The Music of Melissa C. Shiflett

John Frisch

Based in New York City, John Frisch has played for such Broadway productions as Les Misérables, Man of La Mancha, and Fiddler on the Roof and for many area orchestras, including the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Alvin Ailey Dance Company, American Ballet Theater, Jupiter Symphony, Long Island Philharmonic, Mostly Mozart Festival, New York City Opera, New York Pops, and for the Lincoln Center Festival. He performs frequently as a chamber musician with several ensembles, including the St. Cecilia Chamber Players and the Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. As a member of the New York Kammermusiker, a double-reed consort, he has toured extensively and recorded for Dorian Records. He holds a D.M.A. from the CUNY Graduate Center, an M.M. from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Ronald Roseman, and a B.A. in Philosophy from Columbia University.

Kurt Briggs

Violinist Kurt Briggs has appeared with many orchestras including Brooklyn Philharmonic, Harrisburg Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, and New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players. His chamber music projects have ranged from performances of Webern and Hindemith with di.vi.sion to a series of concerts on original instruments with Capital Artists in Vermont and New York. His Broadway credentials include numerous shows including Les Miserables and Sunset Boulevard, where he appeared on stage with Glenn Close, Betty Buckley, and Elaine Paige. His on-stage performances in Kuni-Leml and Sunset Boulevard are archived in the Richard Rogers Video Archive at Lincoln Center. Briggs has recorded for Sony, BMG, Koch, Newport Classics, Iota, Amphonic, and Hallmark Records; and has been heard on WBAI, WNYC, WQXR, and the BBC in London.

Matt Goeke

Matt Goeke, cellist, performs as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra player in a broad range of musical styles. His experience with contemporary music includes the SEM Ensemble, Cross Town Ensemble, North/South Consonance, the Kitchen House Blend and Glass Farm Ensemble. In addition to the di.vi.sion piano trio, Goeke is a member of Eight Strings & a Whistle, an award winning flute, viola, cello trio, and is an active free-lance musician throughout the New York metropolitan area. He has recorded with North/South Recordings and 4Tay, Inc., Opus One Records, Polygram, Elektra, Tzadik, and Koch International Classics labels.

Renée Cometa Briggs

Based in New York City, Briggs is a soloist and chamber musician with a distinctive blend of dexterity and artistry at the keyboard. Her solo repertoire ranges from Mozart on fortepiano to music of our time. Her interpretation of works by Debussy garnered multiple prizes from the French Piano Institute, which presented Briggs in a solo recital of French repertoire at La Schola Cantorum in Paris. She has also performed at Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, Switzerland.

Rex Benincasa

Rex Benincasa has been a freelancing drummer and percussionist in New York since 1978. Along with hundreds of television/radio soundtracks and commercial recordings, he has performed with American Ballet Theater, Concordia Chamber Players, Apollo’s Fire, Ensemble Caprice, Alba Consort, Flamenco Latino, Carlota Santana Spanish Dance, Andrea Delconte Danza Espana, Zorongo Flamenco Dance, Pilar Rioja, Amanecer Flamenco Progressivo, Sacramento Ballet, Ballet Austin, Washington Ballet, and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. He has recorded CDs and/or movie soundtracks for Marty Balin, Philip Glass, Douglas Cuomo, Karen Mason, Andrea Marcovicci, Ann Kittredge, Celia Burke, Jamie deRoy, Stephanie Pope, Foday Musa Suso, Sesame Street, NFL Films, Sons of Sepharad, and the Ivory Consort to name but a few. Broadway shows include Fosse, Elaine Stritch, The Full Monty, Flower Drum Song, Man of LaMancha, Never Gonna Dance, Little Shop of Horrors, The Frogs, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hairspray, The Drowsy Chaperone, Curtains, The Color Purple, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Shrek, In The Heights, Billy Elliot, Peter And The Starcatcher, Motown the Musical, and Mrs. Doubtfire. Benincasa likes all kinds of music.

Michelle Seipel

Michelle Seipel enjoys collaborating with contemporary composers and is thrilled to be featured in The Rose Sagas. “An impressive soprano” of considerable vocal agility and style (Baltimore Sun), her credits include roles such as Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor, Opera Vivente), Musetta (La bohème, St. Petersburg Opera), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro, Geneva Light Opera), and Clorinda (La Cenerentola, New York City Opera). She regularly performs the role of Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore) with the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, both in NYC and around the United States. Seipel’s Lincoln Center debut was with the New York Philharmonic in their Emmy-nominated Carousel. Her numerous awards include accolades from the Wisconsin District Metropolitan Opera Auditions and the Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year Competition. Originally from Wisconsin, this former actuary earned her masters degree at the Peabody Conservatory.

michelleseipel.com

Rachel Arky

Praised for her “golden tone” and handling of “difficult music with a glorious ease” (Edge Media Network Miami), mezzo-soprano Rachel Arky is a singing actress noted for her dramatic and musical versatility. Most recently, Arky sang the role of Pino in the world premiere of Larry Lipkis’s Simonetta (American Chamber Opera Company), recorded Douglas Anderson’s Cassandra Songs, and performed Melissa Shiflett’s Rose Saga II song cycle. Previous engagements include Carmen (Amore Opera), Meg March in Little Women (Annapolis Opera), Maddalena in Rigoletto (Mississippi Opera), Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin (Chautauqua Opera), and Tamara (cover) in the world premiere of Ben Moore’s Enemies, A Love Story (Palm Beach Opera).

Lianne Gennaco

Soprano Lianne Gennaco most recently covered the role of Lucia in New York City Opera’s Bryant Park production of Lucia di Lammermoor. Previously with NYCO, Gennaco sang the role of Selena in a chamber adaptation of Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne and covered the role of Cunegonde in the historic revival of Bernstein’s Candide under the direction of the late Hal Prince. Gennaco has originated many roles including the title role in the opera Simonetta by Larry Lipkis, Ann in the New York premiere of The Astronaut’s Tale at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Girl in My Undying Love: An Amusement by Melissa Shiflett and Gerda in Dear Erich a Jazz Opera by Ted Rosenthal. Hailed by Opera News for her “bright and flexible soprano,” Gennaco continues to make a name for herself as a crossover artist specializing in new works in musical theater and opera. She is a proud graduate of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

liannegennaco.com

Elizabeth Rodgers

Collaborative pianist Elizabeth Rodgers holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music. She is in demand as a recitalist with both singers and instrumentalists, including the distinguished soprano Judith Raskin, and in chamber music, orchestral, choral, and operatic repertoire. She performs with Music Under Construction, American Chamber Opera, American Landmark Festivals, New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, and the Moss Ensemble.