WHISTLING HENS
BIOGRAPHIES
Praised for singing with “passion and emotional depth” (Richmond Times-Dispatch), soprano Jennifer Piazza-Pick has performed with the Nationaltheater Mannheim, Germany as well as with US military bands in Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania. In the US, she has performed with Opera Piccola of San Antonio, the Princeton Festival, Ithaca Opera, Long Beach Opera, Cincinnati Opera, the Princeton Festival, the Charlottesville Symphony, and at Carnegie Hall. She has also performed with the Richmond and Alamo City Ballet companies, Oregon Bach Festival, Virginia Chorale, San Antonio Chamber Choir, Bach in Baltimore, and in concert series throughout the country.
Known for her expressiveness as a performer, Jennifer focuses on engaging audiences with concert experiences that resonate in the imagination. Her clear diction and sensitive interpretations allow audiences to engage with the text, helping listeners connect to their past, present, and future shared humanity.
Dr. Piazza-Pick has premiered works by Liam Wade, James MacMillan, Eric Whitacre, Kevin Salfen, Cherise Leiter, Ashi Day, Diana Rosenblum, and Dannielle McBryan, including settings of poetry by San Antonio’s poet laureate, Camen Tafolla. Jennifer’s musical curiosity has led to research on women composers, which has been presented at the International Music by Women Festival, Darkwater Women in Music Festival, and the Women Composers Festival of Hartford.
Collaborating with other artists is another of Jennifer’s passions. She has performed with Alamo City Ballet and the Richmond Ballet, as well as with dancers and poets for individual projects, including Maryland's Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri. She regularly performs vocal chamber music and co-founded the chamber ensemble Whistling Hens, which champions music by women composers.
The winner of Hawaii Public Radio’s art song contest, Dr. Piazza-Pick was also a finalist for the American Prize in the women’s art song division and the winner of the George Cortes Award for Classical Singing by the Artist Foundation of San Antonio. Her work has been featured on NPR and the TV show Virginia Currents.
Jennifer recently completed her doctoral degree at the University of Maryland, College Park with Martha Randall. She is currently Lecturer in Voice and Aural Skills at Georgia College and State University and teaches online for GreenSpring International Academy of Music.
Dr. Natalie Groom is a clarinetist, educator, composer, and arts manager in Maryland. In 2021 she joined the faculty at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County as Affiliate Artist of Clarinet; assumed a role as the newly appointed Music Director of the Davies Concert Series, ushering in their 50th anniversary season; and became a voting member of the GRAMMY Recording Academy. She recently finished her tenure as an Artist in Residence at Collington Retirement Community where she responded to the pandemic with a virtual concert series that brought essential programming to isolated seniors.
A few of Natalie’s performance career highlights include being a featured soloist with the White Mountain Symphony Orchestra and performing at The Kennedy Center, New World Center, The Anthem, Phillips Collection, Austrian and Spanish Embassies, and Goethe-Institut. She has toured China with the Fred Fox Quintet and performed with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, Baltimore Symphony Youth Ensemble, Annapolis Symphony, Annapolis Opera, Tucson Symphony, and Symphony of the Potomac.
As a committed educator and academic, she has conducted numerous clarinet choirs and taught Applied Clarinet, Chamber Music, Rock and American Popular Music, and Business Communications at the University of Maryland, College Park and University of Arizona. She regularly gives masterclasses and presentations around the country for organizations such as the Yale School of Music, American University, Washington National Opera and National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institutes, and Virginia, Maine, and New Hampshire All State Clinics. Her publications include three reports in the International Clarinet Association journal and five sheet music publications. She is the co-inventor of the new single reed micrometer, Reed Mapper, on which she wrote her dissertation titled An Analysis of Commercial Single Reed Micrometers and the Invention of a New Manual Single Reed Micrometer.
While COVID-19 has put live performance on pause for many, Natalie remains musically engaged working as the Manager of Advancement Operations and Analytics at Washington Performing Arts, a leading arts presenting nonprofit in D.C. Prior to this role, she was an audio engineer, producer, and manager for virtual and live programs at Arts Laureate, a Baltimore-based classical music recording company, and worked on projects with LA Opera, “The President’s Own” Marine Band, LA Master Chorale, Yale School of Music, Manhattan Concert Productions, and many more outstanding groups.
As a composer/arranger, Natalie’s music has been performed at the Mississippi Music by Women Festival, University of Maryland, College Park, The Anthem, and the Smithsonian American History museum. In 2022, April 22nd for solo clarinet will be featured in the International Clarinet Association Journal. Judith Shatin, composer and Professor Emerita at the University of Virginia, said of Natalie’s solo clarinet works, “You create such an effective dialogue between registers, and flow between them, with such varied ways of handling them!”
Natalie Groom earned her D.M.A. at the University of Maryland, College Park, M.B.A. and M.M. at the University of Arizona, and B.M. at Kent State University where she studied with Robert DiLutis, Jerry Kirkbride, Dennis Nygren, Amitai Vardi, Jackie Glazier, and Joseph Minocchi.
COLLABORATORS
Ying-Shan Su completed her Doctor of Musical Arts in collaborative piano from the University of Maryland, where she studied with Rita Sloan. She has received the Government Scholarship to Study Abroad from Taiwan’s Ministry of Education to pursue this degree. After completing her master’s degree at Lee University where she was a Young Musician Scholar, she served as a staff pianist and faculty member. Ying-Shan Su holds another master’s degree from National Chiao Tung University, where she was a teaching assistant for music research courses. Her bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance and Music Education was earned at National Taiwan Normal University. She has participated in master classes with well-known performers, including violinist Augustin Hadelich, pianist Gilbert Kalish, soprano Tamara Wilson, and pianist Jonathan Feldman. She has also performed at festivals such as the Women Composers Festival of Hartford, the Music by Women Festival, and the National Collegiate Choral Organization National Conference.