ABOUT

FULL Biography

Soprano Ann Moss is an acclaimed recording artist, passionate teaching 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 the last two hundred years, Ann’s artistic mission is to lift up contemporary vocal literature to serve as narrative for the hard to speak about issues of our times. 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 and Aaron Jay Kernis, Moss eagerly seeks out and performs music by emerging and under-represented voices at forums and festivals across the USA. Her 2022 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 during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Her first two portrait albums Currents (Angels Share Records 2013) and Love Life (ASR 2016) were produced and recorded by multi-GRAMMY® award winner Leslie Ann Jones at Skywalker Sound. Ann can also be heard on releases from labels including Albany Records, Arsis Audio, Jaded Ibis Productions, Naxos, Navona Records and Ravello Records.

Moss recently made her solo debut with the San Francisco Symphony singing the music of Mozart, George & Ira Gershwin, and Richard Rogers under conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser. Highlights of the 2024-25 season include Mystics & Visionaries— a program of composers and songwriters spanning ten centuries, curated with multi-instrumentalist Justin Ouellet for the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, ME; the West Coast premiere of Epithets by Kate Soper with After Everything Ensemble; the World Premiere of All Is Beauty by Sanford Dole with Bay Choral Guild & Jubilate Baroque Orchestra; the world premiere of Songs of Self by Vartan Aghababian at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel; and the worldwide release of her third portrait album Now I Am— a self-produced mix-tape of songs by Joni Mitchell, Tom Petty, Cyndi Lauper, Stephen Sondheim, Kev Choice, Ricky Ian Gordon, Jake Heggie, Ann Kearns, David Howell and Griffin Candey.

TRACKING THE MUSIC OF OUR TIME

Widely regarded as a consummate recording artist, Ann Moss consistently delivers heartfelt and impeccable studio performances of music by living composers. She has collaborated on premiere recordings with producers including Andreas Meyer, Leslie Ann Jones, Lolly Lewis, Andy Happel, Alberto Hernandez, John Weston, Mark Lemaire, and Eric Sherbon. Her first two portrait albums Currents and Love Life feature new works of vocal chamber music by Jake Heggie, John Thow, Liam Wade and Vartan Aghababian, presented alongside beloved songs by Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Weslie Brown and Lennon/McCartney.

Other recent releases include Nancy Bachmann: What Shall I Sing Today? (ASR 2024), Dreamland: Songs by Garry Eister (ASR 2024), Nancy Bachmann: Wild Swans (Navona 2023), The Distance (ASR 2023) - a collaboration with Kev Choice to commemorate the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Don Walker: Some Women’s Voices (Albany, 2022) with pianist Karen Rosenak, 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. A complete discography is available HERE.

A Penchant for Premieres

Ann Moss has delivered premiere performances of significance across the United States, including the U.S. premiere of Jake Heggie’s orchestrated song cycle Newer Every Day: Songs for Kiri (2014, orchestrated in 2017); the west coast premiere of Kaija Saariaho's Leino Songs (orchestra version, 2007); the west coast premiere of Henri Dutilleux's Le temps l’horloge for Soprano and Orchestra (2007); east and west coast premieres of Newer Every Day: Songs for Kiri (2014) by Jake Heggie; the U.S. premiere of Sivan Eldar's You'll Drown Dear for solo voice and electronics; the world and east coast premieres of A Line Becomes a Circle (2016) by Miya Masaoka; world premieres of Gaman (2018) by Christophe Chagnard and Wilderness Mute (2017) by Keiko Fujiie for Seattle-based Music of Remembrance; the world premiere of Hard Stones (2018) composed for Moss by Griffin Candey to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing; the world premiere of Madrigals for the Seasons (2018) composed for Moss by David Conte; the world premiere of Finite Differences (2016) composed for Moss by Kenneth Froelich; the world premiere of Regrets Only (2015) for soprano and cello composed for Moss by John Grimmett; 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, Liam Wade, Weslie Brown, Vartan Aghababian, Jared Redmond, Sanford Dole 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 University of Michigan Composition Department, Fresno State University Composers’ Guild, San Diego State University Opera Department, graduate Composition and Writing students at UC Davis, and undergraduate composition and cocal students at Tennessee Tech University. She has led workshops and seminars about vocal composition and singer-composer collaboration at institutions including Boston University, 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 is on the Voice Faculty at Groton Hill Music Center, serves as Resident Vocal Instructor at the Berkeley Jesuit Institute of Theology of Santa Clara University, and is a former voice instructor at University of California Berkeley. She has held extended Teaching-Artist Residencies at University of California Davis, San Diego State University, CSU Summer Arts Composer/Performer Collaboration Workshop, Tennessee Tech University, 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 topics of vocal composition and interpretation of contemporary vocal music at institutions including Boston University, MIT, NYU Tisch School For The Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Sacramento State University, Fresno State University, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley 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 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 husband and multi-instrumentalist Justin Ouellet. She has participated in masterclasses with esteemed artists including Jose Van Dam, Nathan Gunn, Graham Johnson, Martin Katz, Jake Heggie, John Harbison, Craig Smith, and Barbara Kilduff. She attended the internationally renowned Songfest program for two summers. Private teachers include Sheri Greenawald, Wendy Hillhouse, Anna Gabrieli and Rodney Gisick; coaches include Steven Bailey, Brian Moll and Paul Hersh.

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, passionate teaching artist, and champion of contemporary vocal music. Described as a "fearless performer” of some of the most challenging music of the last two hundred years, Ann’s artistic mission is to lift up contemporary vocal literature to serve as narrative for the hard to speak about issues of our times. In addition to collaborating with a dynamic array of well-known composers such as Jake Heggie, Kaija Saariaho, John Harbison and Aaron Jay Kernis, Ann eagerly seeks out and performs music by emerging and under-represented voices at forums and festivals across the USA. A twice-elected Governor of the SF Chapter of the Recording Academy, Ann shares the organization’s commitment to promoting diversity & inclusion, advocating for creators rights, protecting musicians in need, and saving music in our schools. Her 2022 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 first two portrait albums Currents (2013) and Love Life (2016) were recorded and produced by multi-GRAMMY® Award winner Leslie Ann Jones at Skywalker Sound. She can also be heard on releases from Albany Records, Angels Share Records, Arsis Audio, Jaded Ibis Productions, Naxos, Navona Records and Ravello Records.
Ann Moss has participated in the creation and premiere of over two hundred new art songs, vocal chamber and operatic works. She has been a featured soloist with organizations and ensembles including San Francisco Symphony, SF Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Without Borders, West Edge Opera, SF Contemporary Music Players, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Earplay, Eco Ensemble, After Everything Ensemble, Music of Remembrance, the Ives, Alexander, Lydian and Hausmann String Quartets, FENAM, CNMAT, CCRMA, Other Minds, Hot Air and Switchboard Music Festivals. Moss has lectured about vocal composition at institutions including Boston University, MIT, UC Davis, NYU Tisch School For The Arts and Sacramento State University, and has given vocal masterclasses at University of Houston Moores School of Music, University of Texas San Antonio, San Diego State University, Tennessee Tech University and Baldwin-Wallace University Conservatory, among others. A native of Lincoln, MA and a graduate of Hampshire College, the Longy School of Music of Bard College, and San Francisco Conservatory, she divides her time between her work in the San Francisco Bay Area and her home in Boston with husband and multi-instrumentalist Justin Ouellet. Ann is a Reiki practitioner, enthusiastic Yogi, and pursues a lifelong interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Highlights of Moss’s 2024-25 season include Mystics & Visionaries— a program spanning ten centuries, curated with multi-instrumentalist Justin Ouellet for the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, ME; the West Coast premiere of Epithets by Kate Soper with After Everything Ensemble; the World Premiere of All Is Beauty by Sanford Dole with Bay Choral Guild & Jubilate Baroque Orchestra; the world premiere of Songs of Self by Vartan Aghababian at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel; and the worldwide release of her third portrait album Now I Am.