Biography
Winner of two Walter W. Naumburg Awards—as chamber musician as well as solo recitalist—soprano Lucy Shelton continues to enjoy an international career bringing her dramatic vocalism and brilliant interpretive skills to repertoire of all periods. Notable among her numerous world premieres are song cycles by Elliott Carter, Oliver Knussen, Louis Karchin and James Yannatos; chamber works by Carter, Joseph Schwantner, Mario Davidovsky, Augusta Read Thomas, Bruce Adolphe, Alexander Goehr, Poul Ruders, Anne Le Baron, Thomas Flaherty, Warren Benson, Stephen Albert, Lewis Spratlan and Charles Wuorinen; orchestral works by Knussen, Albert, Schwantner, David Del Tredici, Gerard Grisey, Ezra Laderman, Sally Beamish, Virko Baley and Ned Rorem; and an opera by Robert Zuidam.
An avid chamber musician, Shelton has been a guest artist with ensembles such as the Emerson, Mendelssohn and Guarnieri string quartets, the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, 21st Century Consort, Speculum Musicae, Da Capo Chamber Players, Sospeso, New York New Music Ensemble, Musica Viva, Da Camera of Houston, eighth blackbird, the Nash Ensemble, Klangform Wien, Schoenberg-Asko, Ensemble Moderne and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Shelton has participated in numerous festivals including those of Aspen, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Chamber Music Northwest, BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Caen, Kuhmo, Togo and Salzburg.
Highlights of recent seasons include her Zankel Hall debut with the Met Chamber Orchestra and James Levine in Carter’s A Mirror On Which To Dwell, numerous performances of Pierrot Lunaire; A Cabaret Opera in collaboration with the eighth blackbird ensemble and Blair Thomas Puppets, participation in various composers’ birthday celebrations (Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' 70th in Turin, Italy; James Primosch's 50th in Philadelphia; Oliver Knussen's 50th in London; George Perle's 90th and Milton Babbitt's 90th in Princeton and New York), and five recording projects soon to be released of works by Anne Le Baron, Virko Baley, Louis Karchin, Chinary Ung and Charles Wuorinen.
Among the many activities in Shelton’s 2007-2008 season are a return to Turin Italy to celebrate Elliott Carter’s 100th year, performances of Pierrot Lunaire in St. Petersburg and Moscow (with Da Capo Chamber Players), an engagement with the Atlanta Symphony in Knussen’s Where The Wild Things Are, a recital of Baudelaire settings (including a Carter première) at Brown University, a return to Da Camera of Houston for works of Stephen Albert and Pascal Dusapin, a return to the Guggenheim’s “Works and Process” in repertoire of Kurt Weill, reprise of her Naumburg recital première of Schwantner’s Two Poems of Agueda Pizzarro with Margo Garrett at Juilliard School, a première based on poems of Pablo Neruda by Gabriella Lena Frank with the Adorno Ensemble, a return to the Ussachevsky Electronic Music Festival to première an interactive electronic work by Thomas Flaherty, and performances and a recording of Ginastera’s String Quartet No. 3 with the Enso Quartet for the Naxos Label. She also sings works of Druckman, Foss, Davidovsky, and Carter with the 21st Century Consort, New York New Music Ensemble and the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society.
Shelton has appeared with leading conductors such as Barenboim, Boulez, Gilbert, Knussen, Rattle, Rostropovich and Slatkin with major orchestras worldwide. Her extensive discography is on the Deutsche Grammophon, Koch International, Nonesuch, NMC, Bridge, Albany and Innova labels. She has taught at the Third Street Settlement School in Manhattan, Eastman School, New England Conservatory, Britten-Pears School and the Cleveland Institute. She joined the resident artist faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center in 1996. In the fall of 2007 she joined the Manhattan School of Music faculty for a new degree program in the performance of contemporary music.