CLARA OSOWSKI, Mezzo-Soprano
Mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski, praised for singing “from inside the music with unaffected purity and sincerity” (The Telegraph, UK), is an acclaimed soloist and chamber musician performing throughout the United States and Europe.
Highlights of Clara’s 2026/2027 season include appearances with the Minnesota Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah, Music of the Baroque in Chicago for Bach’s Mass in B Minor, and the Kansas City Symphony in Messiah, all under the direction of Dame Jane Glover. She also performs Messiah with Portland Baroque Orchestra, Vaughan Williams’s Hodie with the Chorus of Westerly, Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Baroque Music Montana, Verdi’s Requiem with the Huntsville Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection” with the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, a program of arias from Bizet’s Carmen with the Mississippi Valley Orchestra, and appears with Sparks & Wiry Cries in New York. In August 2026, BIS Records releases her recording of Schubert lieder with pianist Timothy Lovelace.
Recent seasons have brought Clara to many of North America’s leading orchestras, festivals, and concert presenters. She made her London debut at Wigmore Hall and appeared with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque in Handel’s Jephtha, subsequently released on disc. She has performed as soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, Master Chorale of South Florida, Seattle Bach Festival, and numerous other ensembles in repertoire including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C Minor, Verdi’s Requiem, Pärt’s Stabat Mater, Copland’s Old American Songs, and Vivaldi cantatas and arias.
On the operatic stage, Clara has appeared as Florence Pike in Britten’s Albert Herring with Minnesota Opera, Baba the Turk in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at the NDSU Chamber Music Festival, and Ulrike in Kristina by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus with VocalEssence. An active recitalist, she has appeared with the Schubert Club, Salastina, LyricFest, the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival, and numerous universities and concert series throughout the United States.
An internationally recognized interpreter of song literature, Clara received the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society Prize at the 2019 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition for the best performance of English song by a British composer. In 2017, she became the first American prize winner at Thomas Quasthoff’s International Das Lied Competition in Heidelberg, Germany, earning Second Prize and the Richard Tauber Prize for her interpretation of Schubert. Additional honors include prizes at the Concours musical international de Montréal, the Houston Saengerbund Competition, and the Bel Canto Chorus Regional Artists Competition.
A dedicated educator, Clara has presented masterclasses and residencies at universities and festivals across the country, including the Aspen Music Festival’s Professional Choral Institute and Indiana State University’s Contemporary Music Festival. She holds degrees from North Dakota State University and the University of Iowa, was named a 2018–2019 McKnight Artist Fellow for Musicians, and currently serves as Artistic Director of the Source Song Festival in Minneapolis–Saint Paul.
TIMOTHY LOVELACE, Piano
Pianist and conductor Timothy Lovelace directs the Collaborative Piano program at the University of Minnesota and maintains an active international career as a recitalist and collaborator. He has appeared at major venues including Rio de Janeiro’s Sala Cecilia Meireles, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Merkin Concert Hall, as well as on prominent concert series across the United States. As a soloist, he has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä.
A sought-after collaborator, Lovelace has performed with artists such as Miriam Fried, Nobuko Imai, Robert Mann, Charles Neidich, Paquito D’Rivera, and Dawn Upshaw. He spent thirteen seasons as a staff pianist at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute, working closely with leading musicians including Barbara Bonney, Christoph Eschenbach, Thomas Hampson, Christa Ludwig, and Yo-Yo Ma.
As a conductor, he has led ensembles including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis. A dedicated advocate for new music, he has premiered works by composers such as John Harbison, Osvaldo Golijov, and Libby Larsen. He is also a published composer.
Lovelace’s recordings appear on Albany, Arabesque, Blue Griffin, Boston Records, MSR, and Naxos. His principal teachers include Harold Evans, Clifford Herzer, Gilbert Kalish, Donna Loewy, Gerhard Samuel, and Frank Weinstock. Music with a Bachelor of Music and studied with Robert Marcellus and Clark Brody.
