Celebrated as a “luminary in the world of chamber music and art song” (Huffington Post), Tony Arnold is internationally acclaimed as a leading proponent of contemporary music in concert and recording as a “convincing, mesmerizing soprano” (Los Angeles Times) who “has a broader gift for conveying the poetry and nuance behind outwardly daunting contemporary scores” (Boston Globe). Her unique blend of vocal virtuosity and communicative warmth, combined with wide-ranging skills in education and leadership were recognized with the 2015 Brandeis Creative Arts Award, given in appreciation of “excellence in the arts and the lives and works of distinguished, active American artists.”

A strong advocate for the creation and commissioning of new music, Tony Arnold’s artistry has attracted the most gifted composers of our time. Her extensive repertory includes major works written for her voice by Georges Aperghis, George Crumb, Brett Dean, Jason Eckardt, Gabriela Lena Frank, Josh Levine, George Lewis, David Liptak, Philippe Manoury, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Christopher Theofanidis, Amy Williams, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, and numerous others. She has premiered hundreds of new works by established and emerging composers, often as part of extended educational residencies at universities across the United States. Arnold is a member of the intrepid International Contemporary Ensemble and enjoys regular guest appearances with leading ensembles, presenters, and festivals worldwide, including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Ensemble Modern, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

With more than 40 discs to her credit, Arnold has recorded a broad segment of the modern vocal repertory with esteemed chamber music colleagues. Her recording of George Crumb’s iconic Ancient Voices of Children (Bridge) received a 2006 Grammy nomination, and her recording with ICE of Nathan Davis’s On the Nature of Thingness (Starkland) was named Best Contemporary Classical Album at the 2016 Independent Music Awards. Her long association with György Kurtág has yielded landmark recordings of the Kafka Fragments (Bridge) with violin virtuoso Movses Pogossian, and the Sayings of Peter Bornemisza (BMC Records) with pianist Gábor Csalog. She has also recorded extensively with her longtime collaborator pianist Jacob Greenberg on the Bridge, New Focus, and Naxos labels in the music of Webern, Messiaen, Carter, Wolpe, and Schoenberg. Of the Webern, The Guardian writes, “sung with remarkable poise and warmth by soprano Tony Arnold…each [song] is a perfectly etched miniature, a nugget of impacted lyricism, and Arnold unwraps them with immense care.”

Tony Arnold is a graduate of Oberlin College and Northwestern University. She is a first prize laureate of the 2001 Gaudeamus International Interpreters Competition and the 2001 Louise D. McMahon Recital Competition, both in collaboration with pianist Greenberg. She is currently Associate Professor of Voice at the Peabody Conservatory where she leads the innovative Opera Etudes program, which fosters deep collaborations between Peabody’s student composers and vocalists. During the summer, she serves as the Donald and Laurie Peck Master Teacher on the vocal arts faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center.

Growing up in suburban Baltimore, Tony Arnold composed, sang and played every instrument she could persuade her parents to let her bring home, but never intended to become a professional vocalist. Instead, she applied her varied musical background to the study of orchestral conducting. Following graduate school, she was twice a fellow of the Aspen Music Festival (as both conductor and singer), and she enjoyed success as the music director of several orchestras in the Chicago area. In her early thirties, Tony Arnold reconnected with her love of singing, and discovered a special ability for making the most complex vocal music accessible to every audience. Having been inspired by many mentors, she is especially indebted to the teaching of sopranos Carmen Mehta and Carol Webber, conductors Robert Spano and Victor Yampolsky, and composer György Kurtág.

Watch a Master Class given by Tony Arnold to students of the Manhattan School of Music, as part of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s public master class series:
youtu.be/JKirYuFwMw8

Watch recent performances by Tony Arnold:

Fridays with the Faculty
facebook.com/reel/459652423068153

Claude Debussy: Harmonie du Soir
Juho Pohjonen, piano
tinyurl.com/38df6rf4

Charles Ives: Housatonic at Stockbridge
Gil Kalish, piano
tinyurl.com/mpsm26ev

Dmitri Shostakovich: Seven Romances of Alexander Blok
Yellow Barn Music Festival
youtu.be/ntEnUxgWoIs

George Crumb: Ancient Voices of Children
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
tinyurl.com/dww3cku5

Listen to a podcast interview where Tony Arnold talks about her musical journey and exploration as a performer of contemporary classical music: The Visceral Voice Podcast
tinyurl.com/2s44m59v