Sephardic Song, presented by Dr. Lori Sen
Turkish mezzo-soprano Lori Şen is known for her versatility in many vocal genres, including opera, art song, musical theatre, and jazz, as well as for her teaching and research interests in vocal literature, voice pedagogy, and voice science. Dr. Şen is an expert of the Sephardic Art Song genre that comprises Western classical settings and arrangements of the traditional Sephardic folk literature. Over the past few years, she has introduced this repertoire to audiences through solo recitals, in addition to her lectures on the history, language, and culture of the Sephardim, and elements and stylistic features of Sephardic music. Since 2018, she has presented her research at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City, the 14th and 16th Barcelona Festival of Song in Barcelona, Spain, the 8th Annual Judeo-Spanish Symposium (UCLAdino) at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Yunus Emre Institute, Sephardic Heritage International (SHIN) DC, and Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, all in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Şen completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance at the University of Maryland, College Park, and received her Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy at Westminster Choir College, in Princeton, NJ, as a Fulbright grantee. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, in addition to a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice and a Master of Education degree in Physics Education from Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, Turkey.
Dr. Şen regularly collaborates with musicians and composers across a variety of genres, and has performed in Turkey, Europe, and the United States. She currently teaches as a Lecturer of Voice Pedagogy at the University of Maryland School of Music and Adjunct Voice Faculty at the Peabody Preparatory of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.
Ukrainian Song, presented by Marika Kuzma
Ukrainian-American Marika Kuzma is celebrated throughout the Bay Area and internationally as a choral director and scholar of Slavic choral music. During her twenty-five years as a professor of music at the University of California, Berkeley, she directed both the UC Chamber Chorus and University Chorus in repertoire spanning Hildegard to Bach B minor Mass to Verdi Requiem to Stravinsky Les Noces to premieres of new works. She also has served as chorus master for renowned conductors including Joanna Carneiro, Gustavo Dudamel, Nicholas McGegan (in collaborations with the Mark Morris Dance Group), Christian Reif, and also as chef de choeurfor the Montreal Symphony under Kent Nagano. Kuzma's work in Slavic vocal music includes award-winning research, publications, and critically acclaimed recordings. She has coached many ensembles including Chanticleer, San Francisco Girls Chorus, and San Francisco Symphony Chorus in Church Slavic, Russian, and Ukrainian diction and has given talks on Slavic music across the US and at the Kyiv and Moscow Conservatories. A singer at heart, she coaches solo and choral singers alike to enjoy the nuances and energy of every language and every composer. In the words of one critic, Kuzma leaves "no syllable unarticulated and no musical marvel unexplored.”