Missy Mazzoli, founder, composer and keyboard player in Victoire, was recently deemed “one of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” (New York Times) and “Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart” (Time Out New York), Missy Mazzoli has had her music performed globally by the Kronos Quartet, eighth blackbird, New York City Opera, the Minnesota Orchestra and many others. She is Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia, Gotham Chamber Opera and Music Theatre-Group, and in 2011-2012 was composer-in-residence with the Albany Symphony. In February 2012 Beth Morrison Projects presented Song from the Uproar, Missy’s first multimedia chamber opera, which had a sold-out run at venerable New York venue The Kitchen. The Wall Street Journal called this work "both powerful and new", and the New York Times claimed that "in the electric surge of Ms. Mazzoli's score you felt the joy, risk and limitless potential of free spirits unbound." Recent months included premieres by the LA Philharmonic, pianist Emanuel Ax and the Detroit Symphony. Missy's recent album, Vespers for a New Dark Age, features her ensemble Victoire, percussionist Glenn Kotche (of Wilco) and electronic producer Lorna Dune, and was released by New Amsterdam Records in March 2015. It was deemed "ravishing" by the New York Times, and has been praised by NPR's First Listen and on Pitchfork. With librettist Royce Vavrek, Missy is currently working on an operatic adaptation of Breaking the Waves, a 1996 film by Lars von Trier. Breaking the Waves will premiere at Opera Philadelphia in 2016. Missy recently joined the faculty at Mannes College of Music, and her works are published by G. Schirmer. www.missymazzoli.com
Internationally recognized as a soloist as well as a chamber musician, Austro-Italian violinist Olivia De Prato has been described as “flamboyant....convincing” (New York Times) and an “enchanting violinist” (Messaggero Veneto, Italy). After moving to New York City she has quickly established herself as a passionate performer of contemporary and improvised music, breaking boundaries of the traditional violin repertoire and regularly performs in Europe, South America, China and the United States. Her chamber music activities include appearances at the Bang on a Can Marathon in New York City, the David Byrne Perspective Series at Carnegie Hall, the Lucerne Festival with Pierre Boulez, the Ensemble Modern Festival (Austria), "June in Buffalo” Festival, the Ojai Festival with Steve Reich and Brad Lubman, the Darmstadt New Music Festival and the Aldeburgh Festival in the UK. Olivia is a member of New York contemporary music ensembles Signal and Victoire, and is the co-founder and first violinist of the Mivos String Quartet. She has recorded on New Amsterdam Records, Tzadik, Carrier, Sunnyside, Mode, Cantaloupe and Porter Records. In 2010 and 2011 she toured Europe and South Africa with Grammy-award winning Esperanza Spalding and Chamber Music Society on violin and viola. www.oliviadeprato.com
Clarinetist Eileen Mack grew up in Australia and is now based in New York. She is a member of post-minimalist band Victoire and amplified ensemble Newspeak (which she also co-directs), and has performed with many other New York new music groups including Wet Ink, Alarm Will Sound, Signal Ensemble, the Bang on a Can All Stars and the Wordless Music Orchestra. She has performed in venues around the world including Zankel Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and London's Royal Albert Hall; with conductors including Pierre Boulez, Oliver Knussen, Brad Lubman and Alan Pierson; and has appeared as soloist at the Canberra International Chamber Music Festival and the Bang on a Can Marathon. Her discography ranges from work on the Crocodile Hunter TV and movie soundtracks to releases on New Amsterdam Records, Tzadik, Innova, and Warp Records. Eileen holds degrees from Stony Brook University, the Manhattan School of Music and the Queensland Conservatorium.
Praised by VICE Magazine as the "mistress of new music" and named as one of 2014's Artists to Watch by The Fader, Lorna Dune (aka Lorna Krier) has been turning heads since her foray into the world of electronic music production. An experimental pianist, who has played with likes of Steve Reich and Philip Glass and collaborates with Missy Mazzoli in the composer’s “all-star, all-female quintet” Victoire, has a new take on weightier beat-driven electronic music which is both fresh in its approach to the genre and also a unique arrival through her journey through sound. She has produced and remixed the works of Missy Mazzoli, Max Richter, JD Samson, Caroline Shaw and has had works featured on Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, Red Bull Music Academy, VICE Magazine, The Fader, XLR8R and more. Her debut full-length album “Transmutation” is due in Fall of 2015. “An experimental keyboardist who is happy to go wherever her heart and ears tell her, redefining genres along the way, Lorna Dune inhabits a world of her own, and it’s a glorious thing to behold.” – Red Bull Music Academy www.lornakrier.com
“Quietly virtuosic” (Alan Kozinn, the New York Times) double bassist and electric bassist Eleonore Oppenheim is quickly gaining a reputation as both a valued ensemble player and an engaging soloist. Her “...subtle expressivity” and “...particular eloquence” (Joshua Kosman, the San Francisco Chronicle) have made her a muse for composers of her generation, and she has built a rich repertoire of solo pieces, some of which will be featured on her forthcoming debut album, “Home” (Innova Recordings, Spring 2015). Eleonore has appeared nationally and internationally at festivals and venues including Carnegie Hall, BAM, Lincoln Center, the Barbican Centre, and the Sydney Opera House, with a variety of different artists and groups, among them the Philip Glass Ensemble, Tyondai Braxton, Bang on a Can, Wordless Music Orchestra, Meredith Monk, My Brightest Diamond, Signal Ensemble, Steve Reich, Jonny Greenwood, and the “All-star, all-female quintet” Victoire, of which she is a member. www.eleonoreoppenheim.com
Hailed by The New York Times as “a versatile, charismatic soprano endowed with brilliant technique and superlative stage instincts…indispensable to New York’s new-music ecosystem,” Mellissa Hughes enjoys a busy international career in both contemporary and early music. A dedicated interpreter of living composers, Hughes has worked closely with Steve Reich, Neil Rolnick, and premiered works by David T. Little, Ted Hearne, Caleb Burhans, Christopher Cerrone, Jacob Cooper, and Frederic Rzewski, among others. In the classical concert hall she has performed Mozart’s Vespers and Requiem under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner, Bach cantatas with Julian Wachner and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Handel’s Dixit Dominus with Sir David Willcocks, and the role of Dido under the direction of Andrew Lawrence King. Equally at home in front of a rock band, Hughes has received widespread acclaim in her role as lead vocalist of Newspeak, an amplified alt-classical band, and for her work with Missy Mazzoli’s Victoire. Recent and upcoming highlights include Chicago Symphony’s “Beyond the Score” performances celebrating Pierre Boulez; Ted Hearne’s Wikipedia oratorio The Source, at BAM; a solo recital for American Songbook at Lincoln Center; an acclaimed recordings release of Jacob Cooper’s Silver Threads, from Nonesuch Records; international tours with John Zorn; a Bang on a Can All-Stars performance of David Lang’s Death Speaks in Paris, performances with The Roots, Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble Signal, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and more. Hughes’s additional discography includes albums from New Amsterdam records, and “Shelter”, a video opera by Bang on a Can composers Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, and Pulitzer Prize winner David Lang, released by Cantalope records. She has recorded tracks for the WNYC program Radiolab, and has provided supporting vocals for My Brightest Diamond, The National and The Breeders. Based in Brooklyn, Mellissa Hughes holds degrees from Westminster Choir College and Yale University.