James Judd
GERSHWIN, G.: An American in Paris / BERNSTEIN, L.: Songfest
8.559859 | 636943985922
DISCOVER

An American in Paris is one of Gershwin’s most vivacious works, an orchestral ballet saturated in homesickness and the blues. This recording, however, uses the new 2019 critical edition and offers Gershwin’s original orchestration, unheard for 75 years – leaner, more angular and transparent, it also employs the correct use of the iconic taxi horns, for a new sonic experience. The breezy vitality of Copland’s An Outdoor Overture is balanced by Bernstein’s Songfest – written to celebrate the Bicentennial Year in America, setting the verses of 13 of the country’s poets.

Listen to an excerpt from:
Bernstein’s Songfest: III. Julia de Burgos
Soloists| Wolf Trap Opera| National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic| Conductor
Kerriann Otaño
About Kerriann Otaño, Soprano
Kerriann Otaño was a Filene Young Artist at Wolf Trap Opera in 2015 and 2016, returning in 2018 as a guest artist for her debut performance of Bernstein’s Songfest. She has regularly appeared at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where she was a Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist and has since returned in Candide, Dead Man Walking and Don Giovanni. Otaño has additionally performed at the Glimmerglass Festival and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Taylor Raven
About Taylor Raven, Mezzo-soprano
Taylor Raven is a member of the LA Opera Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program and a 2019 Filene Artist with Wolf Trap Opera. Appearances in spring 2020 include her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Die Walküre. She was awarded First Prize at the 2018 Loren L. Zachary Competition and is a recipient of a 2017 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation. Raven holds degrees from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Zoie Reams
About Zoie Reams, Mezzo-soprano
The 2019–20 season sees multi-award-winning mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams appear as Maddalena in Rigoletto at both the Houston Grand Opera and Opera San Antonio, and in Everest and Freedom Ride with Chicago Opera Theater. In the 2018–19 season Reams made her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in La traviata, sang the title role in Carmen (Opera Louisiane), and appeared in Wozzeck (Des Moines Metro Opera) and Madama Butterfly (Opera Columbus).
Alexander McKissick
About Alexander McKissick, Tenor
Tenor Alexander McKissick is a graduate of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera. He has appeared in Kevin Puts’ Silent Night and Bernstein’s Candide, and in 2018 performed the title role in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with Wolf Trap Opera. McKissick is the recipient of a 2018 Sullivan Foundation career grant, a 2017 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and is a Toulmin Scholar.
Joshua Conyers
About Joshua Conyers, Baritone
Originally from the Bronx, New York, baritone Joshua Conyers returns to Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program for the 2019–20 season to appear in Die Zauberflöte and Porgy and Bess. During the 2018–19 season he performed in La traviata, Silent Night and Eugene Onegin. He joined Wolf Trap Opera in 2018 and has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall.
Patrick Guetti
About Patrick Guetti, Bass
During the 2019–20 season bass Patrick Guetti made his debut with both the Metropolitan Opera and Oper Stuttgart, and joined Deutsche Oper Berlin. Guetti returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the 2018–19 season in David Pountney’s production of Siegfried conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, and to Opera Philadelphia in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream conducted by Corrado Rovaris. Guetti represented the US in the 2019 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition in Wales.
Wolf Trap Opera
About the Wolf Trap Opera
In partnership with the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, Wolf Trap Opera’s UNTRAPPED series takes thrilling vocal music to spaces beyond the company’s Northern Virginia home. These talented vocal artists have performed critically-acclaimed concerts with the NOI Philharmonic including Maurice Ravel’s comedic L’heure espagnole, George Gershwin's iconic Porgy and Bess and Leonard Bernstein's picturesque Songfest.

Since its inception in 1971, Wolf Trap Opera has contributed to the career development of nearly 700 emerging professional singers from across the US. Through its summer residency program, WTO is dedicated to discovering and developing talent in the opera field and serving emerging professional artists through carefully curated training and performance opportunities, which lie at the core of WTO’s mission. Distinguished alumni include Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Michelle DeYoung, Christine Goerke, Denyce Graves, Nathan Gunn, Alan Held, Dawn Upshaw, and Eric Owens.

National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic
About the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic
The National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is formed each June by the musicians of the National Orchestral Institute. Held annually since 1988, these musicians of extraordinary talent are chosen through rigorous international auditions and coalesce into one of the most dynamic orchestras in the country. Focused on creating future musicians and leaders in the world of orchestras, its alumni now occupy important positions in virtually every major symphony in the US.
Richard Scerbo
© Geoff Sheil
About Richard Scerbo, Director
Richard Scerbo is Director of the National Orchestral Institute and Festival where he leads one of the nation’s most prestigious training programs for young orchestral musicians. For over ten years, Scerbo has worked in various capacities to oversee the artistic growth of the Institute and its innovative training curriculum in orchestral performance, conductor-less chamber orchestras, professional development and community engagement.
James Judd
© Miguel Alonso
About James Judd
British conductor James Judd first came to international attention as Lorin Maazel’s assistant at The Cleveland Orchestra. He has since conducted numerous orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in prestigious European halls such as the Salzburg Mozarteum and Musikverein Vienna, and appeared with prestigious ensembles such as the Orchestre National de France, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and orchestras across the US. His directorships have included principal guest conductor of the Orchestre National de Lille and the Asian Youth Orchestra, music director of, among others, the Florida Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony and the Daejeon Philharmonic orchestras, and chief conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic. Judd has amassed an extensive discography on numerous labels including Naxos.