Luke MacMillan, baritone, recently performed as the Swineherd in John Harbison’s Full Moon In March at Bard College. This summer he will sing as Dandini in La Cenerentola, cover Maximilian in Candide, and work with maestro Keith Lockhart in Bernstein’s Mass with the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard.

Last summer he performed with Opera Saratoga in their productions of Verdi’s Falstaff and Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock. Previously at Bard he sang as Maximilian in Candide with The Orchestra Now and in concert with the Bard College Baroque Ensemble. Before completing his masters, MacMillan spent two years away from academia to continue his vocal studies privately. In that time he performed with the Madison Bach Musicians and collaborated with various new opera and theater companies, taking on the roles of Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and Umberto in and English adaptation of Pergolesi’s La serva padrona. His work as Umberto garnered him a regional nomination for Best Actor In A Musical by Broadway World. He was also a second place finalist in Angela Meade’s Northwest Young Voices competition.

“I’ve been in love with Brahms’ repertoire for quite a while and try and include him as often as possible on my recitals. You can imagine how overjoyed I was when given the opportunity to sing a concert centered around his music!” -Luke

Luke MacMillan

From Canada to Spain to the United States, Canadian pianist Florence Mak has established herself as a multi-faceted musician. She has appeared onstage as a soloist, collaborator,  hamber and orchestral musician. She made her orchestral debut as the featured soloist with the New Westminster Symphony at the age of ten.

In her continued pursuit for artistic excellence, Florence performed in renowned workshops and masterclasses at programs such as Songfest, Burgos International Music Festival, and the Banff Centre. In addition to collaborating with instrumentalists and vocalists, she enjoys working alongside composers including Pulitzer Prize winner John Luther Adams, Christos Hatzis, Jake Heggie, and Libby Larsen.

Equally passionate about music education, Florence believes that children of all ages should have access and exposure to Classical music, regardless of their background. She is dedicated to presenting outreach concerts throughout North America in hospitals, hospices, and schools. An advocate for art songs, she is a founding member of Lynx Project, whose mission is to expand the boundaries of the traditional recital form and increase appreciation for music and poetry. Recently, Lynx Project launched their Autism Advocacy Campaign, where they are commissioning five composers to set music to the text of four individuals who are primarily non-verbal and are autistic (www.lynxproject.org).

Florence holds a doctorate in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School of Music and received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance at the University of Toronto. She currently is on staff at the Bard College Conservatory of Music as a Collaborative Piano Fellow.

Florence Mak

Bethany Pietroniro is a pianist with an eclectic repertoire of vocal and instrumental chamber music. She has performed throughout the United States at venues including the Morgan Library in New York City, Alice Tully Hall, the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Zipper Hall in Los Angeles, and the Baltimore War Memorial.

Bethany was a Collaborative Piano Fellow at the Bard College Conservatory of Music from 2015 to 2017, and has twice been the recipient of a Marc and Eva Stern Fellowship to SongFest at Colburn. She has also participated in the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Garth Newel Chamber Music Fellowship Program, and the New Music on the Point Festival.

A native of Massachusetts, Bethany attended the Walnut Hill School for the Arts before continuing her education at Indiana University, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in piano performance and mathematics. She received master’s degrees in solo piano and vocal accompanying from Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

“This has been a lovely opportunity to explore works that are new to me by some of my favorite composers, and to indulge in the joys of vocal chamber music and piano duo — simultaneously!” -Bethany

Bethany Pietroniro

Mezzo-soprano Chloë Schaaf has been praised for her emotional subtlety and animated aplomb, in addition to her lyrical singing. Operatic roles include The Queen (Full Moon in March John Harbison), Demoiselle d’Honneur (l’Étoile Chabrier), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro Mozart), Ruggiero (Alcina Handël), Don Ramiro (La Finta Gardiniera Mozart), Nerone (l’Incoronazione di Poppea Monteverdi), and The Tango Singer (The Great Gatsby Harbison).

An avid lover of chamber, contemporary, and song repertoire, Chloë has performed at venues including Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Harris Hall, and The New York Society for Ethical Culture. Chloë has been seen in recital at both the Oxford and Leeds Lieder Festivals. She recently debuted with the Albany Symphony and will be making her debut with the Orchestra of the League of Composers in May 2018, singing Book IV from John Harbison’s Mottetti di Montale.

As an oratorio soloist, Chloë has performed with the Helena Symphony, the Greenwich Choral Society, Concerts in the Village, and MusicaVivaNY. Summer seasons include the Aspen Music Festival, the Victoria Bach Festival, and the Professional Fellowship at Songfest in Los Angeles.

Chloë holds her BM from the Juilliard School and her MM from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in London. She is currently a member of the Vocal Arts Program at Bard College Conservatory, under the mentorship of Dawn Upshaw, Sanford Sylvan, and Kayo Iwama.

“It is deeply gratifying to work with other singers in a small ensemble. As classical singers, we focus much of our energy into solo repertoire and rarely have the opportunity to work together in this way. The duets and quartets we will be performing on this concert allow for a type of detail-oriented ensemble work that is incredibly fulfilling. And all the more so, since we have the luxury of performing with close friends!” -Chloë

Chloë Schaaf

Praised by the Rochester City Newspaper for her “honeyed tone” and by the Boston Globe for “a rich voice that could go in a blink from speaking to soaring” – as well as her “killer side-eye” – soprano Paulina Swierczek is a vibrant story-teller, combining technical facility with a consuming passion for communication.

Recent concert highlights include Poulenc’s Gloria, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5 of Villa-Lobos, and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. Favorite roles include The New Prioress (Les dialogues des Carmelites), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), and the Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro.) She made her international operatic debut in November 2016 at the Teatro Diana in Mexico premiering Don’t Blame Anyone by Carlos Sanchez-Guttierez and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. A 2017 Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, she performed Berg’s Sieben Frühe Lieder with the TMC Orchestra, songs of Ella Fitzgerald alongside Dawn Upshaw and Stephanie Blythe, and works by J. S. Bach led by John Harbison. She also premiered Anthony Cheung’s All thorn, but cousin to your rose featuring the texts of Nabokov, Pushkin and Poe alongside curator and longtime ICE member Jacob Greenberg.

2017/18 season highlights include a concert of the music of David Del Tredici, to celebrate the  composer’s 80th birthday, her debut with the Albany Symphony singing Madame Herz in Schauspieldirektor, and the Queen in John Harbison’s Full Moon in March at Bard College, directed by Alison Moritz and conducted by James Bagwell. She is honored to have been invited back to the Tanglewood Music Center for their 2018 season, and the Bernsteiin Centennial year.

Paulina attended the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Rita Shane, Dr. Constance Haas and Anthony Dean Griffey, and currently studies with Sanford Sylvan.

“It’s always a joy to work with colleagues of such high caliber, and even more so when those colleagues are your friends. It’s a privilege to be exploring this multifaceted repertory in a way that is so like that of the salon context in which many of these works were likely performed – with friends, with laughter, with love.” -Paulina

Paulina Swierczek