January 17, 2024, 7pm
The Lindemann Performing Arts Center

Kicking off the IGNITE Series in 2024, rising-star Julia Bullock brings her versatile artistry to the brand-new Lindemann Performing Arts Center. Presenting a brilliantly curated and wide-ranging program, Bullock has been named "a musician who delights in making her own rules" by The New Yorker, and "one of today's smartest, most arresting vocalists in any genre"  by NPR. Plus, see and hear The Lindemann Main Hall in its recital formation, the last of the primary configurations to be acoustically tuned as the building gears up for more exciting public performances.

"ONE OF THE SINGULAR ARTISTS OF HER GENERATION"
^{-The New York Times}

Julia Bullock

Combining versatile artistry with a probing intellect and commanding stage presence, American classical singer Julia Bullock has headlined productions and concerts at preeminent arts institutions worldwide.

This season, she makes debuts at New York's Metropolitan Opera in El Nino and Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu in the European premiere of Antony & Cleopatra, having previously debuted at Covent Garden in Theodora, San Francisco Opera in the world premiere of Girls of the Golden West, Santa Fe Opera in Doctor Atomic, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in The Rake's Progress, and English National Opera, Teatro Real and Bolshoi Theatre in the title role of The Indian Queen. Other operatic highlights include the world premieres of Upload at Dutch National Opera and Fire Shut Up in My Bones at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

In concert, she has appeared with the world's foremost orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, NOR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and London Symphony Orchestra, while recital highlights include appearances at New York's Carnegie Hall, Boston's Celebrity Series, Washington's Kennedy Center, London's Wigmore Hall, and the Mostly Mozart and Ojai Music festivals.

Her signature projects include Perle Noire: Meditations for Josephine, conceived in collaboration with Peter Sellars, Tyshawn Sorey and Claudia Rankine; Five Freedom Songs, developed with Jessie Montgomery; and History's Persistent Voice, which combines the songs of enslaved people with new music by Black American women. Released by Nonesuch, Bullock's solo album debut, Walking in the Dark, was featured in the New York Times's "Best Classical Music Tracks of 2022" and NPR's 20 "Best Albums of 2022."

Her growing discography also includes the soundtrack of Amazon Prime Video's The Underground Railroad and Grammy-nominated recordings of West Side Story and Doctor Atomic. An innovative and in-demand curator, Bullock's past positions include collaborative partner of Esa-Pekka Salonen and Artist-in Residence of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Symphony and London's Guildhall School.

Committed to integrating community activism with her musical life, she is a prominent voice for social consciousness and change.

Bretton Brown

Japanese American pianist Bretton Brown enjoys a diverse career as song accompanist, chamber musician, and coach. He lives in London and made his debut there in 2016 accompanying Renée Fleming at Wigmore Hall. Further recital appearances include the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and the Edinburgh International Festival. In 2023/24, he tours the US with Julia Bullock and the UK with Hera Hyesang Park. His season began at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, where he prepared the world premiere of Picture a day like this, the newest opera by Sir George Benjamin and Martin Crimp.

Brown has worked closely with George Benjamin for over a decade. He was repetiteur/coach for the world premiere of Lessons in Love and Violence (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) and subsequent productions across Europe, and the American and Canadian premieres of Written on Skin. He has also performed as a guest artist with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, including at the BBC Proms, the Berliner Philharmonie, and the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, with Benjamin conducting.

In 2024, Brown joins Dutch National Opera as repetiteur/coach for the world premiere of Ellen Reid’s The Shell Trial. He has also prepared the world premiere of Zauberland, written for Julia Bullock, for le Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris, and he assisted Renée Fleming in the preparation of André Previn’s final work, Penelope.

Committed to the development of younger artists, Brown is on faculty at Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London where he teaches pianists, coaches singers, and has curated several innovative song projects. He has been a visiting professor at Oberlin and guest teacher of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Beginning in summer 2024, he will lead the resident artist program of the Lakes Area Music Festival in Minnesota.

Raised in Kentucky, Brown studied at Yale, the New England Conservatory, and Juilliard. He won prizes for music and poetry at Yale, the Henri Kohn Memorial Award from Tanglewood, and Juilliard’s Richard F. French Prize for his dissertation on the life and music of Gustav Holst. He is a finisher of the New York City Marathon.

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