The Arizona Art Song Trio is a unique collaboration between Christine Graham, soprano, Robert Mills, piano, and Andrew Stuckey, baritone. Their first series of concerts feature tuneful and poignant gems by Cloud, Duparc, Mozart, Duke, Turina and Guridi. The breadth of repertoire and passionate skill of the artists make this a recital not to be missed
Christine Graham, soprano
Soprano Christine Graham has portrayed many of the standard coloratura roles, such as Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Konstanze and Blonde in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and The Queen of the Night from Die Zauberflöte. A native of Tucson, Arizona, she sang in Germany for almost two decades, her first performance being Mozart’s Mass in c Minor, and the most recent being Ariel in Henry Purcell’s The Tempest. In between, she gained a reputation as an interpreter of music from the 20th and 21st centuries, including lead roles in Peter Eötvös’ Love and Other Demons, Helmut Lachenmann’s Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern (Little Match Girl), and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. She was a two-time winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions at the district level, and winner of the Northwest Region, leading to the semi-finals in New York. She holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Music from Northern Arizona University, where she returned to join the faculty in 2016. She frequently collaborates with fellow faculty in chamber recitals and guest artists in Ensemble Flageolet, and has appeared with the NAU Wind Symphony, NAU Opera, Flagstaff Master Chorale, and Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra.
Robert Mills, piano
Dr. Robert Mills is a Clinical Associate Professor of Music and the vocal coach/accompanist for Arizona State University’s Lyric Opera. Dr. Mills holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Maryland, as well as a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Collaborative Studies from Arizona State University. Additionally, Dr. Mills holds a Juris Doctor from Brigham Young University. For nearly three years, Dr. Mills served as an assistant vocal coach and accompanist for the Opera Institute at Boston University. In 2005, he joined the faculty at the American Institute of Musical Studies Summer Program in Graz, Austria. Dr. Mills has collaborated with vocal artists, technicians and composers, such a Ingo Titze, Phyllis Curtain, Ariel Bybee, Isola Jones, and David Conte in concert, workshop and master class settings Dr. Mills has performed with the Baltimore Symphony, Phoenix Symphony and Mesa Symphony. He is a frequent guest artist with the Grammy Award-winning Phoenix Chorale and the Three Tenors of Mexico and is in high demand as a coach accompanist in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Dr. Mills concertizes throughout the United States as a collaborative pianist and has special affinity for contemporary American art song. Dr. Mills has premiered several vocal works by the American composers David Conte, Judith Cloud and Virko Baley. Dr. Mills can be heard on both the Summit Record and Canyon Records labels.
Andrew Stuckey, baritone
Andrew Stuckey’s opera and concert performances are widely acclaimed for their visceral power and rich beauty. Dr. Stuckey is a baritone whose many and varied roles speak to his accomplished voice and broad appeal. Roles on which Dr. Stuckey has put his unique stamp include Tonio in I Pagliacci, Iago in Otello, the title roles in Rigoletto and Falstaff (with the Festival lyrique en mer, France), Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Don Pizarro in Fidelio and the High Priest in Samson et Dalila. Recently, he premiered the role of DeLacey in Gregg Kallor’s setting of Frankenstein with Arizona Opera. He has interpreted these and other great leading roles for opera houses throughout the United States, including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, San Francisco Opera, as well as Santa Fe, Arizona (Phoenix, Tucson), Baltimore, Palm Beach, Portland, Augusta, Tulsa, Kansas City, St. Louis and Sarasota. He teaches Studio Voice, Diction and the History of Opera at the University of Arizona and has taught lessons and Master Classes in France, Mexico, Costa Rica and Italy as well as in the United States.
