Whimsical and profound, with texts by A.A. Milne and Emily Dickinson; living-composer Vartan Aghababian’s song cycles for voice and piano performed by Ann Moss, soprano and Hillary Nordwell, piano.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

VARTAN AGHABABIAN (composer) (b. 1964, Detroit, Michigan) began piano studies at the age of eight and soon after started composing. His grammar school years of music study were infused with Orff Schulwerke and Dalcroze Eurhythmics; in the years that followed, his private studies were augmented to include the recorder, the oboe and English Horn, voice and dance. His experience includes performances in choirs, orchestras, wind ensembles as well as many solo and chamber performances. He studied with William Bolcom and Leslie Bassett during his undergraduate years (BM, 1987) at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) and afterwards with James Hartway at Wayne State University (Detroit, MI).

After receiving a diploma in film scoring (1992) from the Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA), he moved to Los Angeles pursue a career as a film music editor with Warner Brothers Studios (Burbank, CA). Following the two years in southern California, he returned to Boston to work as a freelance composer, scoring short documentary films and composing on commission. He completed his master’s degree in composition (MM, 2002) at the Longy School of Music (Cambridge, MA) studying with Eric Sawyer. He completed his doctoral studies in composition at Boston University (DMA, 2008) studying with Samuel Headrick. His music has been performed across the United States, in Asia and Europe.

Currently, Dr. Aghababian is a also member of the music theory and composition faculties at Boston University (Boston, MA), the South Shore Conservatory (Hingham, MA) and at the Winchester Community Music School (Winchester, MA); he directs a chamber orchestra at the Winchester Community Music School. He is a three year former member of the faculty at the Boston University Academy (Boston, MA) and a twelve year former faculty member at the Longy School of Music (Cambridge, MA). He was the Composer in Residence for the vocal ensemble Recuerdo (Cambridge, MA) for seven years. He teaches privately, lectures publicly and continues to compose on commission.


ANN MOSS (soprano) is an acclaimed recording artist and champion of contemporary vocal music who performs and collaborates with a dynamic array of living composers. Her high, silvery, flexible voice has been singled out by Opera News for “beautifully pure floated high notes” and by San Francisco Classical Voice for “powerful expression” and "exquisite phrasing." In addition to working closely with well-known composers such as Jake Heggie, John Harbison, Kaija Saariaho, David Conte and Aaron Jay Kernis, Ann seeks out and performs music by emerging voices at forums and festivals across the USA.

As co-founder and Artistic Director of new-music repertory group CMASH, Moss has been personally responsible for the creation and premiere of over one hundred art songs, vocal chamber music and operatic works, and has been a featured soloist with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, SF Contemporary Music Players, Earplay, Eco Ensemble, Music of Remembrance, West Edge Opera, the Ives, Alexander, Lydian and Hausmann String Quartets, Composers in Red Sneakers, at FENAM, Other Minds Festival, Fresno New Music, PARMA and Switchboard Music Festival, among others. Ann Moss has lectured about vocal composition at MIT, UC Davis, Longy School of Music of Bard College, NYU Tisch School For The Arts, University of Houston Moores School of Music, University of Texas Pan American, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Sacramento State University, and CSU Los Angeles.

Moss’s debut album Currents (Angels Share Records, 2013), produced and recorded by multi-GRAMMY® award winner Leslie Ann Jones at Skywalker Sound, features extraordinary new and recent American vocal/chamber music Ann has championed over the past decade. Moss returned to Skywalker in 2015 with pianists Steven Bailey and Jake Heggie, cellist Emil Miland, violinist Isaac Allen, and GRAMMY® award winning ensemble Chanticleer to record songs by Heggie, Wade, Lennon/McCartney, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan for her sophomore album, Love Life (Angels Share Records, 2016). She can also be heard on PARMA, Naxos, Arsis, Albany, Navona Records and Jaded Ibis Productions labels.

A native of Boston and a graduate of Hampshire College, the Longy School of Music of Bard College, and San Francisco Conservatory, Ann Moss resides and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, violist Justin Ouellet. Ann is a Reiki practitioner, enthusiastic Yogi, and pursues a lifelong interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine.


HILLARY NORDWELL (piano) has performed chamber music throughout the United States, as well as in Italy, Austria, Germany, and Sweden. She is often featured as a soloist and chamber musician on many Bay Area concert series including Noontime Concerts, Trinity Chamber Concerts, Old First Concerts, 405 Shrader, and the Bing Concert Series at Stanford University Hospital.

She earned her masters degree in Chamber Music Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory in 2005, where her teachers included Paul Hersh, Ian Swensen, and Mark Sokol, and her ensembles participated in master classes with renowned artists Menahem Pressler and Paul Katz. In 2003, she completed her bachelors degree in Piano Performance, magna cum laude, at Lawrence Conservatory in Appleton, Wisconsin, where she studied with Catherine Kautsky and was honored for three consecutive years with the Marjory Irvin Prize for “excellence in solo piano and chamber music.” In 2001, she spent a semester abroad in Vienna, studying piano with Christiane Karajeva and developing a love for opera and the German language.

In 2005, Hillary Nordwell co-founded the Eusebius Duo with Monika Gruber, violinist. The Eusebius Duo, which derives its name from the more inward of the two characters Robert Schumann used to describe his ego, enjoys programming the work of Schumann, as well as a wide variety of music from many different eras and nationalities. In 2006, the duo performed in Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall, New York), following their success as first prize winners of the CMFONE International Chamber Music Competition.

Hillary is a frequent collaborator with CMASH, a New Music repertory group committed to establishing and nurturing long-term collaborative relationships between composers and performers. She has enjoyed exploring and premiering new vocal chamber music by Vartan Aghababian, Liam Wade, and Miriam Miller, through her collaboration with soprano Ann Moss and violist Alexa Beattie in the One Art Ensemble. She has also worked with American composers Joan Tower and Jake Heggie, leading up to performances of their work.

In 2015, she established Comfy Concerts for families, introducing children and adults to the lives and music of beloved composers through quality performances in a comfortable setting. Alongside her performing career, she enjoys working with young musicians in both private lessons and chamber music coaching at her home studio in Pacifica, CA, where she is also the mother of a 7 year old daughter.