The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Welcomes Jesse Blumberg, Martin Katz

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) welcomes alumnus Jesse Blumberg, baritone (MM, '03), and renowned collaborative pianist Martin Katz for free performances of Franz Schubert's two great Lieder cycles this February.

Blumberg and Katz will perform Shubert's Die schöne Müllerin at 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11, and Winterreise at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 13. Both song cycles will be performed in UC's Robert J. Werner Recital Hall and are open to the general public. Reservations are not required.

This residency is made possible by support from the Jeannine Philippe Art Song Fund.

About Jesse Blumberg
Baritone Jesse Blumberg is equally at home on opera, concert and recital stages. Some of his recent engagements include Niobe, Regina di Tebe at Boston Early Music Festival, Bernstein's Mass at London's Royal Festival Hall and performances with the New York Festival of Song. He has performed roles at Minnesota Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Utah Opera and Boston Lyric Opera, and made concert appearances with American Bach Soloists, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Charlotte Symphony, Apollo's Fire and the Vail Valley Music Festival.

Blumberg has toured with the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Waverly Consort, and has given recitals for the Marilyn Horne Foundation. A very active performer of new music, he has premiered important works by Lisa Bielawa, Tom Cipullo, Conrad Cummings and Ricky Ian Gordon, and works closely with several other renowned composers as a member of the Mirror Visions Ensemble.

Blumberg's 2012-13 season includes debuts with New York City Opera, Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, Oratorio Society of NY, Pacific MusicWorks, Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Fargo-Moorhead Opera. In addition, he will return to American Bach Soloists, Apollo's Fire, Mark Morris Dance Group, New York Festival of Song, TENET/Green Mountain Project and Boston Early Music Festival.

Blumberg has been recognized in several competitions and was awarded third prize at the 2008 International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau, becoming its first American prizewinner in more than 30 years. In 2007, he took first prizes in the International Hilde Zadek Singing Competition in Vienna and the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Competition.

Blumberg received a Master of Music degree from CCM, received undergraduate degrees in History and Music from the University of Michigan, and participated in young artist programs at The Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, the Ravinia Festival and Chicago Opera Theater. Jesse is also the founder and artistic director of Five Boroughs Music Festival, which brings chamber music of many genres to every corner of New York City.

About Martin Katz
Martin Katz has been hailed as "The Gold standard of accompanying," by the New York Times. According to the Los Angels Times, "Martin Katz must surely be considered the dean of collaborative pianists." One of the world's busiest collaborators, Katz has been in constant demand by the world's most celebrated vocal soloists for four decades. He has appeared and recorded regularly with Marilyn Horne, Frederica von Stade, Samuel Ramey, Karita Mattila, David Daniels, Jose Carreras, Lawrence Brownlee, Cecilia Bartoli, Kiri Te Kanawa, Kathleen Battle and Sylvia McNair, just to name a few. Season after season, the world's musical capitals figure prominently in his schedule.

Katz is a native of Los Angeles, where he began piano studies at the age of 5. He attended the University of Southern California and studied the field of accompanying with its pioneer teacher Gwendolyn Koldofsky. While yet a student, he was given the unique opportunity of accompanying the master classes and lessons of such luminaries as Lotte Lehmann, Jascha Heifetz, Pierre Bernac and Gregor Piatigorsky. Following his formal education, Katz held the position of pianist for the US Army Chorus for three years, before moving to New York where his busy international career began in earnest in 1969.

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