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The Irish-born mezzo-soprano, voice teacher and clinician, Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with Joint Honors in Music and English from Queen's University in Belfast; her Master of Arts degree in Music and Vocal Pedagogy from Teacher’s College Columbia University in New York City; and her D.M.A. degree in Music History and Vocal Performance from The Juilliard School in Naew York City.
Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek was a member of the world renowned vocal quartet Anonymous 4 from 2000 to 2015. She recorded twelve award-winning CD’s with the group, including "American Angels" which twice topped Billboard’s classical music charts, and The Cherry Tree, one of the top selling classical CD's of 2010. Anonymous 4′s performance of the Irish lament “Caoineadh” on Christopher Tin’s album "Calling All Dawns", with Jacqueline as featured soloist, led to a Grammy for Best Classical Music Crossover Album. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of ModernMedieval, a new female vocal ensemble in which she is joined by singers from Roomful of Teeth, and which fosters collaborative projects featuring early music in conjunction with music from later periods and newly commissioned works.
Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek has a reputation as a versatile and accomplished soloist, specializing in early and new music. She has collaborated with many composers including Judith Weir, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Orlando Gough, Richard Einhorn, Andrew Toovey, Andrew Lovett, Louis Conti, Daniel Thomas Davis, Gregory Spears, Phil Kline and David Lang, singing with such distinguished new music ensembles such as Ensemble Modern Frankfurt, Ensemble Intercontemporain Paris, Singcircle, Continuum, Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, Ixion, Dogs of Desire, Ekmeles, S.E.M. Ensemble and the Locrian Chamber Ensemble.
Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek has premiered roles in several operas, including Bacchant in The Bacchae (John Buller) for English National Opera London, Monk in Gawain (Sir Harrison Birtwistle) for The Royal Opera Covent Garden, Jeannie in The Juniper Tree (Andrew Toovey) for Broomhill International Opera, Jackie Kennedy in Jackie K (Andrew Lovett) for E.N.O. Contemporary Opera Studio, Eliza Doolittle/Scheherazade in The Loathly Lady (Paul Richards) at University of Pennsylvania, Bleiddwen in Wolf-in-Skins, an opera ballet by Gregory Spears and choreographer Christopher Williams for American Opera Projects, Overseer in Sweat by Juliet Palmer at National Sawdust for Centre for Contemporary Opera, Alcina in Jonathan Dawe’s Cracked Orlando for Juilliard’s Centre for Innovation in the Arts, and Gertrude Stein in Daniel Thomas Davis’s Six.Twenty.Outrageous for AOP at Symphony Space.
Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek also premiered the mezzo solos in Richard Einhorn’s oratorio The Origin, based on the life of Charles Darwin at SUNYOswego, and in Irish composer Philip Hammond’s Requiem for the Titanic, a performance that was broadcast live from St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, throughout the whole of Ireland. She is sings the role of Katherine in an opera in development, Tesla, by composer Phil Kline and film-maker Jim Jarmusch and performed excerpts from the piece at the Winnipeg New Music Festival and in New York with American Opera Projects. Other recent world premieres have included new songs by Alexander Goehr and German Cáceres with Juilliard New Music Ensemble as part of the Focus! Festival.
Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek has appeared as a guest soloist with many early music ensembles both in Europe and the USA, including The Washington Bach Consort (Director: J. Reilly Lewis), The Sixteen (Director: Harry Christophers), The Bach Sinfonia (Director: Daniel E. Abraham), TENET (Director: Jolle Greenleaf), Carmel Bach Festival, CONCORA Bach Festival, St. Thomas Church NYC, Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity Lutheran NYC, Baltimore Consort, Bach Festival of Philadelphia, Armonia Nova, The Folger Consort, Parthenia, Sonnambula, Abendmusik, Hudson Chorale, and Fairfax Choral Society. Repertoire includes the mezzo/alto solos in J.S. Bach's Magnificat (BWV 243), St Matthew (BWV 244) and St John Passions (BWV 245), B Minor Mass (BWV 232) and many cantatas, Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Maurice Duruflé and Gabriel Fauré Requiem, Paine Mass in D and songs from the Elizabethan era for Parthenia’s acclaimed program When Music and Sweet Poetry Agree. She is a frequent soloist with Distinguished Concerts International New York, performing Calling All Dawns at Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall. She is the Artistic Director of ModernMedieval, a new ensemble that fosters collaborative projects featuring early music in conjunction with newly commissioned works.
Jacqueline is also a voice teacher, maintaining a private studio in New York in addition to being an Adjunct Professor of Voice at Princeton University (since August 2018), Columbia University Teachers College, and Fordham University. She also teaches music history at The Juilliard School. She has given residencies and master-classes at Universities all over the US, including SUNYOswego, University of Athens Georgia, Mannes School of Music NYC and Georgetown University DC. She also has been a Visiting Artist at Duke University NC, The Catholic University of America D.C. and Binghamton University New York, collaborating with student composers to develop and perform new pieces for the voice. She also gives lectures on vocal heath, vocal pedagogy and Extended Vocal Techniques, and gives Ensemble Technique workshops with groups ranging from trios to choirs with 100+ members. She is a member of the faculty of Chorworks, a choral workshop held annually in D.C. and at Duke University. |
