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ARTIST BIO (scroll down for teacher bio)

Praised for her “beautifully pure floated high notes,” “luminous tone” and “impressive agility,” soprano Ann Moss enjoys an active career in chamber music, opera, oratorio and recital performance. Recognized as a champion of contemporary vocal music, Ms. Moss is frequently sought out by composers to co-create new works, and takes immense pleasure in the construction of first performances. She has collaborated with acclaimed composers Jake Heggie, John Harbison, Aaron Jay Kernis, Eric Sawyer, and Vartan Aghababian, as well as with emerging artists JooWan Kim, Liam Wade, Erik Jekabson, Heather Gilligan and Ruth Huber.

This summer Ann participated as guest artist at CSU Summer Arts' Composer/Performer Collaboration Workshop at CSU Fresno. She joined esteemed composers Howard Frazin, Benjamin Boone, and Ken Froelich, violist Kurt Rohde, pianist Guy Livingstone, violinist Stephan Poetzsch, and ensemble in residence Kronos Quartet to explore the nature of collaborative relationships between composers and performers of new music.

                       
  Blondie and Pedrillo (Brian Thorsett)                With pianist                        Mockingbird Vocal Quartet
  in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio            Steve Bailey
 

Engagements in the 2007-08 season included the premiere of Pulitzer winner Wayne Peterson's Freedom and Love for Soprano and Percussion with Earplay, an encore performance at the Sacramento Festival of New Music, and a presentation of Pulitzer winner Aaron Jay Kernis' song cycle Two Awakenings and a Double Lullaby with Axel Strauss, David Tannenbaum, and the composer at the piano. In February, Ann presented An Evening of New American Chamber Music for soprano, string quartet, harp and piano. The program featured the Yeager String Quartet, Kristal Schwartz, and Steve Bailey, and included four works written specifically for Ann by Boston and Bay Area composers. In March, she performed Samuel Barber's 3 Songs (1974) and solos in John Rutter's Requiem with pianist and conductor Martin Morley, two recent compositions of Dieter Schnebel at Other Minds Festival 13, and Erik Jekabson's A Step Away From Them at the Switchboard Music Festival. April found her taking a step back in time to perform Schubert's penultimate art song, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, with San Francisco Symphony oboist Carey Bell and TRIAD pianist Bryndon Hassman at Noe Valley Chamber Music. In May she joined Berkeley Opera to sing the roles of Fire, Princess and Nightingale in a production of Ravel's 1925 opera, L'enfant et les sortilèges. In June she teamed up with guitarist Richard Savino at Boston's Jordan Hall for the opening night of Boston Guitarfest, featuring Baroque music of Spain and South America. The remainder of the summer finds her workshopping new projects with composers JooWan Kim, Liam Wade and dance anthropologist Justin Lemos for performances in the fall.

Projects in 2006-07 season included the world premiere of Eric Sawyer’s Itasca, a work combining music, electronics, movement and spoken word, at UC Berkeley’s CMNAT; three concerts of new vocal chamber music in collaboration with the Ives String Quartet and Mockingbird Vocal Quartet; SF Song Festival's Hook Line and Singer II program; and a program of new music for voices and jazz ensemble with the Eric Jekabson Vista Nonet. Ann was also privileged to perform John Thow's song cycle On Love at a memorial concert commemorating the life and works of the composer.

Ann holds a special interest in song recital design and performance. She has won three first place titles in the San Francisco American Art Song Competition, first place in two divisions of the California NATS Singing Festival, was a district finalist in the California NATS Artists Awards Competition, and a regional finalist in the New England NATSAA Competition. In 2003, she co-founded Boston Art Song Collective (BASC), which continues to showcase innovative concert programming for diverse audiences. She attended the internationally renowned Songfest program for two consecutive years.

Recent performances of oratorio and concert repertoire include Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Bach Magnificat, Fauré Requiem, Handel Messiah, Mendelssohn Lauda Sion, Hindemith Die Serenaden, Strauss Brentano Lieder, Bach Matthäuspassion, and Bach's solo Cantata Jauchzet Gott (BWV 51). Ann holds a Post Graduate Degree in Voice from San Francisco Conservatory of Music (2005), a Master of Music in Voice from Longy School of Music (2002), and a Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College (1999). Ann's stage roles include Blonde (Die Entfuhrung aus dem Seraglio) Nannetta (Falstaff), Despina (Cosi fan tutte), Le Feu/La princesse/Le rossignol (L'enfant et les sortileges) and Dew Fairy (Hansel and Gretel). She has performed in Master Classes with esteemed artists including Jose Van Dam, Nathan Gunn, Graham Johnson, Martin Katz, Jake Heggie, John Harbison, Craig Smith, and Barbara Kilduff. Her teachers include Sheri Greenawald, Wendy Hillhouse, Anna Gabriali and Rodney Gisick; she has received coaching from Steven Bailey, Brian Moll, Paul Hersh, Wayman Chen, Brenda Miller, and Tim Bach, among others. Ann was born in Lincoln MA, and resides and teaches in Richmond, CA.

Ann is a Reiki practitioner and studies Traditional Chinese Medicine.

     

VOICE TEACHER BIO

32 year old vocalist Ann Moss has been teaching voice for 10 years, first in Boston and currently in the Bay Area. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2004, Ann has become a much sought-out vocal instructor among singers of all ages and experience levels. She holds two graduate-level degrees in Vocal Performance from prestigious institutions, and is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She has extensive performance experience in all areas of classical singing, and has had the honor of working with many of todays best teachers and musicians in master class and private studio settings. In addition to her career as a classical vocalist, Ann has performed and recorded over the years in various genres of popular music, including funk, folk-rock, and r&b.

Ann's students display a wide range of vocal backgrounds, experiences and goals. Upon moving to Berkeley in 2004, she widened the scope of her teaching to include pop, folk, bluegrass, rock, and even heavy metal singers, as well as classical and music-theater singers. She has become well-known among the vast population of singer-songwriters in the Bay Area as a great source of vocal knowledge and coaching ability. Ann enjoys this sort of work immensely, and feels that it informs all levels of her teaching and artistry. "While my first love is working with classical singers, I feel that as the complex landscape of vocal music develops, it is in our best interest as music educators to remain in touch with the changing scenery."

A few words about teaching style: Ann approaches each student as an individual and works with them to come up with a lesson format that best suits their needs. She is not a proponent of a particular method, but rather chooses to draw from years of experiences as a student, vocalist and listener. These include classic Italianate vocalizes and breath techniques, vocal training in the Oren Brown school, voice and speech therapy work at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, the full-year course in vocal pedagogy as taught at the Longy School of Music, and many years of trial and error teaching students of various musical backgrounds.