Mary Nessinger

Mary Nessinger
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
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Forescore(s) & Forward
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | October 17, 1998
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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 coverage
[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

 

Special praise to Nessinger, who is a singer to die for. Not only does she have the technique to handle the often-ferocious demands of this music, but also her dramatic skills are superlative.

— Fanfare Full review