Classical Musicians of African Descent: A-E

  Winner of the 2018 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award by the U.S Solti Foundation, German based American conductor, Roderick Cox, has been praised as a conductor who is “paving the way” (NBC News) and recognized as a “trailblazer…a conductor who will be amongst the vanguard” (Minnesota StarTribune).

Julia Bullock was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where she joined the artist-in-training program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis while in high school. She went on to earn her Bachelor’s degree at the Eastman School of Music, her Master’s degree in Bard College’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, and her Artist Diploma at New York’s Juilliard School. It was there that she first met her husband, conductor Christian Reif, with whom she now lives in Munich.The Met residency crowned a banner 2018-19 season for Bullock.

  With an ever-increasing balance in opera, recital, and concerts, Lawrence Brownlee has cemented his place as one of the top artists in classical music. He is a regular guest at the world’s most important opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House - Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra national de Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Real, Opernhaus Zürich, and Wiener Staatsoper. He is a fixture at the world’s top recital venues including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and The Kennedy Center.

J’Nai Bridges, known for her “plush-voiced mezzo-soprano” (The New York Times), has been heralded as “a rising star” (Los Angeles Times), gracing the world’s top stages. Her 2019-2020 operatic engagements in the U.S.

“A star in the making,” (Seattle Pi) Jamaican-American violist Jordan Bak is establishing a career as an artist of passion, energy, and authenticity in the recital and chamber music arenas. Considered one of the most outstanding musicians of his generation, Bak is a winner of the 2019 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, the recipient of the 2019 Samuel Sanders Tel Aviv Museum Prize and the 2019 John White Special Prize from the Tertis International Viola Competition. Bak is also a Sphinx Competition alum and Sphinx MPower Artist Grant Recipient.

A former winner in 2012 of Placido Domingo’s prestigious Operalia competition and of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, American soprano, Janai Brugger, begins the 2015-16 season as Michaela Carmen at Washington National Opera, and sings the role again later in the season at Lyric Opera of Kansas.

Arkansas-born mezzo-soprano Veena Akama-Makia received her Masters in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music as a student of Professor Kathryn Cowdrick. A graduate of the University of Central Arkansas, she sang leading roles in their productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors (Menotti), Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck), and A Hand of Bridge (Barber).

Recognized for her beautiful timbre and stunning stage presence, soprano Angel Blue's voice has been hailed for its shining, agile upper register and "smoky" middle register. A regular BBC Proms presenter who is equally at home on the concert or operatic stage, Angel is quickly establishing herself as one of the best singers in her generation, having performed in over 35 countries in the last 6 years.

Kearstin Piper Brown, an American soprano, has appeared in critically acclaimed opera, musical theatre, and concert performances around the world. A native of Alexandria, Virginia, Ms. Brown is a graduate of both Spelman College and Northwestern University.

A multi-faceted musician with a strong Gospel background, James Cockerham is a gifted composer, arranger and orchestrator. In his hands, Rosamond and James Weldon Johnson’s Lift Every Voice and Sing, commonly called the “Negro National Anthem,” becomes an epic and cinematic journey from the Old World to the New, with rhythms from Africa to sounds of Jazz, R&B, Soul and more.