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The Ameican mezzo-soprano, Clara Osowski, studied at Carrington High School in Carrington, North Dakota. She received her Bachelor of Musical Arts degree with emphasis in Voice from North Dakota State University in 2008, and Master of Arts Degree in Voice from the University of Iowa in 2010. She was a 2012 Metropolitan Opera National Council Upper-Midwest Regional Finalist, the winner of the 2014 Bel Canto Chorus Regional Artists Competition in Milwaukee, and recently named the runner-up in the 2016 Schubert Club Bruce P. Carlson Scholarship Competition. She competed in the 2014 International Vocal Competition in s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. In 2015, she was the only American to reach the finals of the Das Lied competition under the direction of Thomas Quasthoff in Berlin, Germany. This past October (2015) she was a finalist in the Liederkranz Foundation in New York City.
Clara Osowski works as self-employed singer/musician since 2010. Hailed for her artistry and “rich and radiant” voice (Urban Dial Milwaukee), Clara Osowski is an active soloist and chamber musician throughout the USA and Europe. Select opera credits include Ruth in Pirates of Penzance, Venus in Venus and Adonis, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Dorabella in W.A. Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and Cavalier Ramiro in W.A. Mozart's La finta giardiniera.
Clara Osowski's passion for contemporary music is exhibited in the song-cycles she has premiered by numerous composers with the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa, and her most recent collaborations with Linda Tutas Huagen (Gjendine’s Lullaby), Paul Rudoi (Midnight Songs) and James Kallembach (St. John Passion and Songs on Letters of John and Abigail Adams). As a recitalist, she recently completed the Vancouver International Song Institute, the International Workshop on the songs of Edvard Grieg in Bergen, Norway, and traveled to Tours, France to attend the Académie Francis Poulenc. She was also featured in the 2014 Baldwin-Wallace Art Song Festival, in Berea, Ohio. Numerous festivals have introduced her to a number of international artists and art-song masters, including Graham Johnson, Felicity Lott, Julius Drake, Irwin Gage, and Richard Stokes.
Recent performances include a world premiere of James Kallembach’s Songs on Letters of John and Abigail Adams with the Lydian Quartet on the occasion of the Adams’ 250th wedding anniversary at their historic home in Quincy, Massachusetts, and J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee. Highlights in the 2015-2016 season include Dominick Argento’s Casa Guidi with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Liszt-Garrison International Competition in Baltimore with award-winning pianist Casey Rafn, the Midwest premiere of Jeffrey Van’s Reaping the Whirlwind: The Harvest of War with the Oratorio Society of Minnesota, and the 20th Anniversary celebration of l'Académie Francis Poulenc at the Opera House in Tours, France.
In collaboration with pianist Mark Bilyeu and composer Libby Larsen, Clara Osowski serves as the Associate Artistic Director of Source Song Festival, a week-long art song festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This festival strives to create and perform new art song, and cultivate an educational environment for students of song, including composers, vocalists, and collaborative pianists. The festival was in its third season August 8-13, 2016. In addition to her solo work and private teaching, she participates in a number of ensembles, including Consortium Carissimi, Lumina Women’s Ensemble, Rose Ensemble, Seraphic Fire and Oratory Bach Ensemble. She married Joseph Osowski on June 13, 2009 and currently lives in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. |
