Clara Osowski
Founder & Artistic Director
clara@sourcesongfestival.org
Mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski, who sings "from inside the music with unaffected purity and sincerity" (UK Telegraph), is an active soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Europe. Recognized for her excellence in Minnesota, Clara was a recipient of the prestigious 2018-2019 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Musicians administered by MacPhail Center for Music. Clara was the first ever American prize winner at Thomas Quasthoff’s Das Lied Competition, and has won both Franz Schubert and Ralph Vaughan Williams prizes at the Wigmore Hall Song Competition. Most recently she won the Radio-Canada People’s Choice Award and third place in the song division at the 2018 Concours Musical International de Montréal. Her most recent debuts include concerts and productions with Minnesota Opera, Kansas City Symphony, Handel and Haydn Society, Music of the Baroque, and her Wigmore Hall debut Recital with Julius Drake. Photography by Steven Garcia.
Dr. Juan Carlos Mendoza
Education Director
juancarlos@sourcesongfestival.org
A native of Muscatine, Iowa, Dr. Juan Carlos Mendoza has made a name for himself as a performer and educator over the past decade across opera and concert stages. As a recitalist, he regularly performs throughout the Midwest, programming the Spanish-language vocal music of Latin America, including composers such as Manuel M. Ponce, Salvador Moreno, and Carlos Guastavino. His research of this repertoire led to the production of his debut album with pianist Jessica Monnier, Finding A Voice: Mexican Song Cycles After 1920 (MSR Classics MS 1772), which highlights song cycles from México following the Mexican Revolution. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera at the University of South Dakota where he teaches applied voice, diction, song literature, and directs and produces the fall operas. Mendoza received a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Arts degree from The University of Iowa, a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School, and he is also a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) and the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).
Dr. Shari Feldman
Operations Director
admin@sourcesongfestival.org
Dr. Shari Eve Feldman, soprano, is happiest when collaborating with colleagues at Source Song Festival. She is passionate about all things musical, especially chamber music literature, the interpretation of avant garde repertoire in performance, and the interdisciplinary power of the arts and humanities in action.
Shari is a teaching artist in the DMV area with global singing credentials, having performed across the United States, Europe, and Asia. She currently lives in Washington D.C. and supports her musical passions by singing for the Riderwood Jewish Community, teaching music literature classes through Prince George’s Community College, and serving on the Junior Board of the Washington Performing Arts organization.
Shari loves working with composers on new art song literature and commissioning repertoire that speaks to music’s purpose as a storytelling vehicle and form of self-expression. She is the co-founder, with fellow Source Song Festival alumna, Mackenzie Lyn Marr, of the Evelyn Duo, a musical teaching artist ensemble whose mission is to uplift women’s voices in song.