Concert

Jazmine Saunders, soprano, studying vocal performance at the Eastman School of Music, is the 2020-2021 William Warfield Scholarship Fund recipient. Her career highlights include performance at the Young Artist Auditions, Rochester Philharmonic League; winner of the Tessa Martin Award for Female Vocalists; grant recipient of the Friends of Eastman Opera opportunity for the Italian language program, Si Parla Si Canta, in Arona, Italy; and singing the soprano solo in Bach’s Cantata 114 as a member of the Eastman Chorale. Most recently, Jazmine was understudy for the role of Tonina in Prima la Musica e Poi le Parole; and will be featured in Eastman Opera Theatre’s virtual performances of Our Voices and Postcard from Morocco.

One of Musical America’s 2021 “Artists of the Year,” American classical singer Julia Bullock is “a musician who delights in making her own rules” (New Yorker). Combining versatile artistry with a probing intellect and commanding stage presence, she has, in her early 30s, already headlined productions and concerts at preeminent arts institutions around the world. Also, an innovative curator in high demand, she holds notable positions including opera programming host of the new broadcast channel All Arts, founding core member of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), 2018-19 Artist-in-Residence at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019-20 Artist-in-Residence of the San Francisco Symphony, and 2020-22 Artist-in-Residence of London’s Guildhall School. Bullock previously made debuts at San Francisco Opera in the world premiere of Girls of the Golden West, Santa Fe Opera in Doctor Atomic, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Dutch National Opera in The Rake’s Progress, and the English National Opera, Spain’s Teatro Real, and Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre in the title role of The Indian Queen. In concert, she has collaborated with orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic, while her recital highlights include appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Celebrity Series, Washington’s Kennedy Center, the Mostly Mozart and Ojai Music festivals, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her growing discography features Grammy-nominated accounts of West Side Story and John Adams’ Doctor Atomic, which she recorded with the composer conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Committed to integrating community activism with her musical life, Bullock is also a prominent voice for social consciousness and change. To read more, click here.

Judah Taylor, sophomore at Denzel Washington School of the Arts, in Mount Vernon, New York. placed first in the 2020 William Warfield Scholarship Fund Classical Vocal Competition for African American High School Students, with his amazing performance of “Caro, Mio Ben”. This rising artist has performed at the 2020 Mount Vernon Mayoral Inauguration; and he is a current member of the Greater Centennial AME Zion Men’s Chorus. Judah has received acting scholarships from American Academy of Dramatic Arts 2019 and AMDA 2018, 2020. In addition, Judah Taylor attends the Juilliard Pre-College with support from The Epstein Family Foundation Scholarship.

Thomas Warfield has performed, from stage to television to film, in more than 100 cities around the world as a singer, dancer, actor, model, composer, choreographer, director, producer, educator, activist, and poet.  For 22 years he has been director of dance and professor at NTID/RIT. He is artistic director of PeaceArt International, a community building through the arts global project he founded 30 years ago. He is a recipient of grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, received the Off-Broadway Award for choreography, and was honored by the United Nations. His original project “A Global Poem in Praise of Peace” received dozens of participants, including Leonard Bernstein, Mother Theresa, and President Mitterrand of France. The original title song of his CD Celebrate the Moment is currently used for a campaign by the City of Rochester. He is former president of ARTWalk and the Association of Teaching Artists and has served on numerous boards including The Rochester Area Community Foundation, Rochester Fringe Festival, Gateways Music Festival, MuCCC Theatre, The National Classic TV Preservation Society, and is president emeritus and historian of the William Warfield Scholarship Fund.