Ulysses String Quartet, Thea Lobo, Vera Savage, Andy Papas, Ryu-Kyung Kim and others
Biographie Ulysses String Quartet, Thea Lobo, Vera Savage, Andy Papas, Ryu-Kyung Kim and others
Ulysses String Quartet
has been praised for their “textural versatility,” “grave beauty,” and “gentle blanket of colour,” (The Strad) as well as “avid enthusiasm ... [with] chops to back up their passion” and a “vibrant sonority” (San Diego Story).
Founded in the summer of 2015, the group won first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition and the grand prize and gold medal in the senior string division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Ulysses also finished first in the American Prize and won second prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in 2017. The quartet garnered a career development grant in the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition and were winners of the Vietnam International Music Competition this past August.
Consisting of Christina Bouey and Rhiannon Banerdt on violin, Colin Brookes on viola, and Grace Ho on cello, the Ulysses Quartet were appointed the Graduate Quartet in Residence at the Juilliard School in 2019.
Hailing from Canada, the United States, and Taiwan, the Ulysses String Quartet has performed in such prestigious halls such as the Harbin Grand Theatre, Carnegie Hall, and the Taiwan National Concert Hall. Performance highlights have included appearances at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, Bargemusic, and Premiere Performances Hong Kong, debuts at Jordan Hall and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and the Vietnam Connection Festival. As a special project, the group will record the quartets of composer Joseph Summer at Mechanics Hall in Worcester MA over the next several years.
The members of Ulysses hold degrees from the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, and Yale University. The musicians perform on instruments and bows graciously on loan from the Canada Council of the Arts Instrument Bank and the Maestro Foundation.
Vera Savage
has earned praise from critics for her “thrilling power” and “rich, mellifluous, mezzo voice.” Savage’s singing has been described as “a dream; supple and powerful with a deep velvet shimmer” and “heart-stoppingly gorgeous.”
Savage’s past season included a “cold and gleaming” (Opera News) portrayal of handmaid New Ofglen in Boston Lyric Opera’s highly acclaimed production of The Handmaid’s Tale, Salieri’s Requiem and the Kuhnau Magnificat with the Commonwealth Chorale, Leonard Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony and Arias and Barcarolles with the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra, and the Verdi Requiem with the Metropolitan Chorale.
Savage recently made her debut at the Spoleto Festival USA as Bice in Donizetti’s rarely performed opera Pia de’ Tolomei, a revival of Amy Beach’s Grand Mass with the New England Philharmonic and Commonwealth Chorale, Mercédès in Bizet’s Carmen with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Meg Page in Verdi’s Falstaff with Opera Saratoga and Opera on the James, Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Tisbe in La Cenerentola at Opera Saratoga, Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito at Opera in the Heights, and a “thoroughly intimidating” Mrs. Baines in Elmer Gantry with Florentine Opera in Milwaukee WI.
Andy Papas
leaves operatic and theatrical audiences in stitches from coast to coast. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel called him “delightfully ridiculous” as Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola) for Skylight Music Theatre, and The Albany Times-Union praised his “irresistible hijinks” as Baron Zeta (The Merry Widow) for Opera Saratoga. 2019 saw Papas in Alaska and Oklahoma as the hapless Doctor Bartolo (The Barber of Seville), in Vermont as Cinderella’s helpless father Pandolfe (Cendrillon), and in Washington State as the hardhearted dwarf Alberich (Der Ring am Eine Abend). He returned to the Boston Equity theater scene as Mr. Bumble in Oliver! with The New Repertory Theater in December 2019, and he rejoined Pacific Northwest Opera as the title role in Don Pasquale in Spring 2020. The first commercial recording of Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock, released in 2018 on Bridge Records, features Papas as the gangster “Bugs” in a live performance from Opera Saratoga, where he also covered the title role in Verdi’s Falstaff. St. Louis audiences have heard Papas twist his tongue as The Major General (The Pirates of Penzance), the heartbroken jester Jack Point (Yeoman of the Guard), and Ko-Ko in The Mikado. Other Pacific Northwest performances include Magnifico (La Cenerentola) and Spalanzani/Crespel (The Tales of Hoffmann) for PNO, Benoit/Alcindoro (La Bohème) for Vashon Opera, and the Baritone Soloist (Beethoven No. 9) with The Mid-Columbia Symphony. Recent hometown credits include The Threepenny Opera (Walt Dreary) for Boston Lyric Opera, My Fair Lady (George/Ensemble) with The Lyric Stage of Boston, The Little Mermaid (Chef Louis) at Fiddlehead Theater, Sir John in Love (Peter Simple) for Odyssey Opera, and La Bohème/Eugene Onegin with The Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Every one of Papas’s performances are dedicated to his family and his husband Chris.
Ryu-Kyung Kim
Praised for her superb technique, innate musicality and powerful stage presence, Korean-American mezzo-soprano RYU-KYUNG KIM performs a wide range of music from Handel to Schöberg and has so far appeared in nine premier operas. She has highlighted her recent seasons in the title role as Queen Lili'uokalani in Little Opera Theater of NY’s Better Gods, as featured artist in the Korea Now concert in Cairo, Egypt, in The Shakespeare Concert at Jordan Hall and Jewett Arts Center, and as Alto Solo in Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. Kim’s stage successes include her portrait of the role of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, the title role in La Cenerentola, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Carmen in Carmen, Malika in Lakmé, Idamante in Idomeneo, Adalgisa in Norma, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, Emilia in Otello, and Carilda in Handel’s Arianna in Creta with Santa Fe Opera, Baltimore Opera, Cleveland Opera, Dayton Opera, El Paso Opera, Ash Lawn Opera Festival, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Beheme Opera New Jersey, Opera Orchestra of New York, Virginia Opera, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Gotham Chamber Opera, and Caramoor Music Festival. As a demanded concert artist, Kim has appeared in numerous concerts in Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall and in both Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and collaborated with internationally claimed orchestras such as Korean Symphony Orchestra and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in Korea, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra in Japan, and Staatskapelle Halle and Frankfurter Sinfoniker in Germany. Kim earned her D.M.A. in Voice from State University of New York at Stony Brook and received her Artist’s Diploma in Opera from the Academy of Vocal Arts. She also received both M.M. and B.M. in Voice from Manhattan School of Music. She has been on the Voice faculty at the University of Dayton since 2013.
Thea Lobo
Hailed as "excellent", "impeccable", "limpidly beautiful", "impressive", "stunning", and "Boston's best", Grammy-nominated mezzo-soprano Thea Lobo's recent appearances include concerts with The Peregrine Consort, The Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, The Spectrum Singers, Great Music in a Great Space Series, MassOpera, USF New Music Festival, True Concord, The Sarasota-Manatee Bach Festival, Classical Revolution St. Petersburg, EnsembleNewSrq, and many more. Lobo has performed under conductors Gunther Schuller, Harry Christophers, Stephen Stubbs, Joshua Rifkin, Martin Pearlman, and Andris Nelsons, and has been featured by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Firebird Ensemble, Boston Baroque, Naples Philharmonic, Handel + Haydn Society, Boston Early Music Festival, Artist Series of Sarasota, and Europäisches Musikfest Stuttgart. Her dedication to new music, art song, and early music has seen her featured on True Concord's 2016 GRAMMY-winning recording of Stephen Paulus's Prayers & Remembrances, invited to the Carmel Bach Festival as an Adams Fellow, and become a prizewinner at the Bach Vocal Competition for American Singers and a grant recipient of the Julian Autrey Song Foundation. She has won the St. Botolph Club Emerging Artist Award, premiere-recorded new roles with Guerilla Opera, created the duo “Songeaters” and initiative “Indictus Project” with pianist Eunmi Ko, and performed as a soloist under the direction of composers Steve Reich, Vinko Globokar, Fred Lerdahl, Nicholas Vines, Christian Wolff, and Louis Andriessen. Lobo is a graduate of New England Conservatory and Boston University, and represented by Vocal Artists Management.
