Join us for an immersive musical experience that places you in the heart of the performance. Taking place in our intimate Studio space, The Sound Studio series brings you up close and personal with emerging classical performing artists.
The November concert,Verses in Song—featuring award-winning artists, pianist Enriqueta Somarriba and soprano, Maria Brea—revolves around the theme of music and poetry in four different languages. The program includes Henri Duparc's L’Invitation Au Voyage and Chanson Triste; Franz Liszt's Oh! quand je dors; Claude Debussy's De fleurs and De soir; Florence Price’s Bewilderment; Aaron Copland's (12 poems of Emily Dickinson): Heart We will Forget Him; Hugo Wolf's Die Spröde, Die Bekehrte, and Joaquín Turina's Poema en Forma de Canciones.
About the Artists
Pianist Enriqueta Somarriba thrives in a prolific and versatile international career, as a sought-after performer and music educator, performing regularly as a soloist and chamber musician in venues such as Carnegie Hall; Auditorio Nacional in Madrid; Organization of American States in Washington D.C.; Cervantes Institute of New York; Richardson Auditorium in Princeton; Roulette in Brooklyn; Sala dei Notari in Perugia, Italy; and in music festivals like the Festival de Música y Danza de Granada and Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical in Spain, and the CIBAR Festival in Veracruz, México.
As a soloist, Somarriba has performed with the Orquesta Andrés Segovia, Virtuosi Brunensis Orchestra, Orquesta Fórum Musikae, and Rutgers Symphonic Orchestra. Her performances have been broadcasted on Spanish National Radio, 98.7 WFMT Chicago, Veracruz Television-Radio, and she has recorded for MSR Classics the four-hand piano music by composer Paul Reale in collaboration with The Center for Musical Excellence. Somarriba also recently recorded as a soloist for the soundtrack of the Netflix feature film Dancing on Glass by composer Iván Palomares, which was nominated for the Spanish Film Academy Awards (‘Goyas’) in 2023. As a chamber musician, she performs regularly with members of the Metropolitan Opera and Philadelphia Orchestras.
With the mission to promote Ibero-American music in the U.S., Somarriba has delivered lecture-recitals with emphasis on new music by Spanish and Latin American composers in institutions like Cornell University, Manhattan School of Music, Rutgers University, Georgetown University, University of Michigan, and dozens of K-12 schools. She often includes in her programs music by living composers such as Benet Casablancas, Mercedes Zavala, Tania León, Roberto Sierra, Vijay Iyer, Catalina Mayorga, Teresa Catalán, Ricardo Lorenz, and Virginia Johnston. Somarriba has also dedicated research and efforts in bringing forth music by lesser-known composers who deserve more presence in concert programs, such as Isidro Maiztegui, Valerie Capers, Ruth Crawford-Seeguer, Joaquín NinCulmell, Rosa García-Ascot, Roberto Gerhard, Salvador Bacarisse, George Walker, and Julián Bautista.
A devoted educator, Somarriba currently holds the position of Director of Education at SpeakMusic Conservatory in NJ, where she focuses on developing music programs for a diverse community of students, while being part of the school’s piano faculty since 2015. She is an Official Steinway & Sons Educational Partner and a Board Member of the Piano Teachers Congress of New York.
Somarriba has earned degrees from the Madrid Royal Conservatory (B.M.), Chicago College of Performing Arts (M.M.), Manhattan School of Music (P.S.C.), and Rutgers University (D.M.A.), studying with Fernando Puchol, Solomon Mikowsky, and Min Kwon.
Maria Brea is one of Venezuela’s most acclaimed opera singers. As a youngster, Maria Brea learned folk music from her Cuatro-playing father. Today, the soprano is fast making a name for herself across North America. Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Opera (with ABT), Palais Garnier, David Koch Theater, and David Geffen Hall are just some of the prestigious stages the Juilliard grad has graced, where she has stunned audiences with her dazzling range and intoxicatingly lush tones.
In the 2024–25 season, Brea debuted with San Jose Opera as the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte and as Ana Maria in Héctor Armienta’s Zorro, with Opera San Jose and Arizona Opera. She will make her debut as Violetta in a concert version of Verdi’s La Traviata in New York City, as Mimì in La Bohème, and a Verdi and Verismo concert with the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra. She ends her 2024-25 season singing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the UN Symphony Orchestra in the 80th anniversary celebration of the United Nations in New York City.
Brea has performed Micaëla in Carmen at the Hogfish Festival in Maine, Clomiri in Handel’s Imeneo with Opera Essentia in New York City, and the 415 Baroque Ensemble. She gave a recital at the University of Notre Dame with pianist Dror Baitel and sang a Spanish adaptation of Handel’s Messiah with The Phoenix Symphony under Maestro Tito Muñoz. She returned to the role of Donna Anna with Vero Beach Opera and made her Canadian debut with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra performing Odaline de la Martínez’s Four Afro-Cuban Poems.
Brea represented Venezuela in Operalia, sang Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Tucson Symphony under José Luis Gomez, and performed Messiah at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York under Kent Tritle and with the Indianapolis Symphony. Her symphonic credits include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with both the Ann Arbor Symphony and the Boston Philharmonic under Benjamin Zander. She made her debut at the Schubert Club in a premiere by Reinaldo Moya with the Jasper Quartet and appeared in an all-Mozart program with the Amadeus Ensemble. She has sung Lucette in L’arbre Enchanté at the Hogfish Music Festival with Ryan McAdams, was a featured soloist with the American Spiritual Ensemble in New Orleans under Everett McCorvey, and debuted at The Metropolitan Opera in the American Ballet Theatre’s production of Like Water for Chocolate. Other notable performances include Norina in Don Pasquale with Barn Opera and Orff’s Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall with the Cecilia Chorus of New York under Mark Shapiro.
Brea represented Venezuela in the 2022 Operalia Competition, was a finalist in both the 2022 Paris Opera Competition and 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, and placed sixth in the Tenor Viñas Competition.
