Masterworks 7 Season Finale: (Re)Discover the Ode to Joy

Joseph Giunta Conductor

One of America’s most distinguished, versatile and dynamic conductors, Joseph Giunta is a musician of international acclaim. He is recognized as an important American conductor for his innovative programming and for his compelling interpretations of traditional and new music. His musical depth combined with his boundless energy and contagious enthusiasm makes him one of the most respected and successful orchestra leaders in the United States.

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Hannah Ludwig Mezzo-Soprano

Hailed by the New York Times as “best in show” with her “tone chocolaty and large, yet with focus and agility,” mezzo-soprano Hannah Ludwig made her debut with the New York Philharmonic singing Handel’s Messiah in 2023. Ludwig is no stranger to the stage, though. In recent years, she has performed with a variety of orchestras and opera companies, including performances with the Columbus Symphony, the Flint Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, Opera Louisiane, Opera Delaware, and Baltimore Concert Opera, among many others.

Ms. Ludwig is a graduate of the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts. She won second place in the 2018 Loren L Zachary Society for the Performing Arts Vocal Competition. She has received encouragement awards from the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Gulf Coast Region, and the Licia Albanese-Puccini International Vocal Competition. She is also a grant winner of the Giulio Gari Vocal competition. 

Prior to attending the Academy of Vocal Arts, Ms. Ludwig received her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of the Pacific.

Michelle Bradley Soprano

Michelle Bradley, a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, is garnering great acclaim as one of today’s most promising Verdi sopranos. In recent years, she has performed across the country, including Opera debuts with the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Tanglewood, the San Diego Opera, Boston Baroque, the Houston Grand Opera, and multiple performances with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, among many others. In addition to her many opera roles, she has also performed with Orchestras, including the Baltimore Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Boston Symphony, and more.

Ms. Bradley is the 2017 recipient of the Leonie Rysanek Award from the George London Foundation, the 2016 recipient of the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award, and a first-place winner in the Gerda Lissner and the Serge and Olga Koussevitzky vocal competitions. She is the 2014 grand prize winner of The Music Academy of the West’s Marilyn Horne Song Competition. Ms. Bradley received her Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from Bowling Green State University.

Issachah Savage Tenor

Issachah Savage has firmly established himself as one of today’s most impressive young heldentenors, making recently acclaimed debuts as Siegmund in Die Walküre with Opéra National de Bordeaux conducted by Paul Daniel, as Froh in Das Rheingold with The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, as Tӓnnhauser at the Los Angeles Opera, conducted by James Conlon and as Bacchus in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos at both Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse under Evan Rogister, and at the Seattle Opera under Lawrence Renes.

Issachah Savage has performed Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with many major orchestras and conductors, including Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Xian Zhang and the San Francisco Symphony, Gianandreas Noseda and the National Symphony Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden and the New York Philharmonic, Fabio Luisi and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo Gimeno and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others.

In addition to his great competition success in Seattle, Issachah Savage has received a number of prestigious awards, recognition, and career grants from institutions including the Wagner Societies of New York, Washington DC, and Northern California, Licia Albanese International Puccini Foundation, Olga Forrai and Gerda Lissner Foundations and he was honored in the early stages of his career development as the first ever ‘Scholar Artist’ of the Marian Anderson Society of Philadelphia.

Kevin Deas Bass-Baritone

Kevin Deas has gained international renown as one of America’s leading bass-baritones. He is most acclaimed for his signature portrayal of the title role in Porgy and Bess, having performed it with the Des Moines Metro Opera, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, as well as the most illustrious orchestras on the North American continent, and at the Ravinia, Vail and Saratoga festivals. In addition, he has performed with orchestras and opera companies around the country, including the Vermont Symphony, Mobile Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Houston Symphony, Boston Baroque, and Opera Atlanta, among others.

A strong proponent of contemporary music, Kevin Deas was heard at Italy’s Spoleto Festival in a new production of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors in honor of the composer's eighty-fifth birthday, recorded on video for international release. He also performed the world premiere of Derek Bermel’s The Good Life with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Hannibal Lokumbe’s Dear Mrs. Parks with the Detroit Symphony. His twenty-year collaboration with the late jazz legend Dave Brubeck has taken him to Salzburg, Vienna and Moscow in performances of To Hope! He performed Brubeck’s Gates of Justice in a gala performance in New York.