Josephine

Melissa Wimbish

Soprano

Coloratura soprano and bandleader Melissa Wimbish is a genre-defying vocalist known for her ability to move between opera, art song, oratorio, Renaissance polyphony, and pop music with alarming ease. She has premiered works for the stage written especially for her, most notably in the title role of JOSEPHINE presented by UrbanArias when “... the afternoon belonged to Melissa Wimbish ... Beautifully prepared, vocally stunning, and theatrically riveting, [she] effortlessly held the audience in her hand throughout this one-woman show.” (WASHINGTON POST)

Melissa made her Carnegie Hall debut as winner of the NATS Artist Award Grand Prize. Career highlights include the 50th anniversary of Bernstein’s MASS at The Kennedy Center, the world-premiere of PAUL'S CASE with UrbanArias and the later NYC-premiere at The Prototype Festival, Anna in Kurt Weill’s SEVEN DEADLY SINS at the National Gallery, Alice in the US-premiere of HARRIET by Hilda Paredes at Yellow Barn Music Festival, her Baltimore Symphony debut in MYSTERIES OF THE MACABRE, and the role of Nimue in the Helen Hayes Award-winning production of CAMELOT with Shakespeare Theatre DC.

This season, Melissa was the soprano soloist in Bach’s B MINOR MASS and ST. JOHN PASSION presented by Bach in Baltimore and the soprano soloist for the entire MESSIAH by Handel presented by the Baltimore Basilica. At Yellow Barn Music Festival, Melissa performed the one-woman opera LA VOIX HUMAINE as well as traditional spirituals and chamber works by Balch, Pesson, Sokolovic, Tulve, Debussy, and Widmann. She gave the world-premiere of Robert Manno’s PORTRAIT OF MILLAY for soprano and string orchestra at the 2024 Windham Chamber Music Festival.

Melissa is lead singer, clarinetist, and songwriter for the critically-acclaimed and award-winning pop duo, OUTCALLS. Since 2017, they have released three studio albums, several singles, and written an interdisciplinary stage show titled RELEASE THE GOWNS. Outcalls has toured throughout the US and Canada. Learn more at melissawimbish.com and outcallsband.com.

Robert Wood

Conductor

Conductor Robert Wood founded UrbanArias in 2009. Under his guidance, the company has achieved national recognition as an innovator in the field of opera, and has produced over 25 works in Virginia, DC, and New York City, eleven of which were world premieres, and seven of which were UrbanArias commissions. He conducts all of UrbanArias’ productions. Highlights include Glory Denied (Cipullo), The Roost (Migó/de los Santos – world premiere, UrbanArias commission), The Last American Hammer (Hilliard/Boresi – world premiere, UrbanArias commission), Paul’s Case (Spears/Walat – world premiere), Three Decembers (Heggie/Scheer), Blue Viola (Hilliard/Boresi – world premiere, UrbanArias commission), As One (Kaminsky/Campbell/Reed), After Life/ Josephine (Cipullo – world premiere, UrbanArias commission and Independence Eve (Boquiren/Neer – world premiere).

Maestro Wood made his début with the San Francisco Opera in 2004 with Verdi’s La Traviata. He also conducted L’italiana in Algeri there, as well as several concerts. He recently conducted Rigoletto at Austin Opera, Silent Night at the University of British Columbia with the Vancouver Opera orchestra, Roméo et Juliette and Carmen at Opera Colorado, Die Fledermaus and As One at Hawaii Opera Theatre, and Three Decembers at Kentucky Opera. Engagements for this season include leading Lucia di Lammermoor for Opera Orlando.

Mo. Wood was appointed Conductor in Residence at the Minnesota Opera from 2006-2008, leading productions of L’italiana in Algeri, Le nozze di Figaro, La donna del lago, Rusalka, and Il barbiere di Siviglia. Mr. Wood has also conducted concerts at San Francisco Opera featuring Stephanie Blythe and Lawrence Brownlee, and with the Merola Opera Program’s young artists. Other career highlights include L’italiana in Algeri at Vancouver Opera, Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Hawaii Opera Theatre, The Love for Three Oranges at Indiana University Opera Theater, La Cenerentola at New Jersey Opera Theater, Lakmé at Minnesota Opera, and The Nutcracker for San Francisco Ballet.

Sarah Frisof

Flute

Equally at home in the solo, chamber, and orchestral stages, Sarah Frisof is a passionate flutist and educator. As a soloist, Ms. Frisof was the second-prize winner of both the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition and the Heida Hermanns International Woodwind Competition, and she was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Kobe International Flute Competition. Ms. Frisof and her collaborative partner, Daniel Pesca, piano, have released two solo albums. Her most recent album, Beauty Crying Forth, a survey of music by female composers across time, was released in August of 2020.

In addition to Ms. Frisof’s work as a solo artist, she is an active orchestral and chamber musician, having worked with major symphony orchestras across the country, including the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, and many others. Ms. Frisof is an active member of Sound Impact, a chamber collective of musicians dedicated to serving communities and igniting positive change in the US and abroad through live performance, educational programs, and creative collaborations with other artists and art forms.

She has taken her passion for education and community engagement to global audiences, including working with communities and students in both Zimbabwe and Brazil. A graduate of the Eastman School, The Juilliard School, and the University of Michigan, Ms. Frisof is currently the Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Maryland.

Robert DiLutis

Clarinet

Robert DiLutis is currently professor of clarinet at the University of Maryland, School of Music, College Park. Previously Mr. DiLutis was professor of clarinet at the Louisiana State University School of Music from 2009-2012, assistant principal and e-flat clarinetist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and a clarinet professor at the Eastman School of Music. Mr. DiLutis has also served on the faculties of the St. Mary's University in Texas and Nazareth College in New York. Most recently Mr. DiLutis developed and taught an Orchestral Audition Training Program for the Eastman School of Music. His many clinics and master classes have included Ithaca College, Hartt School of Music, Boston University, New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music and the Academia y Banda De Musica De Norena, Oviedo, Spain.

Making his Carnegie Hall Recital debut in 1989, Mr. DiLutis has also performed as a featured soloist with ensembles such as the San Antonio Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Recently Mr. DiLutis toured with the New York Philharmonic on its historic trip to Pyongyang, North Korea. Mr. DiLutis is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he studied with David Weber. In addition to his performance career Mr. DiLutis is the creator of the Reed Machine, a reed-making device used by top professionals around the world. Mr. DiLutis is an Artist for Buffet Group USA , Selmer, Lohff & Pfeiffer and Rovner.

As part of Professor DiLutis' comprehensive program at the university, he is offering classes in Clarinet Choir, Instrument Repair, Single Reed Making, Orchestral Repertoire, Clarinet Master Class, How to Win an Orchestral Audition, Chamber Music, Clarinet, Eb Clarinet and Bass Clarinet lessons. In 2016, Mr. DiLutis had been principal clarinetist with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra for the past 8 years and will tour with the Maryland Clarinet Society to Dublin Ireland this summer. You can hear Mr. DiLutis on his recording on the Delos, Centaur, New World and Tonsehen recording labels.

Grant Houston

Violin

Violinist Grant Houston connects with listeners through performances of unbridled energy and emotional magnetism. Known for drawing in audiences with a uniquely compelling musical voice, he has been described as playing "as ethereally as mist... the audience kept so quiet that it seemed we were holding our breath throughout." (Yale Alumni Magazine). Particularly devoted to chamber music, Houston is a founding member of Trio Gaia and appears frequently at chamber music series and festivals across the country.

In recent seasons, Houston has brought a distinct presence to a wide range of performances across the chamber music landscape. Following pre-professional summers spent at Ravinia's Steans Music Institute, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Perlman Music Program, his recent engagements include Spoleto Festival USA (Bank of America Chamber Music), the Grand Canyon Music Festival, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia, Monadnock Music, Wellesley Chamber Players, First Mondays at Jordan Hall, and Juventas New Music. Frequently sought after for special projects and collaborations, he has been a regular guest of Castle of Our Skins, including a collaboration between Castle of Our Skins and Boston Lyric Opera, was featured in a studio recording of Florence Price’s G Major String Quartet which aired on WGBH public radio, and has performed at specially curated events for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's Weekend Concert Series. He appears often with the conductorless ensembles A Far Cry, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and in the summer of 2024 was named a Co-Artistic Director of the Portland, Maine-based Palaver Strings. Houston has also performed widely as a soloist and recitalist, including a concerto appearance with the Plymouth Philharmonic and performances of the piano and violin duo repertoire with pianists Max Levinson, Ariel Mo, and Melvin Chen.

As the violinist of Trio Gaia, Houston has helped to build the ensemble into one of today’s most exciting piano trios. Offering audiences dynamic, personally relevant experiences inside and outside the concert hall, Trio Gaia has made a name for itself performing recitals on series such as the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota, Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, the Harvard Musical Association, Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society, Davidson College Concert Series, Music on Norway Pond, Shelter Island Friends of Music, and many others. Equally known is the trio’s passion for bringing people of all ages into the experience of chamber music, leading to its repeat residencies at the Panama Jazz Festival, regular interactive workshops with elementary, middle, and high-school students, lecture-recitals at MIT’s Whitehead Institute, masterclasses for the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, and engagements at educational programs such as PRIZM International Festival in Tennessee and the Massachusetts Suzuki Festival. In recent years, Trio Gaia has garnered numerous accolades, including prizes at the 2022 WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition, the 2022 Premio Trio di Trieste in Italy, the 2021 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, the 2020 International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition, and the 2019 Plowman Competition. In 2024, the trio completed a three-year appointment as Trio-in-Residence in the New England Conservatory's Professional Piano Trio Program.

Houston has performed with artists such as Jeremy Denk, Inon Barnatan, Paul Biss, Marcus Thompson, Paul Wiancko, and Todd Phillips, and counts Donald Weilerstein, Ayano Ninomiya, Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, and Merry Peckham among his primary mentors. Committed to music education himself, he got his start in teaching at El Sistema Oklahoma, has given masterclasses at Duke University and the Winsor School, and now serves on the faculties of New England Conservatory Preparatory School and Point CounterPoint. Houston completed both undergraduate and graduate study at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Carrie Bean Stute

Cello

Cellist Carrie Bean Stute is co-founder and co-artistic director of the Washington, DC-based Chiarina Chamber Players, a chamber music series and flexible ensemble that has won critical acclaim for its artistry and innovative programming. Carrie’s chamber music performances have been broadcast on Classical WETA’s Front Row Washington. In DC, she performs with the National Symphony Orchestra, has served as an adjunct professor of music at George Washington University, and is currently assistant principal cellist of “The President’s Own” Marine Chamber Orchestra, where she performs in such diverse settings as the White House, area public schools, and for events hosted by the United Nations and State Department.

A performer who seeks out the voices of today, she collaborates with a growing set of composers, including Reinaldo Moya, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Juhi Bansal, and Kennedy Center composer-in-residence Carlos Simon. Carrie authored a doctoral dissertation on the cello works of Pēteris Vasks and in 2021 performed as soloist in the North American premiere of his Cello Concerto No. 2. She took part in the Carnegie Hall workshop “New Voices, New Music” and has performed chamber music at such venues as the Phillips Collection, Zankel Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and an in-house educational residency at the 92nd Street Y.

Carrie holds degrees from The Graduate Center at the City University of New York (Doctor of Musical Arts), Indiana University, and the Eastman School of Music. She was a fellow at the New World Symphony and Tanglewood Music Center. Forthcoming in 2024-25 are recordings of chamber music by Carlos Simon (with Domenic Salerni, Efi Hackmey, and Carl DuPont) and clarinet trios by Brahms and Beethoven (with Robert DiLutis and Rita Sloan).

Efi Hackmey

Piano

Pianist Efi Hackmey is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Chiarina Chamber Players, together with cellist Carrie Bean Stute. Mr. Hackmey is an active soloist and chamber musician in NYC and in the DC area. In 2013 he released an album on the Naxos label, which includes several world premiere recordings (Polish Violin Music with violinist Kinga Augustyn). Efi has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio, Kennedy Center, Bargemusic, Arion Chamber Music, and the Friends of Mozart series in NYC. He performed many additional concerts in Alabama, California, DC, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming. In his native Israel he performed as soloist with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Jerusalem Music Center, and in special concerts presented by the Arthur Rubinstein International Music Society. He has performed on Israeli TV Channel 2, and his recordings have been broadcast on the Israeli National Public Radio,and in the US on WTSU, WRWA and WTJB. A review of one of his New York performances quotes “excellent Israeli musician... under his fingers the piano sounded noble, and each phrase was full of character”, and further praises his “highly personal, thought through interpretation.” (Roman Markowicz, “Nowy Dziennik”).

Mr. Hackmey has served on the piano faculty at DePauw University, and he also taught at the Indiana University system, Montgomery College in Rockville, MD, and Levine School of Music in Washington, DC. He holds a Doctor of Music degree in piano performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and degrees in piano and conducting from Tel Aviv University. He studied with Menahem Pressler, Pnina Salzman and Dina Turgeman, and has had additional coaching with Lazar Berman, Emanuel Ax, Richard Goode, Janos Starker, David Zinman, Richard Stoltzman and Jaime Laredo.