From Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Don Giovanni to the contemporary works of Hindemith, Britten, Bloch and Rorem, baritone Jonathan Hays exhibits extraordinary breadth of vocal flexibility and interpretive expression. Engagements in 2007 and 2008 include Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Portland Opera, a return to the Summerscape Festival at Bard College in the title role of Gilbert and Sullivan’s, The Sorcerer, and Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore with Chattanooga Opera. He has been reengaged by the Celebrity Series of Boston and the Toronto Symphony for performances of Rob Kapilow’s whimsical orchestral song cycle, And Furthermore, They Bite, and he will perform Jorge Martín’s tour-de-force work for baritone, The Glass Hammer, in the cities of Brooklyn, NY; Chapel Hill, NC; and Harrisburg, PA with pianist Craig Ketter.
Renowned as an interpreter of contemporary music, Mr. Hays essayed the role of Shadow Grendel in the world premier of Grendel by Eliot Goldenthal and Julie Taymor with the Los Angeles Opera and Lincoln Center Festival, collaborated with Ned Rorem and New Music New Haven on Mr. Rorem’s Songs of Sadness, originated the role of Isiah Berlin in The Guest from the Future by Mel Marvin and Jonathan Levi at the Summerscape Festival, and performed multiple roles in the OK Mozart Festival’s world premier production of Jean Michel Damase’s Ochelata’s Wedding. He was recently heard with the American Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall performing in two operas by Hindemith, Das Nush-Nushi and Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen, and bowed as Friedrich Bhaer in Mark Adamo’s Little Women with Dayton Opera.
Also acclaimed for his portrayal of roles in the standard repertory, Mr. Hays’ has sung principle roles in Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Le Nozze di Figaro (Count, Figaro), Die Zauberflöte (Papageno), Cosi Fan Tutte (Guglielmo), Das Rheingold (Donner), La Boheme (Marcello, Schaunard), L’Elisir d’Amore (Belcore), Giulio Cesare (Achilla), Deidamia (Fenice), L’Italiana in Algeri (Taddeo), La Cenerentola (Dandani), La Gazza Ladra (Fernando), I Pagliacci (Silvio), Fidelio (Fernando), Albert Herring (Sid, Vicar), Béatrice et Bénédict (Somarone), and others, with companies that include The Washington Opera, Central City Opera, The Lyric Opera of Kansas City, The Caramoor Festival, Connecticut Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra, Opera de la Colombia, Cape Town Opera, Syracuse Opera, Greensboro Opera Company, The Oklahoma Mozart Festival, The Utah Festival Opera Company, Eugene Opera, and Yale Opera. After an acclaimed performance of Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra with the Caramoor Festival and the Orchestra of St. Lukes, Paul Griffiths of The New York Times wrote of his work, ‘…in all his contributions, the nobility of his voice matched the nobility of his bearing and his singing was consistently strong, lucid, direct and bang on the note. His was a magnificent performance’.
A frequent guest of symphony orchestras all over North America, Mr. Hays has performed the solo material in works such as Handel’s Messiah; J.S. Bach’s Magnificat, St. Matthew Passion and B-minor Mass; Avodath Hakodesh by Ernest Bloch; Rob Kapilow’s And Furthermore, They Bite and Polar Express; and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, with organizations including The Orchestra of St. Luke's, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, The American Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Eos Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Musica Viva, The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, The Alabama Symphony, The New Jersey Symphony, and The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Mr. Hays divides his free time between New York City and the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.

American pianist Craig Ketter is rapidly distinguishing himself as a leading pianist of his generation, performing as soloist and chamber musician throughout the world. Critically acclaimed for “transporting the listeners to extraordinary heights” and “into a world beyond time and space,” Mr. Ketter is known for playing with powerhouse sonority combined with long-lined, dulcet lyricism. He performs frequently in the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe as both soloist and collaborative musician.

Most recently, Mr. Ketter brought ecstatic audiences to their feet performing Brahms’ First Piano Concerto with the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and proved brilliant showmanship in Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto with the Mobile Symphony. In the past few seasons he has performed Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra and has made debuts in Chicago and in the San Francisco Bay Area, performing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. He received first prize in the Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition, and his solo recitals include the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago as well as frequently scheduled recitals in the New York area, Texas, North Carolina, Argentina, and Vancouver, Canada.

Complementing his solo performances with collaborative ventures, Mr. Ketter regularly joins forces with international singers and chamber groups. He was featured with the Meliora Winds on National Public Radio’s Performance Today series during a recent summer residency in Washington, D.C., and has toured extensively throughout Texas and Argentina with strings and winds from the American Festival for the Arts. Other recent joint ventures include performances with the Brazos Strings at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and for National Concerts Association at La Huaca, Atlapa in Panama City. He has also played with the Monte Verde String Quartet for “Music in the Mountains” in Colorado, with tenor Robert White for New Philharmonic of New Jersey, with tenor Bruce Sledge in Weill Concert Hall for The Marilyn Horne Foundation, and as a guest artist at Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine. This season includes numerous recitals with flutist Eugenia Zukerman.

Mr. Ketter’s extensive chamber music experience began after being awarded the Saunderson Award at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in Los Angeles, California. He collaborates regularly in recital with a wide spectrum of musicians, comfortable with the copious and rigorous repertoire from lieder and opera to instrumental works and concerti. Even in collectively shared endeavors, Mr. Ketter’s passionate commitment to music-making has left enthusiastic audiences reeling, as one critic wrote, from the “splendidly unified artistic experience”. He is a member of the newly founded Aurelia Trio with violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins and cellist Eric Bartlett.

Craig Ketter began piano studies at the age of seven, giving his first solo recital at the age of ten. Shortly thereafter, he began to win top prizes in numerous competitions including the Young Keyboard Artists Association International Piano Competition, the North Carolina Symphony Young Artists Competition, and the Kingsville International Piano Competition. He later won first prizes in the Richardson Awards National Piano Competition and the South Orange Symphony of New Jersey Young Artists Competition. While still in high school, he performed concerti with the North Carolina Symphony, the Durham Symphony, the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra, the Raleigh Civic Symphony, and the Raleigh Oratorio Society.

Craig Ketter received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Nelita True and Barry Snyder, where he also taught as Mr. Snyder’s assistant. He continued post-graduate studies with Yoheved Kaplinsky of the Juilliard School. Complementing his performing with teaching, Mr. Ketter has presented master classes throughout the United States and Argentina, and has served as a guest professor and adjudicator in several institutions and venues. He has been a faculty member of the Rocky Ridge Music Festival in Colorado, and presently serves as Head of the Piano Faculty at the American Festival for the Arts in Houston, Texas, and as a regular guest artist at the Raleigh Conservatory of Music. Mr. Ketter currently resides in New York City with his wife, Canadian soprano Valerie Gonzalez, and his two sons, Isaac and Daniel.

What some of the critics think:

- shined as brightly as imported stardust… bet on Craig Ketter’s having a major career. He has power, sensitivity, and individuality – and that’s in one hand. What was surprising was the lacy delicacy, the separation of voices, and the idiomatic ease with the French style.” Piano Concerto for the Left Hand – Ravel, The Raleigh News & Observer

- It’s a sign of Ketter’s strong musicianship that his lyrical singing performance of the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 cut through the background noise. His tone was light and clear, giving a fleet, elegant Mozart-like feel to the first movement”. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, Chicago Sun Times

- Soloist Craig Ketter gave an admirable performance on the composer’s most difficult work...was impassioned and amazingly supple…The piece benefited from Ketter’s maturity and musicianship…With Ketter at center stage…the finale…hit some extraordinary heights in a moving document. Before Ketter wowed them with his stellar work…”. Piano Concerto No. 3 – Rachmaninoff, The Mobile Register

- Pianist Craig Ketter received a deserved standing ovation for his heroic, athletic approach to Brahms’ big Piano Concerto No. 1. The piano seemed almost too small for this sure-fingered pianist, who hovered over the instrument like a cat stalking its prey. The great rondo of the last movement was a bright beacon, with Ketter moving masterfully up and down the keyboard in a sprightly, almost jovial manner, jockeying with the orchestra as the final movement reached the most cohesive moments of the evening”.
Piano Concerto No. 1 - Brahms, The Sacramento Bee

Jorge Martín has received numerous awards and commissions. Concert Artists Guild, Close Encounters With Music and the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble have recently commissioned works, and he won the 2003 Vermont Music Teachers commission award. In 2001 he was one of the featured composers in New York City Opera's "Vox: Showcasing American Composers." In 1999 he received a generous Cintas Fellowship for creative artists of Cuban descent, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Academy Award in Music in 1998, which included a stipend and a recording grant. In 2005 Mr. Martín was awarded a fellowship by the Bogliasco Foundation for a month-long residence at the villa near Genoa on Italy's Ligurian coast.

Having acquired the musical-dramatic adaptation rights to Reinaldo Arenas's superb memoir "Before Night Falls" in 1995, Mr. Martín began work on the opera in earnest in 2003, having written the libretto himself with the help of the translator of the book, Dolores M. Koch, who knew Arenas personally. American Opera Projects presented piano readings in New York from Act One as part of the Cuban Arts Festival in 2004 and 2005; the New York Times published a very favorable review of the second reading, most unusual for a partial reading of a work-in-progress.

His one-act opera Tobermory won first prize in 1993 in the National Opera Association's Fifth Biennial Chamber Opera Competition and has been performed in Eugene, New Orleans, Kansas City and at the Lake George Opera Festival. Beast and Superbeast, a set of four one-act operas, including Tobermory, based on Saki's short stories with libretti by Andrew Joffe, was presented in March 1996 in Washington D.C. (Bethesda) by The Other Opera Company and in June 1996 in New York by the American Chamber Opera Company to critical acclaim. Mr. Martín was awarded an artist's residency at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs in 1993 and again in 2003. His Saxophone Quartet was performed by the Vienna Saxophone Quartet in Vienna and New York, and his Four Dances for bassoon and string quartet had its world premiere at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland in July 1997; it received its American premiere in New York City at the Public Theatre as part of the American Composers Orchestra "Sonidos de las Americas: Cuba" festival in March 1999. Also available on CD is his piano music on "Steps" (on the Albany label) performed by Jeanne Golan.

The Vermont Symphony Orchestra commissioned Romance from Mr. Martín for its "Made In Vermont" tour of ten towns throughout the state in the fall of 1999. In the spring of 2000, baritone Sanford Sylvan toured the premiere of The Glass Hammer, an hour-long song cycle on poems by Andrew Hudgins, with pianist David Breitman; Carnegie Hall will presented Mr. Sylvan in May of 2000 at Weill Recital Hall in a performance of that work. The duo has recorded the cycle and is available on the Koch International Classics label.