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The American soprano, Andrea Folan, actually grew up in Germany. She has a degree in Voice Performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a degree in German Literature from Oberlin College. She did graduate work in performance practice at the Mannes College of Music. She completed her performance Master's Degree at Syracuse University with Helen Boatwright, and has had fellowships to Aston Magna and the Bach Aria Festival and Institute, and attended Oberlin's Baroque Performance Institute.
Andrea Folan enjoys a reputation as a versatile and exciting soprano, and is in demand not only as a solo recitalist and chamber musician, but also in oratorio and opera performances, with original instrument orchestras, as well as with contemporary ensembles. With extensive training and experience in performance practice, she has impressive early music credentials. She has interpreted works from Hildegard von Bingen's chants to English lute songs, Landini songs to George Frideric Handel arias and J.S. Bach cantatas. She has performed with period ensembles including the Publick Musick, the Folger Consort, NYS Baroque, Appolo’s Fire, and the Mannes Camerata, and is a regular soloist at Bach festivals. She made her Lincoln Center debut several years ago as a featured soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra in a rarely performed Haydn oratorio.
Andrea Folan considers the German Lied repertoire one of her special loves, and has appeared regularly both in the USA and abroad with acclaimed fortepianists, including Malcolm Bilson, Bart van Oort, Andrew Willis,Tom Beghin, and Kris Bezuidenhout in festivals and on recital series, including the Festival Flanders in Brugge, Belgium - a performance which was broadcast live on Belgian radio, at the Bard Festival, and at Jordan Hall in Boston.
Andrea Folan is also active with orchestras in the North East, performing frequent Messiah's and other large symphonic works with the Syracuse Symphony, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Erie Philharmonic, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Oratorio Society, to name but a few.
Recent performances include the Festival Flanders in Brugge, Belgium, broadcast live on Belgian radio; the Bard Music Festival; her Lincoln Center debut in New York City's Tully Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra in Haydn's oratorio, Il Ritorno di Tobias; and a performance at Jordan Hall in Boston.
Her solo discography includes "The Medieval Lady" on the Leonarda label, where she appears performing with various instrumental accompaniments; a recording of Haydn songs for Bridge Records; and Mendelssohn and Zelter songs for the Belgian label Eufoda. She recently recorded her first CD as alto soloist in Bach’s Four Lutheran Masses (BWV 233-236) in October 2004 with The Publick Musick in Rochester, NY.
Andrea Folan teaches voice at Cornell University. She is now adjunct voice faculty both at Syracuse and at Nazareth College. |
