, Utah, and Boston Lyric operas. Recital highlights include engagements with the Marilyn Horne Foundation and New York Festival of Song, and Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise with pianist Martin Katz. Blumberg has performed with American Bach Soloists, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Oratorio Society of New York, Apollo’s Fire, Berkshire Choral Festival, TENET/Green Mountain Project, and on Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. In 2008 he was awarded Third Prize at the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau. He is also the founder and artistic director of Five Boroughs Music Festival. www.jesseblumberg.com Composer and pianist RICHARD PEARSON THOMAS’s works have been performed by Boston Pops, Covent Garden Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Chautauqua and Portland Operas, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, Banff, Skylight Opera, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Encompass New Opera Theatre, Westchester Philharmonic, Riverside Philharmonic and Cal State Fullerton Opera. His songs have been sung in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Merkin Concert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Joe’s Pub, (Le) Poisson Rouge, and before the U.S. Congress by artists such as Audra McDonald, Sanford Sylvan, Lauren Flanigan and Kurt Ollmann. Mr. Thomas is currently on faculty at Teachers College/Columbia University. He has taught at Yale and the University of Central Florida. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California, and is a native of Montana. Violinist NAHO PARRINI, a native of Japan, is an active performer and educator. As an advocate of contemporary music, she has commissioned and premiered dozens of works. She has given recitals in the US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, and Bulgaria, and has performed at Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Izumi Hall in Japan, and the National Palace of Culture in Bulgaria. She is a recipient of numerous scholarships and awards including the first prize of the NCSA Concerto Competition and the Giannini and Liberace scholarships. She received her BM from North Carolina School of the Arts, and her MM and DMA from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Mirror Visions Ensemble Williams College Principal teachers include Philip Setzer, Pamela Frank, Mitchell Stern, and Kevin Lawrence. She performs frequently with South Country Concert Series, New Jersey Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic and Windham Chamber Orchestra. Since 2003, Naho spends summers at the Kinhaven Music School in Vermont, and she is Director of Education and a Resident Teaching Artist at New York’s Bloomingdale School of Music. Born in Italy, ALBERTO PARRINI has been principal cellist of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic since 2007 and a member of the American Symphony since 2010; he performs regularly with the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and New Jersey Symphony. He has toured Japan several times as principal of the New York Symphonic Ensemble. A founding member of the Zukofsky Quartet, he has performed the complete string quartets of Milton Babbitt. He performed throughout the U.S. with the American Chamber Players, was the cellist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet in 2002-03, and was assistant principal with the Richmond Symphony. Alberto has toured with Mikhail Baryshnikov and the White Oak Dance Project, and performed with Concertante, Continuum, Lenape Chamber Ensemble, Mirror Visions, Proteus Ensemble, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School. Alberto teaches at Princeton University and, in the summer, at Kinhaven Music School. Mirror Visions Ensemble Williams College .