Hailed for her artistry and “rich and radiant” voice (Urban Dial Milwaukee), Clara Osowski is an active soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Europe. Select opera credits include Ruth, (Pirates of Penzance), Venus (Venus and Adonis), Zita (Gianni Schicchi), Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), and Cavalier Ramiro (La finta giardiniera). She was a 2012 Metropolitan Opera National Council Upper-Midwest Regional Finalist, the winner of the 2014 Bel Canto Chorus Regional Artists Competition in Milwaukee, and recently named the runner-up in the 2016 Schubert Club Bruce P. Carlson Scholarship Competition. In 2017, Clara was the winner of the Houston Saengerbund Competition and became the first ever American prize winner when she placed second at Thomas Quasthoff’s International Das Lied Competition in Heidelberg, Germny. Clara received her Bachelor of Musical Arts degree with emphasis in Voice from North Dakota State University in 2008, and Master of Arts Degree in Voice from the University of Iowa in 2010.

Clara’s passion for contemporary music is exhibited in the song-cycles she has premiered by numerous composers with the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa, and her most recent collaborations with Linda Kachelmeier (Stars), Jeremy Walker (Alma Gentil), Linda Tutas Huagen (Gjendine’s Lullaby), Paul Rudoi (Midnight Songs) and James Kallembach (St. John Passion and Songs on Letters of John and Abigail Adams). As a recitalist, she recently completed the Vancouver International Song Institute, the International Workshop on the songs of Edvard Grieg in Bergen, Norway, and traveled to Tours, France to attend the Académie Francis Poulenc. She was also featured in the 2014 Baldwin-Wallace Art Song Festival, in Berea, Ohio. Numerous festivals have introduced Clara to a number of international artists and art-song masters, including Graham Johnson, Bernarda Fink, Felicity Lott, Francois Le Roux, Julius Drake, Irwin Gage, and Richard Stokes.

Active also as an educator, Clara has given masterclasses and convocations at several universities, including Syracuse University, Muhlenberg College, Concordia College, and North Dakota State University. She was also the guest artist in residence at Indiana State University’s 50th Contemporary Music Festival celebrating the music of Libby Larsen. Clara currently studies voice with Emma Small of Minneapolis and aspires to be as kind and as generous as Emma.

In addition to performing, Clara serves as the Associate Artistic Director of Source Song Festival, a week-long art song festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This festival strives to create and perform new art song, and cultivate an educational environment for students of song, including composers, vocalists, and collaborative pianists. The festival will be in its fifth season August 6-10th, 2018. In addition to her solo work, she participates in a number of ensembles, including Lumina Women’s Ensemble, the Rose Ensemble and Seraphic Fire. For more information, please visit www.sourcesongfestival.org.