Hailed by the New York Times for her “technically accomplished coloratura” as well as, “floating lyricism,” soprano Nicole Haslett created the role of Kristina in the world premiere of Detlev Glanert’s “Oceane” in just one of her frequent appearances with Deutsche Oper Berlin, in addition to joining the company for the 4th Blumenmädchen in “Parisifal” and “Hirt in Tannhäuser”. She also made her Toronto Symphony debut in performances of “Carmina Burana” under Maestro Donald Runnicles, returned to the Metropolitan Opera for their production of Nico Muhly’s “Marnie”, and is formerly a Resident Artist of Portland Opera. In the summer of 2012, she spent six weeks in Beijing with the I SING BEIJING program and in the following spring, she was presented by the program as a featured singer in a concert of Yan Jinxuan’s “白毛女”(“The White-Haired Girl”) at New York’s Alice Tully Hall. She is a 2015 second place winner of the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition and Encouragement Award winner of the George London Foundation Competition. In 2012, she was Alan M. and Joan Taub Ades Vocal Competition winner and Career Bridges Grant winner. She holds a Master of Music in vocal performances from the Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music from New York University.
Conductor, pianist, and harpsichordist Jennifer Peterson is the director of operamission, an arts organization bringing opera, chamber music, art song, and cabaret to audiences. Currently underway are productions of the complete output of G. F. Handel's 39 Italian operas, along with workshops and development of new operas, annual cabaret evenings, and all varieties of repertoire. Ms. Peterson has appeared at over seventy-five opera companies in the United States and internationally, including the New York City Opera, Opera Memphis, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera, and the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel. She received her musical training at the Oberlin College-Conservatory of Music, the Indiana University School of Music, and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where she co-founded the Rochester Chamber Opera. Born in Anchorage, Alaska, Jennifer grew up on the west coast and has been residing in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, since 1997 while maintaining an active vocal coaching studio in midtown Manhattan.
Michael Dellaira’s music exploits the qualities of both speech and song. He is the composer of four operas; his first, Chéri , was a finalist for the American Academy of Arts and Letters Richard Rodgers Award in Musical Theater. The Secret Agent, named the Laureat at the Armel International Opera Festival, was nominated for a Grammy. The Death of Webern was chosen as one of the “5 Best New Works” of 2016 by Opera News magazine. His most recent opera, The Leopard, will have its world premiere next March at the Miami Dade Cultural Center, in a production by the Frost School of Music, directed by Jeffrey Buchman, with Gerard Schwarz conducting and Kim Josephson as the Prince. Dellaira was educated at Georgetown and Princeton Universities, the Universität zu Köln, L’Accademia di Santa Cecilia and L’Accademia Chigiana. His primary teachers were Milton Babbitt, Goffredo Petrassi and Franco Donatoni. I n addition, he had two residencies at The Composers Conference, where he studied with Roger Sessions and Mario Davidovsky. His numerous awards include First Prize for his monodrama Maud from the Society of Composers, an ASCAP Morton Gould Award, a Fulbright Fellowship, grants from the Ford and Mellon Foundations, the New Jersey Arts Council, Cary Trust, the American Music Center, and a Jerome Commission from the American Composers Forum.
Hollow Hill (Based on the Poem by Honor Moore) - Michael Dellaira
Recorded safely in New York, NY, December 2020
Nicole Haslett, soprano
Jennifer Peterson, piano
Mastered by Robert Scott Thompson, Aucourant Records.
Property of Shelter Recording Project, American Composers Alliance.
