Biography
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Colombian-American soprano Stephanie Lamprea is an architect of new sounds and expressions as a performer, recitalist, curator, composer, and improviser, specializing in contemporary-classical repertoire. Trained as an operatic coloratura, Stephanie uses her voice as a mechanism of avant-garde performance art, creating “maniacal shifts of vocal production and character… like an icepick through the skull” (composer Jason Eckardt). She has been praised by Opera News for "her iconoclasm and fearless commitment to new sounds" and for her "impressive display of extended vocal techniques, in the honorable tradition of such forward-looking artists as Bethany Beardslee, Cathy Berberian and Joan La Barbara." Her work has been described as “mercurial” by I Care If You Listen, "dynamic" by critic Steve Smith (Night After Night), and that she “sings so expressively and slowly with ever louder and higher-pitched voice, that the inclined listener [has] shivers down their back and tension flows into the last row." (Halberstadt.de) She has received awards from the Concert Artist Guild, St. Botolph Club Foundation, the John Cage Orgel Stiftung in Halberstadt, Germany, and the Puffin Foundation. Stephanie was a featured TEDx Speaker for TEDxWaltham: Going Places.
Stephanie devours mammoth works of virtuosity and extended techniques with ease and creative insight, singing with an entire spectrum of vocal colors (including operatic style, straight tone, sputters and throat noises) and performing in the classical, jazz, avant-garde and interdisciplinary fields. She has performed as a soloist at Roulette Intermedium (New York City), Constellation Chicago, Sound Scotland, Southbank Centre (London), the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, National Sawdust (NYC), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the National Concert Hall (Dublin), the Centre for Contemporary Art (Glasgow), the Hidden Door Festival (Edinburgh), and the Casa da Música (Porto). She has collaborated with several leading new music ensembles and bands including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wavefield Ensemble, the City of London Sinfonia, So Percussion, Red Note Ensemble, Talujon, Guerilla Opera, and Post Coal Prom Queen. |
A prolific recording artist, Stephanie released her debut solo album, Quaking Aspen, in 2022 on New Focus Recordings. Featuring new works for voice and electronics by Jason Eckardt, Wang Lu, Kurt Rohde, Hannah Selin, George N. Gianopoulos, and James May, the album was hailed by PopMatters.com as "a bold artistic statement that’s exciting and innovative... a magical, intense, and deeply satisfying journey," while BBC Radio 3's Corey Mwamba highlighted the "wonderful layering between the synths and the overdubbed voices, and the voice that was reciting the poetry, the melody as it moved very sinuously through all sorts of keys and modes, really drew the ear in." She released her second solo album, a complete recording of Georges Aperghis' 14 Recitations, in 2023; the album was described as a "tour-de-force... sportive vocal adventure of impressive proportions," (Concerti.de), "performance art of the highest caliber," (PopMatters.com), and a record in which "virtuosity is complemented by total commitment and vivid imagination." (Bandcamp.com). Previous to these discs, she spearheaded Unaccompanied: Tiny Works for Quarantine, a project produced from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this project, she commissioned and premiered over 50 new works for solo voice by composers across the globe and released recordings of the works over four collections on Bandcamp. ClevelandClassical.com wrote that the collections "find composers thriving within the constraints of extreme brevity, and Lamprea carving sublime, beautiful, comic, and haunting scenes of isolation that come to life upon pressing play." Stephanie has also lent her voice to albums Becoming a Landscape (Juan Calderon), Music for First Contact (Post Coal Prom Queen), Postcards (Alistair MacDonald and Stephanie Lamprea) Clever Machines and Late Night Banter (Aaron Jay Myers), Someone Who Loves You Throws Me at You (Julia Werntz), and False Tongues (Niffin).
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As a composer and multi-disciplinary artist, Stephanie has been commissioned to compose new works for voice and electronics, as well as concert-length multi-disciplinary works, by the Edinburgh Futures Institute and the Hidden Door Festival. She has performed recitations and vocal improvisations in Dora Garcia’s exhibition Love With Obstacles at the Rose Art Museum in Waltham, MA, created choreographed performances of George Aperghis’ 14 Recitations at Roulette Intermedium and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and she lent her recorded voice and improvisations to Diemut Strebe’s The Prayer, a multimedia machine on display at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France. An advocate especially for female artists and composers, Stephanie also curates and performs Women Take The Floor, an ongoing recital series featuring musical works by 20th/21st century female composers which has been presented at Constellation Chicago, the University of California at Davis, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
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As a passionate educator and speaker, Stephanie has taught and performed in residency for the University of California at Davis, City University of New York, Temple University, University of Leeds, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Clark University, Bronx Community College, University of Central Florida, Arkansas State University, Northern Arizona University, and the Young Women Composers Conference, where she has given masterclasses to voice students, workshopped and premiered new works for composition students, and has given lecture recitals on avant-garde repertoire. She has presented artistic research of the modern classical voice for the Shared Narratives Conference in Scotland, the EPARM Conference at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the Xperimus Conference at the Casa da Musica in Porto, Portugal.
Stephanie was born in New York and grew up in San Antonio, Texas. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where she worked with Maitland Peters and Lucy Shelton. She received additional vocal training from Dr. Julian Kwok in operatic performance and from Anne-Liis Poll in improvisation. Her mentors have include Sarah Maria Sun and Eunbi Kim, the latter through the bespoken mentorship program. Stephanie is pursuing a Doctor of Performing Arts degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, under the supervision of composer and zoomusicologist Dr. Emily Doolittle, and co-supervised by Dr. Laura Gonzalez and Jean Sangster. Her research centers on the contemporary classical voice through extended techniques, multi-disciplinary performance, and vocal composition and improvisation via various eco-materialist perspectives.
Stephanie was born in New York and grew up in San Antonio, Texas. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where she worked with Maitland Peters and Lucy Shelton. She received additional vocal training from Dr. Julian Kwok in operatic performance and from Anne-Liis Poll in improvisation. Her mentors have include Sarah Maria Sun and Eunbi Kim, the latter through the bespoken mentorship program. Stephanie is pursuing a Doctor of Performing Arts degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, under the supervision of composer and zoomusicologist Dr. Emily Doolittle, and co-supervised by Dr. Laura Gonzalez and Jean Sangster. Her research centers on the contemporary classical voice through extended techniques, multi-disciplinary performance, and vocal composition and improvisation via various eco-materialist perspectives.
Short Bio
Colombian-American soprano Stephanie Lamprea is an architect of new sounds and expressions as a performer, recitalist, curator, and improviser, specializing in contemporary classical repertoire. Trained as an operatic coloratura, she uses her voice as a mechanism of avant-garde performance art, creating “maniacal shifts of vocal production and character… like an icepick through the skull” (Jason Eckardt). Stephanie has received awards from the Concert Artist Guild, St. Botolph Club Foundation, the John Cage Orgel Stiftung, the Puffin Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. She has performed as a soloist at Roulette Intermedium (New York City), Constellation Chicago, Sound Scotland, Southbank Centre (London), the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, National Sawdust (NYC), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the National Concert Hall (Dublin), the Centre for Contemporary Art (Glasgow), the Hidden Door Festival (Edinburgh), and the Casa da Música (Porto). She has collaborated with several leading new music ensembles and bands including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wavefield Ensemble, the City of London Sinfonia, So Percussion, Red Note Ensemble, Talujon, Guerilla Opera, and Post Coal Prom Queen. In 2022, Stephanie released her debut solo album, Quaking Aspen, on New Focus Recordings. Featuring new works for voice and electronics by Jason Eckardt, Wang Lu, Kurt Rohde, Hannah Selin, George N. Gianopoulos, and James May, the album was hailed by PopMatters.com as "a bold artistic statement that’s exciting and innovative... a magical, intense, and deeply satisfying journey." She released her second solo album, a complete recording of Georges Aperghis' 14 Recitations, in 2023; the album was described as a "tour-de-force... sportive vocal adventure of impressive proportions," (Concerti.de), "performance art of the highest caliber," (PopMatters.com), and a record in which "virtuosity is complemented by total commitment and vivid imagination." (Bandcamp.com) A passionate educator and speaker, Stephanie has taught and performed in residency for universities across the United States and Europe including the University of California at Davis, Temple University, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. She has presented her artistic research for the Wildflower Composers (USA), the European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (London), and the 2021 Shared Narratives Conference (Scotland), and she was a featured TEDx Speaker for TEDxWaltham: Going Places. http://www.stephanielamprea.com/
Colombian-American soprano Stephanie Lamprea is an architect of new sounds and expressions as a performer, recitalist, curator, and improviser, specializing in contemporary classical repertoire. Trained as an operatic coloratura, she uses her voice as a mechanism of avant-garde performance art, creating “maniacal shifts of vocal production and character… like an icepick through the skull” (Jason Eckardt). Stephanie has received awards from the Concert Artist Guild, St. Botolph Club Foundation, the John Cage Orgel Stiftung, the Puffin Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. She has performed as a soloist at Roulette Intermedium (New York City), Constellation Chicago, Sound Scotland, Southbank Centre (London), the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, National Sawdust (NYC), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the National Concert Hall (Dublin), the Centre for Contemporary Art (Glasgow), the Hidden Door Festival (Edinburgh), and the Casa da Música (Porto). She has collaborated with several leading new music ensembles and bands including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wavefield Ensemble, the City of London Sinfonia, So Percussion, Red Note Ensemble, Talujon, Guerilla Opera, and Post Coal Prom Queen. In 2022, Stephanie released her debut solo album, Quaking Aspen, on New Focus Recordings. Featuring new works for voice and electronics by Jason Eckardt, Wang Lu, Kurt Rohde, Hannah Selin, George N. Gianopoulos, and James May, the album was hailed by PopMatters.com as "a bold artistic statement that’s exciting and innovative... a magical, intense, and deeply satisfying journey." She released her second solo album, a complete recording of Georges Aperghis' 14 Recitations, in 2023; the album was described as a "tour-de-force... sportive vocal adventure of impressive proportions," (Concerti.de), "performance art of the highest caliber," (PopMatters.com), and a record in which "virtuosity is complemented by total commitment and vivid imagination." (Bandcamp.com) A passionate educator and speaker, Stephanie has taught and performed in residency for universities across the United States and Europe including the University of California at Davis, Temple University, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. She has presented her artistic research for the Wildflower Composers (USA), the European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (London), and the 2021 Shared Narratives Conference (Scotland), and she was a featured TEDx Speaker for TEDxWaltham: Going Places. http://www.stephanielamprea.com/