Skye Shannon Savage, PhD

I am a mezzo-soprano with over 15 years of experience as a soloist specializing in early music. I also have extensive experience singing in chamber ensembles and symphonic choirs from Denver to New York City; from Berlin to St. Petersburg. In 2023 I founded Pro Fano, a small, NYC-based 4-6 voice ensemble focusing on Renaissance and Medieval music of Europe, although with occasional loving forays into Italian Madrigals and the Russian Orthodox tradition.

My musical experience consistently informs both my scholarship and my teaching practices. I have written analyses of avant-garde vocalists including Diamanda Galas and Kristin Hayter, and presented scholarly work on the Surrealist sounds of the musical project Die Form. As an instructor and event host, I bring in my many years of on-stage experience to my classrooms, creating an engaging, informative, and welcoming environment.

Selected Performance History

Guiseppe Verdi, Quatro Pezzi Sacri – Berliner Philharmonie (2024)
– With the Großer Chor of the Freie Universität Berlin, dir. Donka Miteva
 
Hildegard von Bingen, Ordo Virtutum – Part of the Operatic Feminisms Symposium, Columbia University, New York, NY (2023)
– Featured Soloist: “Anima”
 
“Songs of Sundrie Natures”  – Deutsches Haus, Columbia University, NY (2023)
– With Pro Fano vocal ensemble
– Director and Alto Soloist
– Repertoire including Tallis, Byrd, and Rachmaninoff
 
Hector Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust – Aspen Music Festival (2017)
– Semi-staged production with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra Chorus, dir. Robert Spano
 
Joseph Hayden, Lord Nelson Mass – Carnegie Hall (2017)
– With the Distinguished Concert Singers International, dir. Catherine Sailer
 
Guiseppe Verdi, Aida – Aspen Music Festival (2015)
– Semi-staged production with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra Chorus, dir. Robert Spano
 
Pyotr Illich Tchaikovsky, Moscow Cantata – Moscow State University (2013)
– With the St. Petersburg State University Student Choir

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Selected Ensembles