Duo Cortona, a voice and violin duo made up of Rachel Calloway and Ari Streisfeld, make their Colorado debut presenting a concert of new and recent works written for the duo. The duo will perform new and recent works by Colorado-based composer Annika Sokolofsky, as well as music by Ingrid Laubrock and John Fitz-Rogers.
Duo Cortona is a contemporary music ensemble dedicated to the creation of works for its unique instrumentation: mezzo-soprano and violin. This ensemble explores new sounds and possibilities for its intimate, expressive, and vital combination. Duo Cortona works to establish a new and thus far unexplored repertoire, pursuing the endless possibilities of this union. We create opportunities for both established and emerging composers through commissions, competitions, educational workshops, university residencies, and major concert performances.
Duo Cortona was founded at the Cortona Sessions for New Music by husband and wife team Ari Streisfeld and Rachel Calloway. Recent and upcoming performances include the Chautauqua Institution, University of Denver, University of Colorado at Boulder, Southern Exposure Series for New Music, East Carolina New Music Initiative, University of Wisconsin, College of Charleston, New Music New College, the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, Resonant Bodies Festival, The Stone, the SONiC Festival, New Music on the Point, and Contemporary Undercurrent of Song Project (Princeton).
Violinist Ari Streisfeld has garnered critical acclaim worldwide for his performances of diverse repertoire and has established himself as one of the foremost interpreters of contemporary classical music. Praised for his “dazzling performance” by the New York Times and “scintillating playing” by New York Classical Review, Mr. Streisfeld is a founding member of the world renowned JACK Quartet. Recent season highlights include performances at Wigmore Hall (London), La Salle Pleyel (Paris), Teatro Colon (Argentina), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Bali Arts Festival (Indonesia), Carriage Works (Sydney, Australia), Venice Biennale (Italy), Carnegie Hall, The Library of Congress, The Morgan Library (New York), the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), and the Salzburg Festival (Austria). He has collaborated with many of today’s most prominent composers including John Luther Adams, Caroline Shaw, Julia Wolfe, Helmut Lachenmann, Matthias Pintscher, Georg Friedrich Haas, Steve Reich, and Salvatore Sciarrino.
Together with his wife, mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, Mr. Streisfeld formed Duo Cortona, a contemporary music ensemble dedicated to the creation of new works for the unique instrumentation of mezzo-soprano and violin. Recent and upcoming performances include the Resonant Bodies Festival, SONiC Festival, The Stone (NY), Contemporary Undercurrents of Song Project (Princeton, NJ), New Music on the Point (VT), and The Cortona Sessions for New Music (Italy). He is also a member of Shir Ami, an ensemble dedicated to the performance and preservation of Jewish art music. Mr. Streisfeld frequently collaborates with some of today’s leading ensembles, including Ensemble Signal, Wordless Music Orchestra, Weekend of Chamber Music, and the Cortona Collective.
Hailed as “imaginative” by the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Streisfeld’s arrangements of madrigals and motets for string quartet by Machaut and Gesualdo have been performed to acclaim both at home and abroad. A recipient of the Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Mr. Streisfeld most recently premiered his Machaut arrangements for voice and violin at The Stone (New York).
A passionate and committed music educator, Mr. Streisfeld serves on the faculty of New York’s Special Music School, Face the Music, New Music on the Point and the Cortona Sessions for New Music (Italy). He will join the faculty of the University of South Carolina School of Music as Assistant Professor of Violin Pedagogy this fall.
Mr. Streisfeld attended the Eastman School of Music (Bachelor of Music), Northwestern University (Master of Music), and Boston University (Doctor of Musical Arts). He has recorded for Mode, Albany, Carrier, Innova, Cantaloupe, and New World Records.
Mezzo-Soprano Rachel Calloway brings versatility and compelling insight to stages worldwide. Praised as “a gale-force” (Time Out New York) with a “dark-hued and sizable voice” (New York Times), she is especially recognized as an interpreter of new and contemporary music. Recent and upcoming premieres include music by Augusta Read Thomas, John Zorn, Orlando Jacinto Garcia, Robert Xavier Rodriguez, David Garner, Gabriela Lena Frank, Christopher Cerrone, and Annika Socolofsky. With her husband, violinist Ari Streisfeld, Ms. Calloway performs as Duo Cortona, creating new works for mezzo-soprano and violin.
Highlights of the 2023 – 2024 season include a Schumann residency at The Castleton Festival, John Zorn at 70 at The Walker Arts Center (MN), continued collaborations with the Amernet Quartet (Southern Exposure New Music Series, Columbia Museum of Art, and New Music Miami), Su Lian Tan’s opera Lotus Lives with the University of Buffalo’s Center for the Arts, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Florence Symphony Orchestra, and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and songs of Jesse Montgomery with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Duo Cortona will appear in concert and artist residency at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Denver University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the University of Georgia.
Ms. Calloway has appeared in concert with the Orlando Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Series, Charleston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, Berkeley Symphony, Ojai Festival, San Francisco Girls’ Chorus, BAM Next Wave Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Cal Performances, and Lincoln Center Festival. Ms. Calloway made her European operatic debut as Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw at Opéra de Reims, Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jovet (Paris), and Opéra de Lille. She co-founded the musical collective Shir Ami: Song of our People with her brother, cellist Jason Calloway.
A passionate and devoted educator, Ms. Calloway serves on the faculty of the University of South Carolina as Assistant Professor of Voice and Director of Spark: Music Leadership at Carolina. She joined the faculty of the Cortona Sessions for New Music (Italy) in 2014, Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard in 2016, and the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory in 2023. Ms. Calloway holds degrees from The Juilliard School (BM) and Manhattan School of Music (MM).
