mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano Mary Nessinger has been heard in concert and recital throughout the United States and England. She has sung at Alice Tully Hall, the Freer Gallery in Washington, DC, the Gardner Museum in Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Wigmore Hall in London. Ms. Nessinger has appeared with the Baltimore, Grand Rapids, Jacksonville and London Symphonies; the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She has participated in the Santa Fe, Marlboro, Aspen, Ravinia, Skaneateles, Tannery Pond, Crested Butte, and New England Bach festivals, and has toured with Musicians from Marlboro and the International Musicians' Seminar in England. Ms. Nessinger has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, CRI, Mode, and Koch International.

Performances

Music on the Edge at University of Pittsburgh
Bellefield Hall Auditorium at University of Pittsburgh | January 28, 2006
Concert Details
Boston ConNECtion
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | January 21, 2006
Concert Details
Voices
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | October 1, 2004
Concert Details
Sounds of the Near East
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | March 24, 1999
Concert Details
Forescore(s) & Forward
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | October 17, 1998
Concert Details

News and Press

[CD Review] Fanfare reviews Lee Hyla: Lives of the Saints

Lee Hyla (b. 1955) writes a muscular music that is deeply rooted in classical practice, but also owes a lot to more roughhewn influences: to my ear, at least, the strongest is progressive/free jazz. In an interesting way, he’s found a way to do what many composers have attempted but failed at—to produce a genuinely American form of Expressionism, freed from the trappings of fin de siecle Vienna.

Fanfare Full review
[CD Review] American Record Guide reviews Lee Hyla: Lives of the Saints

Two spiritually charged pieces from vastly different worlds by Lee Hyla, who has recently lefts his long-time post at New England Conservatory for an appointment at Northwestern University in Chicago. Both of these pieces were written for Nessinger while Hyla was in residence at NEC. At Suma Beach (2003) is a work in four sections for mezzo, solo clarinet, and chamber ensemble, based on the Noh play Matsukaze.

American Record Guide Full review
[News Coverage] Boston Modern Orchestra Project launches own label

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), an orchestra devoted exclusively to performing and commissioning new music, has announced it will launch an in-house record label, BMOP Sound, in January.

BMOP Sound will release five world premiere CDs early next year: John Harbison’s Ulysses, Michael Gandolfi’s Y2K Compliant, Gunther Schuller’s Journey Into Jazz (with the composer narrating), Lee Hyla’s Lives of the Saints (with mezzo-soprano Mary Nessinger), and Charles Fussell’s Wilde (with baritone Sanford Sylvan).

Playbill Arts Full review
[CD Review] Performance of "Saints" so good it was sinful

The concert began with a composition set At Suma Beach, but a summa of a different kind highlighted this Pitt Music on the Edge event at Bellefield Hall in Oakland.

Guest composer Lee Hyla’s Lives of the Saints, a work for solo voice and chamber ensemble, not only took theology as its subject, but also amounted to a virtual musical treatise.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Full review
[Concert Review] "Connection" proves spirited and spiritual

An indelible image from Saturday’s Boston Modern Orchestra Project concert was that of mezzo soprano Mary Nessinger, shouting through a megaphone some wisdom from St. Francis about perfect joy.

The Boston Globe Full review
[Press Release] BMOP presents 8th annual celebration of Boston composers

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), under artistic director and conductor Gil Rose, presents its 8th annual "Boston ConNECtion" concert on Saturday, January 21. BMOP is one of the few professional orchestras in the United States dedicated exclusively to performing and recording music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Since its founding in 1996, BMOP has programmed 46 concerts of contemporary orchestral music, including 37 world premiere performances, released ten world premiere recordings, and won eight ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming.

Full review
[Press Release] BMOP opens its season with the North American premiere of Louis Andriessen's Trilogy of the Last Day

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), under artistic director and conductor Gil Rose, is one of the few professional orchestras in the United States dedicated exclusively to performing and recording music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Since its founding in 1996, BMOP has programmed 46 concerts of contemporary orchestral music, released ten world premiere recordings, and won eight ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming.

Full review
[CD Review] George Rochberg: Black Sounds; Cantio Sacra; Phaedra

Black Sounds, written for a ballet depicting the act of murder, is an unrelentingly intense work that packs a good deal of violence into its 17 minutes. George Rochberg thought of the piece as an “homage” to Varèse, and indeed with its stark, near-atonal language, repetitive phrases, and broad, colorful percussion array, it sounds a good deal like the French/American composer’s music, including its scoring for wind ensemble.

ClassicsToday Full review