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Noseda’s leadership has inspired and reinvigorated the National Symphony Orchestra which makes its home at the Kennedy Center. The renewed artistic recognition and critical acclaim has led to invitations to Carnegie Hall, international concert halls, as well as digital streaming and a record label distributed by LSO Live for which Noseda also records as principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. The label’s most recent and upcoming releases are dedicated to the complete Sinfonias by Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington, D.C. native George Walker and a Beethoven Cycle. The label launched in 2020 with DvoÅ™ák’s Symphony No. 9 and Copland’s Billy the Kid. He has made over 70 recordings for various labels, including Deutsche Grammophon and Chandos on which he recorded many works including those by neglected Italian composers through his Musica Italiana series.

Noseda became General Music Director of the Zurich Opera House in September 2021. In 2022, his initial four-year contract was extended through the 2027–2028 season. An important milestone will be two complete Ring Cycles in May 2024 in a new production by Andreas Homoki. Since April 2022, his performances of the Ring operas have been praised by critics and in February 2023 he was recognized as “Best Conductor” by the jury of the German OPER! AWARDS, specifically for his Wagner interpretations.

From 2007–2018, Noseda served as music director of the Teatro Regio Torino, where his leadership marked the opera house’s golden era. 

Noseda has conducted the most important international orchestras, opera houses and festivals and had significant roles at the BBC Philharmonic (chief conductor), Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (principal guest conductor), Mariinsky Theatre (principal guest conductor), Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI (principal guest conductor), Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Victor de Sabata Chair), Rotterdam Philharmonic (principal guest conductor), and Stresa Festival (artistic director).

Noseda has a strong commitment to working with the next generation of musicians and in 2019 was appointed the founding Music Director of the Tsinandali Festival and Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra in the village of Tsinandali, Georgia.

A native of Milan, Noseda is Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, marking his contribution to the artistic life of Italy. He has been honored as Musical America’s Conductor of the Year (2015) and International Opera Awards Conductor of the Year (2016). In 2023, he received the Puccini Award whose past recipients include legendary opera stars Maria Callas, Birgit Nillson and Luciano Pavarotti.

For the 2023–2024 season, Arsen appears in Pique Dame at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, and with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra. At the Greek National Opera, he will be Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio in Pagliacci. He performs as Calaf in Turandot at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. This summer, he is scheduled to appear in Tosca and Turandot at the Terme di Caracalla with the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

In the 2022–2023 season, Soghomonyan made his house debut at Teatro Verdi Trieste, once again portraying his signature role of Otello. At the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, he debuted the role of Pierre in Prokofiev's War and Peace in a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.  

Soghomonyan received his musical education under Ter-Oganesyan at the Barkhudaryan music school and with Rafael Hakobyants at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan. He has been awarded with awards, including the State Prize of Armenia bestowed upon him by the President of the Republic of Armenia in 2006. He also received the First Prize at the Pavel Lisitsian International Competition, along with a Special Prize.

Born in Asti, Erika Grimaldi developed her passion for music in her early childhood, first learning to play the piano and subsequently approaching the art of singing at the age of 16. She obtained her diploma in both disciplines (Piano and Voice) at the Conservatoire “Giuseppe Verdi” in Turin, making her stage debut at the very young age of 18 as Serpina in La serva padrona. In the following years, she won several prestigious competitions such as the “Concorso Lirico Internazionale” in Orvieto, and was cast as Carolina in Il matrimonio segreto, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Nannetta in Falstaff, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni.

Past projects include Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana, Tonio in Paillasse at the Grand-Théâtre in Geneva, the title-role in Prince Igor at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Stankar in Stiffelio at the Bilbao Opera, Dunois in a shortened version of Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleans at the Grand-Théâtre in Geneva, Renato in Un ballo in maschera at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Las Palmas Opera, Alfio and Tonio at the Zurich Opera. 

He made his debut at the Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam in Prokofiev's Ivan the Terrible, and he sang Ford in Falstaff at the Glyndebourne Festival alongside with Mark Elder and Richard Jones, Tomsky in The Queen of Spades at the Mariinsky Theatre, and the title role in Nabucco at the Grand-Théâtre in Geneva. He made his debut at the Munich Staatsoper in the role of Belcore in L'Elisir d'amore, and performed Germont in La Traviata with the Glyndebourne Touring and at the Mariinsky Theatre.

In response to her performance as Virginia Woolf in The Hours with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera News praised her “impressive tone and dead-on pitch throughout a wide range, and a fierce command of words,” calling her “a matchless interpreter of contemporary opera.” The New York Times noted her “mellow sobriety—and, in Woolf’s darkest moments, stricken intensity.” As Offred in Poul Ruders’s The Handmaid’s Tale she was lauded by the Times as “towering…restless, powerful, profound, she is as formidable as this astonishingly demanding role deserves." With more than 100 performances on the stage at The Metropolitan Opera, her most recent roles have included Nicklausse, Emilia, Hansel and Meg Page.

Her debut recital recording with pianist Christopher Cano, Unaffected: Live from the Savannah Voice Festival, was recorded live and unedited. Recent recordings include a live performance of Beethoven 9 with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony as well as Bernstein's Symphony No. 1 "Jeremiah" with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Cano joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera after winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and made her Met debut during the 2009–2010 season. Among her honors are Winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, a Sara Tucker Study Grant, a Richard Tucker Career Grant and a George London Award.

He has also appeared in the Italian Baroque repertory including with Europa Galante in Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno in Parma and Granada, in Donizetti’s Betly at the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, and as Apollo in Monteverdi’s L’Ofeo in Parma and on tour. He has collaborated with many important conductors including Maurizio Benini, Fabio Biondi, Giampaolo Bisanti, Paolo Carignani, Myung-Wuhn Chung, Nicola Luisotti, Alessandro De Marchi, Riccardo Frizza, Stefano Montanari, Ricardo Muti, Gianandrea Noseda, Daniel Oren, Donato Renzetti, Daniele Rustioni, Jonathan Webb, and Omer Meir Wellber. Directors he has worked with include Hugo De Ana, Marco Bellocchio, Arnaud Bernard, Rosetta Cucchi, Lindsay Kemp, Denis Krief, Pier Francesco Maestrini, Francesco Micheli, Damiano Michieletto, Stefano Poda, Roberto De Simone, and Lina Wertmüller. Recent engagements include Barbarigo in I due Foscari in Parma; Count d'Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Genoa and Catania, Fenton in Falstaff in Bari, and Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor in Naples.

Crouch began his 2023–2024 season in the fall with an anticipated role and house debut as Count Almaviva in Virginia Opera’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia. On the concert stage, he sings Roderigo in Verdi's Otello with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, joined Morris Robinson for the second iteration of Morris & Friends: An Evening of Opera & Gospel at Washington Adventist University, and bowed as the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah with New West Symphony, led by Michael Christie. This coming season, he returns to Opera Philadelphia for his role debut as Kyle Harris in Mazzoli’s The Listeners.

During the 2022–2023 season, Aaron Crouch made debuts with Washington National Opera, reprising The Son in Blue, Opera Philadelphia as Gondolier in Rossini’s Otello, and with Tulsa Opera as Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri. He also bowed with the Charlotte Symphony and Memphis Symphony for performances of Messiah, and Parlando, a New York–based chamber orchestra, for Julius Eastman's Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc at Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Center.

At Deutsche Oper Berlin, Simmons sings in Carmen (Zuniga), Anna Bolena (Lord Rochefort), Tosca (Sciarrone), Gianni Schicchi (Betto di Signa), Nabucco (High Priest of Babylon), Die Zauberflöte (2nd Armored Man), Madama Butterfly (Commissioner), 
Lohengrin (3rd Noble), La traviata (Messenger), and La bohème (Sergeant). Also in the 2023–2024 season, Simmons makes his Atlanta Opera debut in La bohème (Colline) and joins the Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist, singing Apollo in Orfeo and covering Vodnik in Rusalka.

In his final season as a member of the Cafritz Young Artists of the Washington National Opera, Simmons had covers in Il trovatore (Ferrando) and La bohème (Colline), and sang in Blue (Policeman), the American Opera Initiative, and the young artist performance of La bohème (Colline). Since his debut season with the Washington National Opera, he has been seen in the documentary film and studio recording of Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s Blue; and as Zuniga in their young artist performance of Carmen.

Simmons has performed with various festivals and companies around the world including the Morgan State University Theater, Bel Cantanti Opera Company, Washington Opera Society, Castleton Music Festival, Amalfi Coast Music Festival, Berlin Opera Academy, Bare Opera Company, and the Maryland Opera Studio. Performance highlights include Le nozze di Figaro (Figaro), Aida (King), Rigoletto (Sparafucile), 
L’incoronazione di Poppea (Seneca), Roméo et Juliette (Duke), La finta giardiniera (Nardo), The Wiz (Lion), and The Devil and Daniel Webster (Jabez Stone). Simmons has also been featured as the bass soloist in such works as G.F. Handel’s Messiah, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat, Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem, and Franz Schubert’s Mass in G Major.

Simmons is a winner of the Harlem Opera Theater 2017 Vocal Competition and the National Association of Teaching Singing (NATS) 2016 regional competition. He also has an honorary lifetime membership in the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA).

A graduate of Morgan State University and the Maryland Opera Studio, Simmons is a proud member of the nation’s first and largest music fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America. His inspiration for singing comes from a quote from the late Dr. Nathan M. Carter, “Music is ministry: it has to go beyond the page; it must inspire.”

Last season, Patton debuted the role of Marcello in Puccini’s La bohème. Patton holds a Master’s of Music degree from the University of New Mexico, and he recently completed a graduate artist certificate from the University of North Texas under the tutelage of Dr. Stephen Morscheck. There he debuted the roles of Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Belcore (L’elisir d’amore), and Tarquinius (The Rape of Lucretia).

This summer, he will be a young artist in residence for Des Moines Metropolitan Opera where he will cover the role of Ty in the world premiere of Kristin Kuster’s A Thousand Acres. Last spring, Patton was a young artist in residence for Opera Southwest where he performed the role of Batone in Rossini’s L’inganno felice. Following this, Patton was honored to perform Marco and cover Schicchi in Festival Napa Valley’s inaugural Manetti Shrem Opera production of Gianni Schicchi under the baton of Kent Nagano.

Other role highlights include: Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Pirate King (The Pirates of Penzance) John Proctor (The Crucible), Achilla (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), Professor Bhaer (Little Women), Schaunard (La bohéme), and a premiering of Tony Lujan (Mabel’s Call, Cohen). Patton's recent awards include the 2022 winner of the Lake Lewisville International Voice Competition, and honorable mention and audience favorite award in Shreveport Opera’s Mary Jacobs Smith Singer of the Year.

Often featured portraying opera’s “bad boy,” McGinness' operatic credits include the title roles in Eugene Onegin and Don Giovanni, as well as Marcello in La bohème. He has also sung Enrico in Lucia, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, a performance lauded for a “bright baritone and winning jitteriness” by the Cleveland Plain
Dealer.

As a featured soloist, McGinness has performed Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, the Duruflé Requiem with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, and the Brahms Requiem with Portsmouth
Pro Musica. Other concert credits include Carmina Burana with Columbia Pro Cantare and Schubert’s Mass in G with Concert Artists of Baltimore.

McGinness has degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory and the Peabody Institute, and was a young artist with Pittsburgh Festival Opera and Bel Canto at Caramoor. His awards and competitions include first place in the Sylvia Greene Vocal Competition, second place in the Piccola Opera Competition, and finalist in the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition.

Choral Arts imbues every single performance with the promise of this experience. Based in the nation’s capital, we weave our shared passion, world-class repertoire, and radiant voices into a sound that changes people. We sing for a city with little time and high expectations, which compels us to transform a night out into a lifelong memory. We defy preconceived notions—exploring styles, arrangements, spaces, and collaborations that reimagine traditions and create surprising new ones.

In 2018, the UMD Concert Choir triumphed in performances of John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Gianandrea Noseda and the NSO.

In May 2019, the UMD Concert Choir appeared with Noseda and the NSO at Carnegie Hall in New York City performing the Rossini Stabat Mater and the Dante Symphony of Franz Liszt. Critics of the performance described the chorus as “outstanding throughout, beautifully controlled and responsive,” with “a full range of dynamics” and “perfectly tuned chromatic lines and crisply unified staccato attacks.”

On campus at The Clarice, the UMD Concert Choir has performed masterworks including Bach's Magnificat  and Weinachts Oratorium, Mahler's Symphony No. 2, the Verdi  Requiem  and Schumann’s  Das Paradies und die Peri .

Internationally recognized and critically acclaimed for its outstanding artistry, CCW collaborates frequently with our community’s leading arts organizations and artists and maintains an active performance schedule that reaches thousands of audience members in marquee and neighborhood venues across the city and beyond. Each year, over 250 students in Greater Washington benefit directly from CCW instruction. CCW is committed to providing choral music education to the broader DC community through its partnership with DC Public Schools and need-based scholarships for its auditioned ensembles. CCW was founded in 1995 by Joan Gregoryk, and is now under the artistic leadership of Margaret Nomura Clark.

CCW made its debut at the Kennedy Center in November 1996 in a performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with The Washington Chorus. Since then, CCW has distinguished itself as one of our country’s premier youth choruses by producing its own concerts, commissioning works by leading composers, partnering with our community’s leading adult choruses and orchestras, and touring nationally and internationally. Recent appearances include WETA’s Songs of the Season, Britten’s War Requiem with National Symphony Orchestra and The Choral Arts Society of Washington at the Kennedy Center; the National Anthem at Nationals Park, and a featured performance in the US Army Band’s American Holiday Festival.

CCW is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including Best Choral Group by the Washington Area Music Awards in 2012, the Greater Washington Area Choral Excellence Award for Best Educational Outreach in 2012 and 2014; an Increased Access to Music Instruction grant from the DC Deputy Mayor for Education in 2016; grantee of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts Innovation and Management Program in 2018 and 2020; and one of the best small charities in the Greater Washington region in the 2019–2020 Catalogue for Philanthropy.

Since launching its eponymous recording label in 2020, the NSO has embarked on ambitious recording projects including the Orchestra’s first complete Beethoven Symphony cycle and the release of the first-ever cycle of George Walker’s Sinfonias, both led by Noseda. Recent projects include a new series of Four Symphonic Works by Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon conducted by Noseda, and William Shatner’s So Fragile, So Blue, recorded live with the NSO in the Concert Hall.

The NSO’s community engagement and education projects are nationally recognized, including NSO In Your Neighborhood; Notes of Honor; and Sound Health. Career development opportunities for young musicians include the NSO Youth Fellowship Program and its acclaimed, tuition-free Summer Music Institute.