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The American lyric soprano, Juliet Schlefer, has an early background in both choral music and musical theater. She was a member of the prestigious Brooklyn Youth Chorus Concert Choir for six years. During her time there, she was a performer and soloist in the premiere and recording of Black Mountain Songs, curated by Bryce Dessner and Richard Reed Parry, featuring works by composers including Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly, John King, and Aleksandra Vrebelov at the BAM 2014 Next Wave Festival. She also appeared in the premiere of AM I BORN by David T. Little, It’s Motion Keeps by Caroline Shaw and original workshops of Paola Prestini’s The Aging Magician. Featured musical theater roles included Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! and Cinderella in Into the Woods. She obtained her Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from University of Michigan School of Music Theater and Dance (2017-2022); and currently pursuing her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at the same institute (since August 2022; expected graduation: 2024). Notable competitions and awards include the 2019 and 2020 semi-finals of the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, multiple finalist awards from the Schmidt Youth Vocal Competition and an appearance as a featured performer on episode 339 of NPR’s From the Top with Christopher O’Riley.
In April 2022, Juliet Schlefer created a full-length, graduation recital starring herself and a homemade, larger-than-life-sized, musical robot. Together they shared the stage to sing repertoire ranging from Strozzi to Rachmaninoff and Babbitt to Lang; all while learning to fill and hold their own personal space. Also in 2021-2022 at UMich, she performed as the soprano soloist in Haydn’s Theresienmesse, Philip Glass’s Music in 12 Parts and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2. Further U of M highlights include performances as a featured soloist on David Lang’s UM Penny Stamps Distinguished Lecturer Series about his opera prisoner of the state; additional Lang works and Steve Reich’s Tehillim with the University’s Contemporary Directions Ensemble; and extensive rehearsals as Adele in the University of Michigan’s, Covid-canceled production of Die Fledermaus, directed by Grant Preisser. She has also appeared in two movies, First Reformed, and Change in the Air.
This coming summer, Juliet is proud to be a 2023 Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center under the direction of Dawn Upshaw. In 2022 she was a Music Academy of the West Studio Artist, joining the company chorus in Eugene Onegin and in summer 2021, she returned to Opera Neo to perform the role of Barbarina and cover Susanna in W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Previously with Opera Neo, in 2020 and 2021, she appeared as the First Spirit in Opera Neo’s fully filmed, edited, and green-screened production of W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. In NEO’s 2019 season, she appeared in Cavalli’s La Calisto as the Second Fury and was the cover for Diana/Giove in Diana. Additional Festivals include The Collaborative Piano Institute in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (2021), the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs, New York (2019), SongFest (2018), and the Brancaleoni International Music Festival (2018).
This season, in November 2022, Juliet Schlefer was thrilled to make her Power Center debut as the vixen Bystrouška, in Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, under the direction of Tara Faircloth and Kirk Severtson. An avid recitalist, her spring 2023 collaborative performances include Samuel Barber’s Hermit Songs, Dvorak’s Cigánské Melodie, and Leonard Bernstein's Arias and Barcarolles, among others. Also this spring, she will perform Heitor Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brazilieras #5 at the inaugural festivities for The University of Michigan’s new President, Santa Ono, and then again on a chamber concert with members of the UniversityPhilharmonia Orchestra, under the direction of Jayce Ogren.
When not in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Juliet Schlefer lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her cat, Chestnut. |
