Virtual
Artist Partnerships
Program Mentors
2022-2023
Duo Cortona
Duo Cortona is a contemporary music ensemble dedicated to the creation of works for its unique instrumentation: mezzo-soprano and violin. This ensemble explores new sounds and possibilities for its intimate, expressive, and vital combination. We create opportunities for both established and emerging composers through commissions, competitions, educational workshops, university residencies, and major concert performances.
Duo Cortona was founded at the Cortona Sessions for New Music (Italy) by husband and wife team Ari Streisfeld and Rachel Calloway. Recent performances and residencies include the University of Notre Dame, University of Missouri (Mizzou), Columbia Museum of Art, Eastman School of Music, University of Pittsburgh Music on the Edge, and Thrive Music Live (Baltimore). Duo Cortona has previously performed on the Southern Exposure Series for New Music (South Carolina), East Carolina New Music Initiative, University of Wisconsin, College of Charleston, New Music New College, with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, Resonant Bodies Festival, The Stone, the SONiC Festival, New Music on the Point, and Contemporary Undercurrent of Song Project (Princeton).
Rachel Calloway
Rachel Calloway brings versatility and compelling insight to stages worldwide. Her work has been praised by the New York Times for “penetrating clarity” and “considerable depth of expression” and by Opera News for her “adept musicianship and dramatic flair.”
A dedicated interpreter of new music, Ms. Calloway has premiered hundreds of solo and chamber music works. Recent and upcoming premieres include music by Augusta Read Thomas, John Zorn, Robert Xavier Rodriguez, David Garner, Gabriela Lena Frank, Christopher Cerrone, and Annika Socolofsky. She collaborates with premiere ensembles including Third Coast Percussion, JACK Quartet, the Amernet Quartet, and Ensemble Signal. With her husband, violinist Ari Streisfeld, Ms. Calloway performs as Duo Cortona, creating new works for mezzo-soprano and violin.
She has appeared in concert with the Orlando Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Series, Charleston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, Berkeley Symphony, Ojai Festival, San Francisco Girls’ Chorus, BAM Next Wave Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Cal Performances, and Lincoln Center Festival. Ms. Calloway made her European operatic debut as Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw at Opéra de Reims, Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jovet (Paris), and Opéra de Lille. She has performed with the late Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival in Virginia, and at Opera Philadelphia, Tulsa Opera, Central City Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, The PROTOTYPE Festival, and the Glimmerglass Festival. Ms. Calloway is a founding member of Shir Ami, an ensemble devoted to the performance and dissemination of Jewish art music.
Ms. Calloway serves on the faculty of the University of South Carolina as Assistant Professor of Voice and Director of Spark: Music Leadership at Carolina. She joined the faculty of the Cortona Sessions for New Music (Italy) in 2014 and Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard in 2016. Ms. Calloway holds degrees from The Juilliard School (BM) and Manhattan School of Music (MM) and can be heard on Albany Records, Tzadik Records, BCMF Records, and Toccata Classics. www.rachelcalloway.com
Ari Streisfeld
Praised for his “dazzling performance” by the New York Times and “scintillating playing” by New York Classical Review, violinist Ari Streisfeld has quickly established himself as a leader in contemporary classical music. A founding member of the internationally acclaimed JACK Quartet, Ari has performed in the world’s leading concert halls and festivals. Season highlights include a performance of Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 5 with the Aiken Symphony and chamber music and solo performances in Columbia, Charleston, Middlebury (Vermont), and Tallahassee (Florida). He has collaborated with many of today’s most prominent composers including John Luther Adams, Caroline Shaw, Julia Wolfe, Helmut Lachenmann, Matthias Pintscher, Georg Friedrich Haas, Steve Reich, and Salvatore Sciarrino. He has recorded for Mode, Albany, Carrier, Innova, Cantaloupe, New Focus, and New World Records.
Together with his wife, mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, Ari formed Duo Cortona, a contemporary music ensemble dedicated to the creation of new works for the unique instrumentation of mezzo-soprano and violin. He is also a member of Shir Ami, an ensemble dedicated to the performance and preservation of Jewish art music.
A passionate and committed music educator, Ari is currently Associate Professor of Violin and Violin Pedagogy at the University of South Carolina School of Music, Music Director for Point CounterPoint (Vermont), Strings Coordinator for the Carolina Summer Music Conservatory, and serves on the faculty of the Cortona Sessions for New Music (Italy and Florida). He previously taught violin and chamber music at New York’s Special Music School, Face the Music, and New Music on the Point.
Ari holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (Bachelor of Music), Northwestern University (Master of Music), and Boston University (Doctor of Musical Arts). His teachers include Zvi Zeitlin, Almita Vamos, and Peter Zazofsky.