Carnegie Hill Concerts Presents:
Sarah Fleiss and Matthieu Cognet
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SunSets is a donation-based, intimate, and unplugged afternoon concert experience.
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Described as "bright" and "stylish" by Opera News, American soprano Sarah Fleiss recently graduated with her Master’s degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music. This past season, she sang Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with the Curtis Opera Theater, brought recitals to Boston, Washington, D.C., and Sarasota Florida, and attended the Aspen Music Festival as a Renée Fleming fellow. Past roles include Pamina (The Magic Flute), Ginevra (Ariodante), and the Vixen (The Cunning Little Vixen). Concert highlights include the Fauré Requiem with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Poulenc's Gloria and Dvořák's Te Deum with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and The Brahms Requiem with the Dalton Chorale. This summer, she’ll travel to Italy for the Georg Solti Accademia and looks forward to joining the 12th edition of Le Jardin des Voix with Les Arts Florissants under the direction of William Christie and Paul Agnew. Over the next year, she’ll travel internationally with the group performing a double-bill of two French Baroque operas and a semi-staged Scarlatti oratorio, as well as joining a tour to South America with Curtis. Prior to Curtis, Sarah attended the Columbia/Juilliard-Exchange program and has also trained at The Verbier Festival Atelier Lyrique and the Music Academy of the West.
French pianist Matthieu Cognet is an active soloist and sought-after chamber player who has appeared in major venues and festivals in Europe and the United States, including Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, the Cultural Institute of Chicago, the Hemptinne Festival and the Festival Musicorum (Belgium), the Ruhrtriennale Festival (Germany), the Rushmore Music Festival, SD, the Festival Memphis in May, the Saint Georges Music Festival in Guadeloupe, and the Prades and Pianissimes Festivals (France). He recently collaborated in concert with internationally acclaimed Flutist Carol Wincenc and Grammy Award winner Bandoneonist Hector Del Curto.
He has been a soloist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Queer Urban Orchestra, Stony Brook University Orchestra, Indiana University Student Orchestra, and the Paris Sorbonne Orchestra. His recital and chamber music performances have been featured on Radio France, Italian Rai and Chicago WMFT Radio broadcasts.
Matthieu Cognet is a laureate of the Concours Musical de France, the Bloomington Travel Grant, Stony Brook Concerto Competition as well as the Forte and Entraide Française Competitions in New York City. He received degrees from the Paris and Brussels Conservatories, as well as the University of La Sorbonne (summa cum laude). He completed his Performer Diploma at Indiana University, while working extensively as the studio pianist of Janos Starker. In 2017, he graduated with his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University.
In addition to his performing activities, Mr. Cognet released his own arrangement of Maurice Ravel’s La Valse for piano solo under the label Lauren Keiser Publications/Hal Leonard. He is also the Artistic Director and Masterclass Director of the French-American Piano Society. He has recorded three albums: “Debut Recital”, “Mit Humor”(Odradek Records), to stellar reviews (Gramophone Magazine), and “Global Saxophone.” He is currently a Staff Collaborative Pianist at the Juilliard School and the French Diction Coach at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.