This years Encore Young Artists were selected from many talented applicants.
Laura Kosar, Soprano
With her crystalline and agile voice, soprano Laura Kosar is enjoying a blossoming career on both the concert and operatic stages. Thus far in 2018 she has sung in performances of Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna), Die Zauberflöte (Pamina), Hänsel and Gretel (Gretel), Die Fledermaus (Adele), and the Mozart Requiem. Recently she was honored with the Milton Cross Award through the Minuetto Music Festival of the Continuo Arts Foundation.
Ms. Kosar looks forward to the 2018-2019 season, when she will sing once again with the Opera Theatre of Montclair, join Princeton Pro Musica and the Roxey Ballet Company to sing in Carmina Burana, and serve as soprano soloist for the entire concert series of Ars Musica Chorale.
Ms. Kosar completed her training at Westminster Choir College and the University of Delaware, where she sang performances of La Bohème (Musetta), Little Women (Amy), Il trionfo del Tempo (Il Piacere), and L’enfant et les sortilèges (LeFeu). She also teaches music privately.
Allison Gish, Alto
Audience and chorus members alike were delighted to learn that mezzo-soprano Alison Gish is returning for a second season with Ars Musica Chorale. This past season the rich-voiced Ms Gish was a memorable alto soloist in Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil and Bach’s Mass in B Minor.
Other varied roles last season included Lisotta in the American premiere of Salieri’s La Cifra (dell’Arte Opera Ensemble), the title role in Cavalli’s La Didone (Haymarket Opera Company), Junon in Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione (Amherst Early Music Festival), Zita in Gianni Schicchi (ARE Opera), Kathleen O’Fallin in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star (On Site Opera), and Mrs. Prin/Wine Mom in the world premiere of Felix Jarrar’s Tabula Rasa (Cantanti Project).
Past operatic credits include Giunone/Natura in Cavalli’s La Calisto (dell’Arte Opera Ensemble), Medoro in Handel’s Orlando (Cantanti Project), and Green Pants in Robert Ashley’s DUST (The New School). Based in New York City, Ms. Gish is a recent artist-diploma graduate of Mannes Conservatory and received her undergraduate degree at Louisiana State University.
Chad Kranak, Tenor
Known for both his musicality and his sparkling humor, Mr. Kranak made his solo debut in numerous oratorio and concert works this past season: Handel’s Messiah (Brooklyn Contemporary Chorus, and Grace Church), Schubert’s Nachtelle and Mass in G (Riverdale Choral Society) and, most recently, in Thea Musgrave’s Voices of our Ancestors, with New York Virtuoso Singers. The season’s performances also included Frosch in Die Fledermaus (Stony Brook Opera), and Geppetto in the children’s opera Pinocchio with St. Petersburg Opera. He premiered the role of Mincius in Robert Hall’s new opera Lycidas as well as, more unusually, performing with Madonna at this year’s Met Gala, Heavenly Bodies.
Also in Mr. Kranak’s repertory are Albert in Albert Herring, Martin in The Tender Land, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, and Paulo in Rachmaninoff’s Francesca da Rimini. Called a “powerful-voiced tenor, who boasts stunning high notes”, (blogcritics.com), Mr. Kranak is excited to be joining Ars Musica this season.
