Guest Artists - IC2023
Kristina Bachrach
Guest Artist
Soprano Kristina Bachrach is an artist confident in an extensive range of styles and languages. Ms. Bachrach recently performed solo recitals through Dame Myra Hess and the Artist Presentation Society of Saint Louis and was set to reprise Shulamit Ran’s Moon Songs with the musicians of Marlboro on their fall tour. In winter of 2020, Ms. Bachrach made her Japanese debut in a series of opera galas and she joined the roster of Chicago Opera Theater covering the role of Mae in the world premiere of Freedom Ride. Ms. Bachrach was slated to return to Marlboro both for their spring tour, singing William Bolcom’s Let Evening Come and for the summer 0f 2020 (COVID19). During the 2019-2020 season, Ms. Bachrach returned to the Brooklyn Art Song Society for concerts of Britten Folk Song Arrangements and Grieg’s 6 Lieder Op. 48 and to the Center for Contemporary Opera for their workshop of Outcast at the Gate and in fall 2018, Ms. Bachrach made her off-Broadway debut with Ensemble for the Romantic Century in their original work Because I Could Not Stop: An Encounter with Emily Dickinson.
Also in 2018, she joined New York's Center for Contemporary Opera as the principal soprano characters in Taggart's Swan's Inlet and Pascal Dusapin's To Be Sung. Her 2017 operatic appearances included Musetta in MetroWest Opera Company's production of La femme bohème, an all-female take on Puccini's evergreen masterpiece; her American Lyric Theater debut as part of their The New Crew event, presenting the initial hearings of works by Shuying Li and Andy Teirstein; and Susanna in Bare Opera's two-hour Mozart / Rossini pastiche Figaro / Figaro! She also appeared in concert with the String Orchestra of Brooklyn as soloist for Knoxville: Summer of 1915. A frequent and beloved guest artist with the Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS), she appeared with them on a variety of French mélodie concert programs throughout the season.
During the 2016–2017 season, Ms. Bachrach made her debut with the New York Choral Society at St. Patrick's Cathedral for the American premiere of Joseph Vella's The Hyland Mass, produced by the Order of Malta, and joined the Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) in repertoire ranging from Schubert Lieder to Hanns Eisler's Hollywood Liederbuch. In recent seasons, Ms. Bachrach has become increasingly in demand for fulfilling prestigious artist residencies. During the summer of 2019, she returned for a third consecutive season to North America's most prestigious chamber music retreat, the Marlboro Music Festival.
In the spring of 2018 Ms. Bachrach served as Artist-In-Residence at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she performed a recital and delivered a lecture on music by composers who were suppressed or killed during the Holocaust. In the spring of 2017, she joined the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar under the guidance of Stephanie Blythe and Alan Smith, to focus on the study and performance of song literature written by living composers. Ms. Bachrach served as a 2016 Artist in Residence at Yellow Barn Music Festival and at SongFest, where she gave a recital with composer John Musto at the piano.
As a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, Ms. Bachrach performed Pierrot Lunaire and was a featured soloist in the Mark Morris Dance Group's production of Dido and Aeneas. She enjoys a long-standing relationship with SongFest at Colburn, as a three-time recipient of the Marc and Eva Stern Fellowship, and has recorded songs of John Harbison for a new recording commemorating SongFest's twentieth anniversary.
Ms. Bachrach's concert activity includes recital performances of Milhaud's rarely-performed song cycle Alissa in the Masterworks Series at BargeMusic and at Notre Dame University, and performances of Schoenberg's Second String Quartet with the Cantata Profana Ensemble in New Haven and New York. Additional New York performances include her appearance with the Westchester Choral Society for their 2013 Christmas concert, her debut with the String Orchestra of Brooklyn as the soprano soloist in the Pergolesi Stabat Mater, and her Carnegie Hall debut with the Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra as the soprano soloist in the Bruckner Te Deum. Ms. Bachrach has performed in recital under the auspices of the Moravian Music Foundation and the Joy in Singing Foundation, and toured a Brahms Lieder program with the Brooklyn Art Song Society.
Equally adventurous as an operatic artist, Ms. Bachrach has appeared in new and rarely-performed repertoire with Thompson Street Opera Company (Louisville, KY and Chicago, IL), Gotham Chamber Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Opera Naples, and New York's Bare Opera, in whose inaugural production of L'enfant et les sortilèges she made her role debuts as the Princess and Shepherdess. Ms. Bachrach has fulfilled residencies with Nashville Opera, where she appeared as Clorinda in La Cenerentola and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, and Lyric Opera of Virginia, where she returned to perform Musetta in La bohème.
Ms. Bachrach holds degrees from Mannes College and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (summa cum laude). She is an award winner with the Artists Presentation Society of St. Louis, Ziering-Conlon Art Song Competition, American Prize Competition, the Philharmonic Society of Arlington’s Young Artist Competition, the Metrowest Opera Competition, and the Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges.
Nan Jia
Guest Artist
Born in Beijing, China in 1988, Nan Jia began her early musical training on the piano at the age of 4 and received her first award in the 1994 Beijing Xi Wang Bei Piano Competition when she turned 6. One year later she was admitted to the Primary School at the Central Conservatory of Music and began her studies in cello with Prof. Tao Song. In 2004, she was recruited for early enrolment with full scholarship by Bard College in New York, USA at the age of 16 to study with renowned cellist Peter Wiley. Nan Jia relocated to Hong Kong in 2009 to attend the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts where she was a student of Prof. Ray Wang, earning her Advanced Diploma in Cello, Bachelor of Music (First Honor) and Masters in Music (First Honor).
As an active performer, Nan is a freelance cellist of Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, a member of Hong Kong String Orchestra, and holds the position of principal cello of Gustav Mahler Orchestra as well as Hong Kong Orchestra.
Fuki Wang
Guest Artist
Fuki Wang, originally from Taichung, Taiwan, has served as principal flute with the Taiwan Connection and Moritzburg Festival Orchestras, and has also performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has received numerous awards that include first prizes in the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia’s Young Artist, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra’s Musica Nova, and the Taiwan National Flute Competitions, the 2018 Chimei Corporation’s Arts Award, and the Alain Marion’s Excellence Prize from the Domaine Forget International Music Academy. Fuki can be heard on the recording with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra's latest release, Scheherazade. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2022, where she studied with Jeffrey Khaner.
Tania Villasuso
Guest Artist
Recently awarded as one of the new Curtis Young Alumni Fund grantee, Tania Villasuso is a versatile clarinetist, with extensive experience in orchestra and chamber music. Born in Naron, Spain, Tania graduated from The Curtis Institute of Music in 2019, with professor Anthony McGill. After that, she moved to Houston to pursue a Master’s Degree at Rice University Shepherd School of Music, with professor Richie Hawley, graduating in 2022. During her stay in the United States, she took part in many international music festivals, like Spoleto USA, Music Academy of the West, Music From Angel Fire, Aspen Music Festival with the New Horizons Fellowship, and Aurora Chamber Music Festival.
Tania Villasuso has performed as principal clarinetist with many renowned conductors like Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Juanjo Mena, Stéphane Denève, Giancarlo Guerrero, Larry Rachleff, Elim Chan, Karina Canellakis and Gilbert Varga, among others. During the summer of 2019, she took part in the Curtis Latin Tour, offering recitals and masterclasses in the United States, Mexico, Peru and Chile, with violist Roberto Diaz and pianist George Fu.
First Prize winner of the X Certamen de Interpretación Intercentros Melómano in 2012, Tania has given performances as a soloist with the Madrid Metropolitan Orchestra and the Vigo 430 Orchestra. She has also been a member of the Orquesta Sinfónica Salvador Seguí, the Castellon Youth Symphony and the Orquesta Lírica de Castellón. During the 2022-2023 season, she has been invited to perform with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille and Norrlandsoperan Symfoniorkester.
Tania Villasuso started playing clarinet at five years old in her hometown, with Francisco San Ramon. She later moved to the Valencian Community, where she studied with Venancio Rius and Jose Miguel Martí. She is currently on trial for the principal clarinet position with the Norrlandsoperan Symfoniorkester.
Chelsea Wang
Guest Artist
Praised by the New York Times as an “excellent young pianist”, Chelsea Wang has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in venues including Kennedy Center, Merkin Hall, Kimmel Center’s Perelman Hall, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Orford Music Festival, Dame Myra Hess Series, Konzerthaus Berlin, Munich’s Allerheiligen-Hofkirche, Konzertsaal at Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber, Dresden Hochschule fur Musik, Auditori Teulada Moraira, Chamber Hall of Warsaw Philharmonic, Seoul Arts Center, Taipei National Concert Hall, and Kaohsiung Weiwuying Concert Hall. She is a prizewinner and finalist of piano competitions including the Seoul International, Washington International, New York International, and Schubert Club Scholarship Competitions.
Ms. Wang made her orchestral debut at the age of six and has performed with many orchestras since, including the Fort Worth Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, and musicians from the Metropolitan Opera. Her festival appearances include the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival, Ravinia Steans Institute, Bravo!Vail, Music Academy of the West, Fontainebleau, Music from Angel Fire, Banff, and Amalfi Coast.
Chelsea has collaborated alongside Ida Kavafian, Ani Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, Peter Wiley, Roberto Diaz, Jose Franch-Ballester, Ayana Kozasa, Dmitri Murrath, Yu-Chief Tseng, and others. Ms. Wang has made radio appearances on “What Makes It Great” with host Rob Kapilow, NPR’s “From the Top”, programs on New York’s WQXR, Philadelphia’s WHYY, Chicago’s WFMT, among others.
A native of West Des Moines, Iowa, Ms. Wang is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she studied with Ignat Solzhenitsyn and Meng-Chieh Liu, and was awarded the prestigious Sergei Rachmaninoff Award upon graduation. She received her Master of Music degree and Performance Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory as one of the last students of Leon Fleisher. Ms. Wang is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music with James Giles. Her additional mentors include Yong-Hi Moon, Ksenia Nosikova, and Chiu-Ling Lin.