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The American soprano and voice teacher, Stacey Mastrian, obtained her Bachelor of Music degree in Voice and Opera from The The Catholic University of America; her Master of Music degree in Voice and Opera from University of Maryland, College Park; and her Doctorate of Musical Artsin Voice and Opera from University of Maryland. Her principal studies were with Elizabeth Daniels and Martha Randall (both of whom studied with Todd Duncan). She also has trained with Jack Livigni and other bel canto teachers and currently works with Erich Parce. She carries on the new music traditions that she learned through coaching with Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Michiko Hirayama, Judith Kellock, Ruth Lakeway, Joan Logue, Susanne Otto, Liliana Poli, André Richard, Lucy Shelton, and Alvise Vidolin. She has been a Fulbright grantee and Beebe fellow to Italy and awarded prizes from The American Prize (Art Song), Chamber Orchestra of NY (Respighi Prize), International Traxel Society (First Laureate), National Italian American Foundation (Pavarotti Scholarship), Shoshana Foundation (Richard F. Gold Career Grant recipient), Seattle Opera Guild (Development Awardee), and Vocal Arts DC (Discovery Series Winner).
“Manifestly courageous” (Boston Globe), “inspired” (New York Times) and “versatile and passionate” (Der Tagesspiegel), Stacey Mastrian's repertoire spans 900 years, from Hildegard von Bingen and Beatriz de Día to Machaut and Monteverdi, through W.A. Mozart and Verdi to Bruno Maderna and beyond -recently J.S. Bach's Cantata BWV 51 and Johannes Brahms' Requiem (Rome), Annelies (Anne Frank’s diary, Seattle), Arnesen’s Magnificat (UPC, Seattle). She has sung in more than two dozen languages. In addition to standard classical and contemporary repertoire, she specializes in art song, 20th- and 21st-century experimental vocal works, and works that highlight social issues and innovation. Highly sought-after as performer of works by Luigi Nono and his Italian predecessors and contemporaries, as well as by American composers John Cage, Morton Feldman, and those influenced by them, she is frequently the catalyst behind collaborative multi-disciplinary creative partnerships and events to share these works.
Stacey Mastrian has performed with the Konzerthaus Orchestra at the Konzerthaus and at the Maxim Gorki Theater (Berlin), at the Teatro La Fenice (Venice) for the 50th anniversary production of Nono’s Intolleranza 1960 under the baton of Lothar Zagrosek, with the Opera in Roma Baroque Orchestra, Nova Amadeus Orchestra, and Rome Symphony Orchestra (Rome), at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur (Montréal), St. Peter’s (Vatican City), Fondazione Cini with the Experimentalstudio Freiburg and Palazzo Pisani (Venice), and in collaboration with Nuria Schoenberg Nono at the Conservatorio di Musica Respighi (Latina) and in Venice. She has performed in Morelia and Puebla, Mexico and has made acclaimed appearances across the USA (over half of the states), notably with CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, as Gilda in Rigoletto with the Summer Opera Theatre Company, as Mabel for thirty productions of The Pirates of Penzance with the Washington Savoyards, for Music of Remembrance, with the Emerald Ensemble, multiple experimental artistic collectives (including as a core member of The Bay Players Experimental Music Collective and a founding member of Unbound Arts, Ecco Chamber Ensemble, Interplait, No Steve, seconds, SM2, and When Morty Met John), guitarist and Yamaha artist Alejandra Reyes, and Vocal Arts DC. As a Young Artist with Opera Lafayette, she has performed Charpentier and Gluck at the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center (DC), and Jazz at Lincoln Center (NY), and she made her debut with the Chamber Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall (NY) as winner of The Respighi Prize.
The New York Times has praised her for “intensity, focus, and a warm, passionate sound,” and her singing has been hailed by the Berliner Zeitung as “very impressive…tremendous ease and beauty.” Stacey Mastrian has appeared in broadcasts on Georgian National Radio, Rete Toscana Classica, EWTN, FRANCE2, KBFG, KCIS, KING FM, KPBX, NPR, RAI3, WETA, WMMT, and WPIC. Christopher Shultis composed the protest opera Lost in the Woods, with texts by Thoreau, for her and for the Akros Percussion Collective, which has been performed in New York, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and more. Other composers with whom she has collaborated include Sarah Bassingthwaighte, Mike Boyd, Thomas DeLio, Martin Gendelman, Mark Hilliard Wilson, Kyle Johnson, Stephen Lilly, Raimundo Pereira Martinez, Lawrence Moss, Tomek Regulski, Roberto Terelle, Kristian Twombly, Stefano Vasselli, and Steve Wanna; she has worked with visionary choreographers Elisa Foshay and Tzveta Kassabova. Her recordings of works by Thomas DeLio appear on four titles on the Neuma label, with Opera Lafayette on two Naxos CD's, and on several video game soundtracks. Her first full-length solo CD, "Sonnets and Fables - Post-Puccini: Part I", released on the Stradivarius label was hailed for “penetrating insight, unfailing musicality, and vocal beauty” (Journal of Singing). She has three titles in post-production, including a project supported by a 2016 Jack Straw Artist Award.
Stacey Mastrian has received awards from The American Bach Society/Bach Choir of Bethlehem, International Joseph Traxel Society, Maryland Opera Society, Mu Phi Epsilon, National Association of Teachers of Singing, National Italian American Foundation, Rosa Ponselle Foundation, Seattle Opera Guild, Shoshana Foundation, and Vocal Arts DC. She has been honored with scholarship support to attend the SongFest professional program and a Max Kade scholarship for the German for Singers program at Middlebury College, and she received Second Place from The American Prize in Vocal Performance (Women in Art Song and Oratorio), 2017-2018 - The Friedrich and Virginia Schorr Memorial Award.
Stacey Mastrian has given dozens of lectures, master-classes, and recitals in over half of the states in the USA, as well as in British Columbia and Mexico. Since 2015, she has been voice teacher, functional anatomy facilitator, and diction and presentation coach. She is the founder of Mindful Vocal Engineering™, Singing with Ease™, Sounding the Voice Within™, and Vocal Freedom for Life™. She has spent the last three decades on a journey of exploration into a multitude of modalities incorporating mind, body, breath, and voice—including Alba Method, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, Franklin Method® (certified Level I & II Movement Educator and Lower Back and Pelvic Floor trainer), mindfulness practices, STOTT Pilates®, sound healing, trauma & resiliency work, and more - to guide her clients to self-awareness and empower them to make holistic, lifelong changes—a process which she calls Endogenous Education™.
Stacey Mastrian has taught and has taught voice, diction, and pedagogy at at University of Maryland Baltimore County and College Park (Graduate Assistant: 2005-2007); Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University (Teaching Faculty: 2006-2012), American University (Professorial Lecturer: 2007-2012); and Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College (Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Voice: 2012-2015). She runs an independent voice studio and is a diction coach and functional anatomy facilitator. |
