Ann Moss - Soprano

Classical / Experimental

Richmond, CA

Billboard

Soprano Ann Moss enjoys an active career in both her hometown of Boston and her new Bay Area home. She 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, and 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.

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. Recent engagements include 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 (2006) with Axel Strauss, David Tannenbaum, and the composer at the piano.

In February 2008, Ann presents an evening of new American chamber music for soprano, string quartet, harp and piano by Boston and Bay Area composers at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The program, which features the Yeager String Quartet, Kristal Schwartz, and Steve Bailey, includes four works written specifically for Ann by Boston and Bay Area composers. In March, she performs 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 a work by Erik Jekabson at the Switchboard Music Festival. April finds her taking a step back in time to perform Schubert's second-to-last art song, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, with TRIAD artists Carey Bell and Bryndon Hassman at Noe Valley Chamber Music. In May she will join Berkeley Opera to sing three roles in their production of Ravel's 1925 opera, L'enfant et les sortilèges.

In the spring of 2006 Ann joined Eric Sawyer at UC Berkeley's CNMAT for the world premiere of Itasca, a work combining music, electronics, movement and spoken word. The evening's program included the west coast premiere of his Vocalise for soprano and electronics; a repeat performance of both works took place at Amherst College the following fall. Contemporary music projects in 2007 included a program of new vocal chamber music 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.

Recent performances of oratorio and concert repertoire include Bach Magnificat, Fauré Requiem, Handel Messiah, Mendelssohn Lauda Sion, Hindemith Die Serenaden, Strauss Brentano Lieder, Bach St. Matthew Passion, and Bach's solo Cantata Jauchzet Gott (BWV 51). This winter she will perform solos in Rutter's Requiem with conductor Martin Morley. She attended the internationally renowned Songfest program for two consecutive years.

Ann is a Reiki practitioner and student of Traditional Chinese Medicine.