Isidore & Helen Sacks Memorial Prize-winner Tessa Romano (Princeton Class of 2013), mezzo-soprano, presents a recital free and open to all titled “Primari Qolors On Love.” She is joined by flutist Elisa Muzzillo, pianist Daniel Espie, and poet Rushi Vyas. Romano and Muzzillo formed their duo Primari Qolors in fall of 2018 after a very successful first performance at their shared graduate alma mater: the University of Colorado Boulder. As an ensemble, Primari Qolors is dedicated to commissioning and performing new music for flute and voice. This recital is their official debut as a chamber duo.
A native of Syracuse, New York, mezzo-soprano Tessa Romano received her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado Boulder, her MMus in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, and her AB in Italian from Princeton University. Tessa has held opera fellowships at the Aspen Opera Center and CU New Opera Workshops. Past awards include First Place in the Florida Grieg Voice Competition, Winner of The Art of Art Song Competition, and Winner of the Franco-American Vocal Academy’s Grand Concours Prize. She has been a soloist with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, American Handel Society Festival, and Boulder Bach Festival. Currently, Tessa resides in Brooklyn, New York where she is established as a freelance singer and voice teacher, as well as a USA Choral Scholar with VOCES8 with whom she tours the country. She has studied with Jennifer Bird-Arvidsson, Freda Herseth, Christopher Arneson, Richard Lalli, and Helen Boatwright.
Elisa Muzzillo is a flutist in the Philadelphia area where she enjoys a career of performing and teaching music alike. She earned a BMus in Flute Performance at Temple University and a MMus in Flute Performance at the University of Colorado Boulder. During her time at Temple, Elisa was a private flute instructor for the Community Music Scholars program for the Temple University Preparatory Division. She has also taught at the Nelly Berman School of Music in Haverford, PA, and as a private instructor in Boulder, CO. Elisa has performed nationwide in renowned music festivals and orchestras such as the Aspen Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, Pierre Monteux School & Festival, the Music Academy International festival in Siena, Italy, the Longmont Symphony Orchestra, and the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra in Wyoming. Currently, Elisa lives in West Philadelphia where she works as a freelance flutist, and a certified Suzuki Flute Instructor with the Flute & Friends Suzuki Music Academy. Elisa’s primary teachers include Christina Jennings, Brook Ferguson, Adeline Tomasone, and Ronna Ayscue.
