FULL Biography

Soprano Ann Moss is an acclaimed recording artist and champion of contemporary vocal music who performs and collaborates with a dynamic array of living composers. Described as a "fearless performer” of some of the most challenging music of our time, her high, flexible voice has been singled out by Opera News for “beautifully pure floated high notes” and by San Francisco Classical Voice for “powerful expression” with “clear, silvery tones and passionate sweetness." Mike Telin of Cleveland Classical writes, her “long fluid lines are exquisite.” In addition to working closely with well-known composers such as Jake Heggie, John Harbison, Kaija Saariaho, Aaron Jay Kernis and David Conte, Ann seeks out and performs works by new and emerging voices at forums, festivals and concert series across the USA. She has released two portrait albums: Currents (Angels Share Records 2013) and Love Life (ASR 2016), both produced and recorded by multi-GRAMMY® award winner Leslie Ann Jones at Skywalker Sound. She can also be heard on releases from labels including Albany, Arsis Audio, Jaded Ibis Productions, Naxos, Navona Records, PARMA, and Ravello Records.

Moss recently made her solo debut with the San Francisco Symphony singing the music of Mozart, Gershwin and Rogers under conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser. Highlights of the 2022-23 season include performances of Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Gérard Grisey’s Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil with After Everything Ensemble, and a concert tour in support of her newly released album Lifeline, which features re-imagined chants by Medieval composer Hildegard von Bingen recorded remotely with instrumental collaborators around the United States.

TRACKING THE MUSIC OF OUR TIME

Widely known as a consummate recording artist, Ann Moss consistently delivers heartfelt and impeccable studio performances of living composers' music. She has collaborated with producers including Andreas Meyer, Leslie Ann Jones, Lolly Lewis, Andy Happel, Alberto Hernandez, Mark Lemaire, and Eric Sherbon. Her latest album Lifeline is a modern-day interpretation of the music of Hildegard Von Bingen distilled through the lens of the artist’s experiences in quarantine. Her two portrait albums Currents and Love Life feature premiere recordings of vocal chamber music by Jake Heggie, John Thow, Liam Wade and Vartan Aghababian, alongside songs by Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Weslie Brown and Lennon/McCartney.

Other recent releases include Nancy Bachmann: Wild Swans (Navona, 2023), The Distance (ASR, 2023) - a collaboration with Kev Choice to commemorate the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Too Few the Mornings Be (ASR, 2021) by Ricky Ian Gordon with pianist Jennifer Reason, Autumn Winds: Music of Kirk O'Riordan (Ravello, 2020) with pianist Holly Roadfeldt and violist Peter Dutilly, and Nordwell & Moss: Song Cycles of Vartan Aghababian (ASR 2018) with pianist Hillary Nordwell. Forthcoming releases include Now I Am (ASR, 2024), Nancy Bachmann: What Shall I Sing Today? (Ravello, 2025) and an album of songs for voice and guitar by Garry Eister. A complete discography is available HERE.

A Penchant for Premieres

Ann Moss has delivered significant premiere performances of new works across the United States, including the U.S. premiere of Jake Heggie’s orchestrated song cycle Newer Every Day: Songs for Kiri (2014, arr. for orch. 2017); west coast premieres of Kaija Saariaho's Leino Songs (2007) and Henri Dutilleux's Le temps l’horloge for Soprano and Orchestra (2007) with UCBSO under conductor David Milnes; U.S. premiere of Sivan Eldar's You'll Drown Dear for solo voice and electronics; world premieres of Gaman (2018) by Christophe Chagnard and Wilderness Mute (2017) by Keiko Fujiie for Seattle-based Music of Remembrance; world premiere of Madrigals for the Seasons (2018) composed for Moss by David Conte; world premiere of Hard Stones (2018) composed for Moss by Griffin Candey to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing; world premiere and east coast premiere of A Line Becomes a Circle (2016) by Miya Masaoka; world premiere of Finite Difference (2016) composed for Moss by Kenneth Froelich; world premiere of Regrets Only (2015) for soprano and cello composed for Moss by John Grimmett; east and west coast premieres of Newer Every Day: Songs for Kiri (2014) by Jake Heggie; as well as new works composed for her by composers including Fiona Lee Jones, Ursula Kwong-Brown, Nancy Bachmann, Kev Choice, Amadeus Regucera, Miriam Miller, Vartan Aghababian, Jared Redmond and Sam Nichols.

Moss has been a featured soloist in premieres and performances of contemporary repertoire with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Earplay, Eco Ensemble, After Everything Ensemble, Ninth Planet, Composers, Inc., Music of Remembrance, West Edge Opera, One Art Ensemble, M2B, New Music Works, San Francisco Lyric Opera, the Ives String Quartet, Alexander String Quartet, Hausmann Quartet, Lydian String Quartet, Sanford Dole Ensemble, Composers in Red Sneakers, at the Sacramento Festival of New American Music, Other Minds Festival, Fresno New Music Festival, PARMA Festival, Hot Air Festival, Bear Valley Music Festival, SF Song Festival, Switchboard Music Festival, Sonic Harvest, CNMAT, and in recitals of contemporary art song across the United States.

Fostering Collaborative Relationships

Ann Moss served for over ten years as co-founder and Artistic Director of CMASH, a new-music repertory group dedicated to fostering and sustaining long-term collaborative relationships between composers and performers. She has participated in the creation and premiere of over two hundred art songs, works of vocal chamber music and operatic roles, from composers including Vartan Aghababian, Nancy Bachmann, Weslie Brown, Ursula Kwong-Brown, Griffin Candey, David Conte, Sanford Dole, Kurt Erickson, Joshua Fishbein, Kenneth Froelich, Carlos Gamboa, Heather Gilligan, John Grimmett, David Howell, Erik Jekabson, Feona Lee Jones, Miya Masaoka, Andrew McManus, Miriam Miller, Jared Redmond, Jessica Rugani, Garrett Shatzer, Allen Shearer, Liam Wade and Sarah Wald, among others. Moss served on the 2008 & 2011 faculty at CSU Summer Arts’ Composer/Performer Collaboration Workshop, and has enjoyed Teaching-Artist Residencies with graduate Composition and Writing students at UC Davis, University of Michigan Composition Department, Fresno State University Composers’ Guild, and San Diego State University Opera Department. She has led workshops and seminars about vocal composition and singer-composer collaboration at institutions including MIT, NYU Tisch School For The Arts, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Sacramento State University, Fresno State University and CSU Los Angeles.

Moss has recently enjoyed a series of collaborative artistic residencies at Avaloch Farm Music Institute, with pianist Holly Roadfeldt, violist Peter Dutilly, composers Kirk O'Riordan and Griffin Candey; and a week at the Lou Harrison House in Joshua Tree, CA for performances with the Joshua Trio during the composer's centennial birthday celebration. She has been a founding member of three chamber ensembles – One Art Ensemble (soprano, viola, piano), The Joshua Trio (soprano, cello, harp) and M2B (soprano, soprano, piano) – each with a focus on collaboration with living composers and performance of new and lesser-known works in the vocal chamber music repertoire.

TEACHING ARTIST

In addition to maintaining a thriving private voice studio, Ann Moss teaches voice at the Berkeley Jesuit Institute of Theology and is a former voice instructor at UC Berkeley. She has held extended Teaching-Artist Residencies at University of California Davis, San Diego State University, CSU Summer Arts Composer/Performer Collaboration Workshop, The Rivers School Conservatory, Consumes River College, and Baldwin-Wallace University Conservatory in conjunction with Cleveland Opera Theater’s {NOW} New Opera Works Festival. She has delivered vocal Masterclasses at University of Houston Moores School of Music, Longy School of Music of Bard College, University of Texas San Antonio, San Diego State University, Baldwin-Wallace University Conservatory and University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Ms. Moss has offered seminars and lectures on the topics of vocal composition and interpretation of contemporary vocal music at institutions including MIT, NYU Tisch School For The Arts, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Sacramento State University, Fresno State University and CSU Los Angeles.

Musical Time Traveler

Equally sought after for her vibrant interpretations of masterworks from the oratorio and operatic literature, Moss’s theatrical roles include Queen of the Night (Magic Flute), Despina (Cosi fan Tutte), Blondchen (Abduction from the Seraglio), Galatea (Acis & Galatea), Nanetta (Falstaff), Fire/Princess/Nightingale (L'enfant et les sortilèges), Waldvogel (Siegfried), and Dew Fairy (Hansel und Gretel). Moss has been a featured soloist in Mahler Symphonies No. 4 in G Major and No. 2 (The Resurrection), the orchestrated version of Alban Berg Sieben Frühe Lieder,  and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor with the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra under David Milnes; Mozart K.505 "Ch'io mi scordi di te? ... Non temer, amato bene" with Orchestra Without Borders under Luca Antonucci, Haydn Missa in Angustiis, Missa in tempore belli, Harmonimesse, and Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem with Oakland Symphony Chorus under Lynne Morrow; Schubert Mass in G with UC Davis Symphony under Jeffrey Thomas; Mozart Magic Flute (Queen of the Night) with Marin Symphony under George Thomson; Kuhnau Magnificat & Zelenka Requiem with Chora Nova under Paul Flight; Mozart Vesperae solemnes de confessor K. 339, Missa Brevis (Coronation Mass) K. 317, Handel Dixit Dominus, and Scarlatti Misse de S. Cecilia with Bay Area Choral Guild under Sanford Dole; and Poulenc Gloria, Mozart Requiem and Saint-Saens Requiem with OSLC under Martin Morley.

A native of Boston and a graduate of Hampshire College, the Longy School of Music of Bard College and San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Ann divides her time between her work in the San Francisco Bay Area and her home in Boston with her husband, jazz violinist / classical violist Justin Ouellet. She has participated in Master Classes with esteemed artists including Jose Van Dam, Nathan Gunn, Graham Johnson, Martin Katz, Jake Heggie, John Harbison, Craig Smith, and Barbara Kilduff. Private teachers include Sheri Greenawald, Wendy Hillhouse, Anna Gabrieli and Rodney Gisick; coaches include Steven Bailey, Brian Moll, Paul Hersh and Wayman Chin. She attended the internationally renowned Songfest program for two summers.

Ann is a Reiki practitioner, enthusiastic Yogi, and pursues a lifelong interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

SHORT Biography

Soprano Ann Moss is an acclaimed recording artist and champion of contemporary vocal music who performs and collaborates with a dynamic array of living composers and chamber ensembles. Highlights of the 2022-23 season include Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Gérard Grisey’s Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil with the After Everything Ensemble, and a concert tour supporting her recent album of compositions by Hildegard von Bingen. Moss’s high, silvery, flexible voice has been singled out by Opera News for “beautifully pure floated high notes” and by San Francisco Classical Voice for “powerful expression” and "exquisite phrasing." Mike Telin of Cleveland Classical writes, her “long fluid lines are exquisite.” In addition to working closely with well-known composers such as Jake Heggie, Kaija Saariaho, John Harbison and Aaron Jay Kernis, Ann seeks out and performs music by emerging voices at forums and festivals across the USA.
As co-founder and former Artistic Director of new-music repertory group CMASH, Ann Moss has been personally responsible for the creation and premiere of over two hundred art songs, vocal chamber music and operatic works. She has been a featured soloist with San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Redwood Symphony, Orchestra Without Borders, UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra; West Edge Opera, Solo Opera, SF Lyric Opera, Berkeley Opera; San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Earplay, Eco Ensemble, Composers in Red Sneakers, After Everything Ensemble, Composers, Inc., Ninth Planet, Music of Remembrance; the Ives, Alexander, Lydian and Hausmann String Quartets; and at FENAM, CNMAT, CCRMA, PARMA, Other Minds, Fresno New Music, Hot Air, Bear Valley, and Switchboard Music Festivals.
Moss has released two portrait albums, Currents (2013, Angels Share Records), and Love Life (2016, ASR), both produced by multi-GRAMMY® award winner Leslie Ann Jones at Skywalker Sound. Other recent releases include Nancy Bachmann: Wild Swans (2023, Navona), Lifeline (2022, ASR), and Autumn Winds (2020, Ravello). She can also be heard on releases from Albany, Arsis, Naxos and Jaded Ibis Productions. Ann Moss has lectured about vocal composition at institutions including MIT, UC Davis, NYU Tisch School For The Arts, Sacramento State University, and CSU Los Angeles, and has delivered vocal masterclasses at University of Houston Moores School of Music, Longy School of Music of Bard College, University of Texas San Antonio, San Diego State University and Baldwin-Wallace University Conservatory, among others. A native of Boston and a graduate of Hampshire College, the Longy School of Music of Bard College, and San Francisco Conservatory, Ann Moss divides her time between her work in the San Francisco Bay Area and her home in Boston with her husband, jazz violinist / classical violist Justin Ouellet. Ann is a Reiki practitioner, enthusiastic Yogi, and pursues a lifelong interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine.