Swiss-born American
pianist Gilles Vonsattel
is an artist of
extraordinary versatility
and originality.
He is the recipient
of an Avery Fisher
Career Grant and the
Andrew Wolf Chamber
Music Award,
and winner of the
Naumburg and Geneva
competitions.
Vonsattel made his
Boston Symphony (Tanglewood) and San Francisco
Symphony debuts, and subsequently performed
recitals and chamber music at Ravinia, Tokyo’s
Musashino Hall, Wigmore Hall, Bravo! Vail, Music@
Menlo, Gilmore Festival, Lucerne Festival, and Munich
Gasteig. His New York solo recital was hailed as
“tightly conceived and passionately performed…
a study in intensity” by The New York Times.
He has made guest appearances with the Warsaw
Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Edmonton
THE FLORIDA OR 60 CHESTRA | 2019-2020
Symphony, l’Orchestre Symphonique du Québec,
Boston Pops, Nashville Symphony, Musikkollegium
Winterthur, Staatskapelle Halle, and L’orchestre de
chambre de Genève and has been reengaged by the
San Francisco Symphony. Chamber partners include
such luminaries as James Ehnes, Frank Huang, Nicolas
Altstaedt, David Shifrin, David Finckel, Stefan
Jackiw, Jörg Widmann, Gary Hoffman, Carter Brey,
Anthony Marwood, Paul Neubauer, Paul Watkins,
Phil Setzer, Emmanuel Pahud, Karen Gomyo, David
Jolley, Ida Kavafian, and the Swiss Chamber Soloists.
He has appeared in concert with the Pacifica,
Orion, Ebène, Danish, Daedalus, Escher, and Borromeo
Quartets. Committed to contemporary works,
Vonsattel has performed in numerous premieres
in the United States and Europe, and has worked
closely with notable composers such as Jörg
Widmann, Heinz Holliger, and George Benjamin.
A former member of CMS Two, Vonsattel received
his bachelor’s degree in political science and economics
from Columbia University and his master’s
degree from The Juilliard School. He is on the faculty
of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Gilles Vonsattel is a Steinway Artist.
Rising young soprano
Madison Leonard
is a 2018 winner of
the Metropolitan
National Council Auditions,
where she
sang arias from Rigoletto
and Hänsel und
Gretel with Bertrand
de Billy conducting.
This season, she returns
to Seattle Opera
for her role debut
as Gilda in Rigoletto before repeating the role with
Austin Opera. She also sings Pamina in Die Zauberflöte
with North Carolina Opera, the title role of
Picker’s Emmeline with Tulsa Opera, and, on the
concert stage, Handel’s Messiah with the Jacksonville
Symphony.
Last season, she sang Chrisann Brennan in Bates’
The Revolution of Steve Jobs and Frasquita in Carmen
with Seattle Opera, Susanna in Le nozze di
Figaro with Inland Northwest Opera, and Haydn’s
Creation with The Florida Orchestra. Other recent
performances include her return to Wolf Trap Opera
for role debuts of Ilia in Idomeneo and Juliette in Roméo
et Juliette at Wolf Trap Opera following a season
at Washington National Opera where she sang
the High Priestess in Aida, The Rose in Portman’s
The Little Prince, Morgana in Alcina, and Little Zegner
Sister in Mazzoli’s Proving Up, all while a member
of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.
She also made her National Symphony Orchestra
debut with Music Director Gianandrea Noseda and
returned as soloist in Vaughan William’s Symphony
No. 3 under the baton of Sir Mark Elder, sang performances
of Fauré’s Requiem with the Apollo Orchestra,
and returned to The Florida Orchestra for Orff’s
Carmina Burana.
Leonard earned her master’s of music degree from
Northwestern University a bachelor’s of arts degree
from Pepperdine University.
GILLES VONSATTEL
Piano
MADISON LEONARD
Soprano