Portraits in Song

Called “a voice for this historic moment” (Washington Post), GRAMMY Award-winning baritone Will Liverman is the recipient of the 2022 Beverly Sills Artist Award by The Metropolitan Operaand the co-creator of The Factotum–called “mic-drop fabulous good” (Opera News)–which premiered at the Lyric Opera Chicago in 2023. Described as “a gifted chameleon of a singingactor who disappears into his roles” (Opera) with a “beaming, high baritone that easily asserts”(LA Times), Liverman has been hailed by critics for his versatility in dramatic and comedic roles, as well as on concert stages in North America and internationally, and his dedication and visionas a composer, artist, and advisor helping to evolve and push the performing arts industry forward. Following summer 2024 appearances at the BBC Proms in Britten’s War Requiem, Sibelius’s The Origin of Fire and Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire led by Andris Nelsons at Tanglewood, and Aspen Music Festival’s Opera Benefit, Liverman reprises the iconic role of Papageno in the Metropolitan Opera’s holiday presentation of The Magic Flute, returns to LyricOpera of Chicago as Marcello in La Bohème, and joins Dutch National Opera for another season, this time as Ned Keene in Peter Grimes. He makes his house debut during the 2024/2025 season at San Francisco Opera also portraying Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème. Concert engagements include Kaija Saariaho’s Sombre at Carnegie Hall with the International Contemporary Ensemble; Carmina Burana with the San Francisco Symphony; London Symphony Orchestra led by Sir Antonio Pappano; works by Burleigh, Vaughan Williams, and Still at The Concertgebouw; works by Schubert, Burleigh, and Larsen with the OxfordInternational Song Festival; Brahms’ Requiem with the Rhode Island Philharmonic; Shawn Okpebholo’s Two Black Churches and Orff’s Carmina Burana with Oakland Symphony; a song cycle of his own compositions at National Sawdust; New York Festival of Song at Kaufman Music Center; and String Theory at the Hunter.Lyric Opera of Chicago presented the world premiere of Liverman’s new opera,The Factotum,in 2023, which he starred in and composed with DJ King Rico. Inspired by Rossini’s Il Barbieredi Siviglia, Liverman and Rico place the story in a present-day Black barbershop on Chicago’s South Side, celebrating the strength of community and power of the human spirit in a soul opera that “offers a chameleonic pastiche of soul, funk, and classical elements that is incredibly effective” (Opera News). Houston Grand Opera, Portland Opera, and Washington National Opera are all slated to put onThe Factotum in future seasons. Recording projects include Liverman’s Show Me The Way (Cedille Records, 2024), a celebration of American song; Dreams of a New Day:Songs by Black Composers (CedilleRecords, 2021), nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album; TheDunbar/Moore Sessions-Volume I (Lexicon Classics, 2023), a collection of original art song composed, played, and sung by Liverman himself; and Whither Must I Wander (OdradekRecords, 2020), named one of th eChicago Tribune’s “best classical recordings of 2020.” Liverman is an alumnus of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and was a Glimmerglass Festival Young Artist. He holds degrees from The Juilliard School (M.M.) and Wheaton College in Illinois (B.M.). www.willliverman.com

Hailed by Wynton Marsalis as “a remarkable virtuoso, a consummate artist,” Judith Lynn Stillman is the Artist-in-Residence and a Professor of Music at Rhode Island College. Dr. Stillman received Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School, where she won the concerto competition and was awarded the Dethier Prize for Outstanding Pianist. Winner of 18 competitions including First Prize in the International Opera Vision/ Opera Harmony Quarantine Competition as composer, music director, and pianist for her mini-opera starring Grammy-Winner Will Liverman, Stillman has performed at prestigious venues and festivals worldwide, including at Marlboro, Tanglewood, Grand Teton, Cactus Pear, Lancaster, Mostly Mozart, Yale at Norfolk festivals, international festivals in France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Costa Rica, conservatories in Russia, China (Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing), Scotland (Royal Conservatoire), and the Czech Republic (Prague Conservatory), where she served as visiting guest artist, Carnegie Hall, world premieres at Avery Fisher/David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, at the GRAMMY’s celebration for Rostropovich, the Academy Awards Uniting Nations, guest artist with the Borromeo, Cassatt, Shanghai, Muir, and Lydian String Quartets, The Beach Boys, Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater, featured artist with Herbie Hancock on a Bose commercial, and collaborations with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lincoln Center Chamber Players. Her duet album with Wynton Marsalis on Sony Classical was on the Billboard Top Ten. She has recorded on North Star Music, Naxos, Sony, and Classics for Kids.  Stillman has served as musical director for events at Trinity Rep, The Gamm Theatre (Amadeus), Bridgewater State University (Urinetown, Cabaret, etc.), Rhode Island College (Cry Baby and bi-annual cabarets), San Diego Rep, La Jolla Country Day Theatre (Les Mis, Working), All Children’s Theatre (Annie, Oliver!, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever), Academy Players (My Fair Lady), Classical High School (Wicked, A Chorus Line),  Operafestival di Roma in Rome and Verona, Italy, arranger for Wichita Rep Theatre (Amadeus). Stillman’s compositions have been premiered by Will Liverman of the Metropolitan Opera, featured at the Czech Embassy, Cactus Pear Festival, Sandpoint Festival, Lancaster Festival, etc. She was named Honored Artist of The American Prize in piano and composition, Creative Services Industry Leader by PBN, and was an inaugural Pell Award Winner for Excellence in the Arts. As a first Pell Award winner, Stillman performed a special solo piano tribute for Tina Fey and Kelli O’Hara at the awards ceremony in 2025. At RIC, Stillman received the Thorp Award for Outstanding Creative and Scholarly Activity, the Faculty Award from RIC Alumni Services, and the Maixner Award for Outstanding Teaching. In 2024, Stillman’s play-within-a concert® format received official trademark status from the US Trademark and Patent Office. Some of her play-within-a-concert® productions include Dvorak: A Bohemian Rhapsody, April in Paris with Poulenc, Music, Mystery, and Madness, Women Trailblazers in Music and Mozart’s Musical Mystery Tour.  Visit judithlynnstillman.com.

Judith Lynn Stillman and Grammy Award-winning baritone Will Liverman share a distinguished and enduring creative partnership, forged during the global pandemic as part of a high-profile international initiative in the United Kingdom. Invited to reimagine opera for the digital age, Stillman composed a groundbreaking mini-opera that the duo prepared and premiered remotely—a collaboration that captured First Prize in the OperaVision/Opera Europa Global Quarantine Competition.

Since this auspicious debut, Stillman and LIverman have has continued to captivate audiences in premier recital settings, ranging from Liverman’s acclaimed Rhode Island debut at Sapinsley Hall in the Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts to a recital engagement in New York, culminating in his highly anticipated return to the Nazarian Center stage today.

American soprano Kiera Duffy is a highly versatile opera singer and accomplished pianist, celebrated for her work in both contemporary and traditional repertoire across major opera houses and concert stages worldwide. She earned unanimous critical acclaim, with Fred Plotkin of WQXR proclaiming her turn the “performance of the year” [WQXR], for originating the role of Bess in Missy Mazzoli’s and Royce Vavrek’s opera Breaking the Waves in 2016, a role she later reprised. Duffy’s career highlights include appearances with prestigious ensembles such as the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She is a noted interpreter of contemporary works, including Morton Feldman’s Neither and the American premiere of Elliott Carter’s What Next?, and has also performed traditional roles like Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte and Tebaldo in Verdi’s Don Carlo. Following her education at Westminster Choir College, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance, Duffy has also dedicated herself to education and currently serves as an Associate Professor of Voice at the Eastman School of Music.

Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein is considered one of today’s most exceptional artists. Fiterstein has performed in recital, with distinguished orchestras, and with chamber music ensembles throughout the world. He won first prize at the Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition and received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant Award. The Washington Post has described his playing as “dazzling in its spectrum of colors, agility, and range. Every sound he makes is finely measured without inhibiting expressiveness” and The New York Times described him as “a clarinetist with a warm tone and powerful technique.”

As soloist he has appeared with the Czech, Israel, Vienna, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras, Belgrade Philharmonic, Danish National Radio Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, China National Symphony Orchestra, KBS Orchestra of South Korea, Jerusalem Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center, Kansas City Symphony, and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. During the 2015-16 season he performed as soloist with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra on tour to Asia with concerts in Taiwan, Singapore, and Indonesia. He has performed in recital on the Music at the Supreme Court Series, the Celebrity Series in Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Kennedy Center, the Louvre in Paris, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Tel Aviv Museum, and NYC’s 92d Street Y.

A dedicated performer of chamber music, Fiterstein frequently collaborates with distinguished artists and ensembles and regularly performs with the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Among the highly regarded artists he has performed with are Daniel Barenboim, Yefim Bronfman, Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Pinchas Zukerman, and Steven Isserlis. Fiterstein performed with the Dover, Pacifica, Jerusalem, and Shanghai String Quartets as well as with Ensemble Wien-Berlin. He spent five summers at the Marlboro Music Festival and appeared at the Caramoor, Moab, Music@Menlo, Montreal, Toronto, Jerusalem, and Storioni Chamber Music Festivals. He is currently co-artistic director of the Sedona Winter MusicFest in Arizona.

Fiterstein is a founder of the Zimro Project, a unique ensemble dedicated to incorporating Jewish art music into chamber music programs. He performed as principal clarinet of the West-East Divan Orchestra at the invitation of Daniel Barenboim and has appeared as guest principal clarinet with the Israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, KBS Orchestra with Yoel Levi, and with the St. Paul and Orpheus Chamber Orchestras.

Fiterstein has a prolific recording career and has worked with composers John Corigliano and Osvaldo Golijov and had pieces written for him by Samuel Adler, Mason Bates, Paul Schoenfield, and Chris Brubeck, among others. His most recent recording released by Naxos is a performance of Sean Hickey’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra with the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony. Fiterstein was born in Belarus and immigrated to Israel at the age of 2 with his family. He graduated from the Juilliard School and won first prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. An award recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, he previously served as clarinet professor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of Minnesota. Fiterstein is a Buffet Crampon and Vandoren Performing Artist.