Join us for a midday recital featuring American Soprano Brandi Diggs (Atlanta Symphony, Kennedy Center) and pianist Akiko Hosaki. This program showcases the duo's versatility, offering a repertoire that spans centuries and genres. The performance will include Baroque arias by Handel, romantic German Lieder by Schubert, Spanish songs by Obradors, and selections of American Spirituals by Undine Smith Moore and Jacqueline B. Hairston. A refined program ideal for your noonday break.
American Soprano Brandi Diggs is a versatile vocalist who sings operatic and solo repertoire throughout the United States. She recently appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, The Atlanta Opera, Kentucky Opera, and as a recitalist at the Kennedy Center and the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. Recent performances include Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Frasquita in Carmen, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Lily in Porgy and Bess, and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music (CCM), a diploma from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Music degree from East Carolina University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree from Spelman College. Additionally, her research is featured within Trauma-Informed Pedagogy and the Post-Secondary Music Class published by Routledge Press. At present, she is a professor of voice and the Coordinator of Vocal Studies at The College of New Jersey.
Native of Osaka, Japan, pianist Dr. Akiko Hosaki is acclaimed for her sensitive playing, and one of the most sought-after collaborative pianists and vocal coaches in the New York – New Jersey area. She is currently an adjunct assistant professor and the pianist coordinator of the University Accompanist Program at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and on the faculty of The College of New Jersey and Bard Conservatory Graduate Vocal Arts program.
Brought to the US by Dalton Baldwin, legendary collaborative pianist, at Académie internationale d'été de Nice, France, since 2013 until his passing in 2019, and was at Mozarteum Sommerakademie in 2017 and 2018. She was invited to give a master class in Hong Kong in 2016 and 2017. In 2024, she held a masterclass on Japanese Art Song and a concert in NYC as a part of “Summer of Art Song Festival 2024” hosted by Art Song Preservation Society of New York.
Dr. Hosaki has collaborated with regional opera companies such as the Princeton Festival Opera, the New Jersey State Opera, Opera North, and the Castleton Festival. In 2006 and 2007, she served as assistant conductor for Opera New Jersey, and was the music director for Romeo and Juliet with the Delaware Valley Opera Company in 2009, for which a review said, “She conjured up out of the piano nearly all the colors of Gounod’s orchestral score yet never overwhelmed her singers.” In her busy schedule, she still frequently works with Boheme Opera NJ and Opera Magnibico.
As accomplished accompanist/basso continuo player, Dr. Hosaki also enjoys working with conductors and instrumentalists, and frequently performs in chamber music concerts and the keyboard/basso continuo in orchestras. She was seen on the tours with the American Boychoir in the mid-west and southern states in the United States and Taiwan. In the instrumental world, she has performed at the World Saxophone Congress XIII, Tubonium2 and 3. She currently works with Jubilee Singers at Westminster with the conductor Vinroy D. Brown, Jr.
Dr. Hosaki holds degrees from Musashino Academia Musicae in Japan, Westminster Choir College, and University of Minnesota.