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biographies
: performances
: discography :
press : awards
education :
repertoire : miscellaneous
: photos
screecher biographies
Tony Arnold
 Clarity,
depth, imagination, and vocal beauty mark the performances of soprano
Tony Arnold, who is internationally recognized
for her interpretation of the
contemporary repertoire. In 2001 she became the first vocalist
ever to win the prestigious Gaudeamus International
Interpreters Competition, and later that year
took top honors at the McMahon International
Music Competition. Since those triumphs she has been widely sought
as both a concert
and recording artist.
Ms. Arnold has received critical
acclaim for both her vocal
artistry
and barrier-breaking performance style. "Blessed with an impressive
range and a voice as smooth as cognac, Arnold can handle leaps
and challenging harmonic progressions with ease... Arnold seems
to embrace whatever she
sings – she can make a listener love a work, just because she does," (Buffalo
News). "Tony Arnold was spellbinding, whether reciting the text in
an urgent, ghostly whisper or sending forth the deliberate, wide-ranging
vocal line with laser-like clarity," (Chicago
Sun-Times). "Tony
Arnold was the soloist, technically sensational. Her intonation
and emotional commitment to this extremely wide-stepping music
were stunning, creating
in the huge leaping or falling intervals a sense of spontaneity
not often captured in such lurching atonal scores," (American Record
Guide).
From Aperghis to Zuidam, Tony Arnold's work has focused
on the most innovative composers of our time, including György Ligeti,
Thomas Adés, György Kurtág, George Crumb, Bernard Rands,
Elliott Carter, Vache Sharafyan, and Oliver Knussen. Her wide repertoire
includes
masterworks of Olivier Messiaen and Arnold Schoenberg. She is also
deeply committed to the creation of new vocal music, working closely
with both
established and emerging composers including those at the University
at Buffalo, where she joined the faculty in 2003.
Ms. Arnold's highly
anticipated debut recordings were issued in 2003. They include
Elliott Carter's Of Challenge and of Love with
Jacob Greenberg at the piano, and Milton Babbitt's Quatrains (both
on Bridge Records).
2004 will see releases of George Crumb's Madrigals (Bridge), and
Luciano Berio's Sequenza III (Naxos).
Ms. Arnold has appeared with
leading new music ensembles across the nation, including eighth
blackbird, Boston Modern Orchestra
Project, New York New Music Ensemble, The
Furious Band, Chicago
Symphony Orchestra's
MusicNOW, Fulcrum
Point, Contemporary
Chamber Players, Pocket
Opera Players, International Contemporary
Ensemble, Cincinnati
Symphony Chamber Players,
and the Slee Sinfonietta at June
in Buffalo. Collaborative artists
have included pianists Jacob
Greenberg, Diana
Schmück and Robert
Spano, and
violinist Movses Pogossian. Tony Arnold's early musical training included
piano, woodwind, and composition studies at the Peabody Preparatory
Institute and
the Maryland Center for the Arts. She received a bachelors degree
in voice from Oberlin
College in 1990, and a masters degree in orchestral conducting
from Northwestern University in 1993. Her diverse musical background
includes several music
directorships at the collegiate level. She has received fellowships
to the Aspen Music Festival, both as a conductor and a vocalist.
Future
performances will include Bernard Rands' Canti Lunatici with the
Chicago
Chamber Musicians; Jonathan Harvey's Song Offerings with the Lucerne
Festival Academy; Brian Ferneyhough's Etudes Transcendantales with Ensemble 21; a solo recital for the Institute of Culture of
Michoacán,
Mexico; and an eight-city tour for the celebration of George
Crumb's
75th birthday, culminating in a performance at the Library of Congress in
October
2004.
Jacob Greenberg
 Pianist
Jacob Greenberg’s work as a soloist and collaborative performer shows
his far-reaching interests in music old and new.
In May 2001, he gave
the U.S. premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s 1998 etudes called Harrison’s
Clocks, which he has studied with the composer. Recent concerto
appearances include the Tan Dun Concerto for Pizzicato
Piano with
the Oberlin Contemporary
Music Ensemble (conducted by the composer); the Bartók Concerto
#1 with the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, conducted
by Elizabeth Schulze of the Maryland Symphony; and the Stefan Wolpe
Piece for Piano and
Sixteen Instruments, a performance which was the centerpiece of
Northwestern’s
international Wolpe festival in November 2001.
Mr. Greenberg served
for three years as principal keyboardist of the Civic Orchestra
of Chicago, with whom he also played extensively
as a chamber musician. As an orchestral player, he has also performed
with the Israel Philharmonic and the New World Symphony. Other
ensemble performances
include Symphony Center’s MusicNOW series (with members of the Chicago
Symphony), the Fulcrum Point New Music Project, and the Contemporary
Chamber Players of the University of Chicago.
Mr. Greenberg has received fellowships to the Tanglewood and
Aspen music festivals. He has recorded with the Amnon
Wolman
Ensemble for that composer’s The Marilyn Series on Centaur Records. His
performances have been heard on WFMT Chicago and Radio
Netherlands. Mr. Greenberg is currently completing doctoral
studies at Northwestern University as a student of Ursula Oppens.
In March 2001, Mr. Greenberg collaborated with soprano
Tony Arnold in her first-prize appearance at the International
Gaudeamus Interpreters
Competition in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He received the special
award for Outstanding Accompanist at the 2001 Louise D. McMahon
International Music Competition, again in collaboration with Ms.
Arnold. Their
recording
of Elliott Carter’s Of Challenge and of Love was
released in spring 2003 by Bridge Records.
Mr. Greenberg joined the faculty of the University at Buffalo
in the fall of 2003.
jacobgreenberg@yahoo.com
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