Meet the Artists
Christina Pier, soprano
Isabel Randall, mezzo-soprano
Jamison Lee Walker, tenor
Weston Hurt, bass
Peter Henderson, piano
Introducing Christina Pier
American soprano Christina Pier has been hailed by Opera News for her “big, gleaming soprano and impressive coloratura,” and has received great critical and audience acclaim for her work on opera and concert stages. Her 2018-19 season highlights include a performance of Carmen co-produced Opera Carolina and the Toledo Opera and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tallahassee Symphony. In the 2017-18 season Christina Pier was a soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in a return to the Missoula Symphony Orchestra and performed Handel’s Messiah with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem with Back Bay Chorale, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”) and Richard Strauss’ Trio from Der Rosenkavalier in a return to the Winston-Salem Symphony. She has also performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Roberto Abbado, and recitals under the auspices of the George London Foundation. She appears as a soloist on a recording of Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem, with David Hill and the BBC Singers on the Naxos label.
Introducing Isabel Randall, mezzo-soprano
Isabel is a civic-engaged opera singer from Rota, Spain, is passionate about making opera more accessible and performing contemporary works. She originated the role of Mable in Boston Opera Collaborative's world premiere of Courthouse Bells, a microopera focusing on African-American voting rights. Isabel also participated in a workshop for Damien Geter’s and Jessica Murphy Moo’s Loving v. Virginia, an opera based on the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case.
Known as "The Inquisitive Typist" in her poetry, Isabel collaborated with composer Ben Russman to transform her COVID-19 pandemic-themed poems into a song cycle titled "Five Short Pieces: The Inquisitive Typist," receiving the St. Botolph Club Foundation 2023 Emerging Artist Award in Music. Additional awards include First Place for the 2024 Thomas Music Study Club Voice Competition, the 2nd Prize Award for the 2023 Wilkinson Young Singers’ Fund and the Longy School of Music’s 2023 Roman Totenburg Artistry Award.
Although early in her career, Isabel has gained international and regional recognition within opera. She was finalist for the 2023-2025 SND Opera Studio at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava, Slovakia, and a finalist for the Eastern Region for the 2024 National Association of Negro Musicians Scholarship Competition for Voice. She has competed as a semifinalist in prestigious competitions such as the 2023 Benjamin Matthews Vocal Competition, the 2023 Annapolis Opera Voice Competition, and the 2022 Premiere Opera Foundation International Voice Competition (Virtual Rounds). Additionally, she was named the Alto Performance Winner for the 2022 Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra Collegiate Voice Competition.
Isabel performed opera repertory includes Alcina (Händel), Omar (Rhiannon Giddens & Michael Abels), Carmen (Bizet), The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev), Porgy & Bess (Gershwin), and Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart). In addition to opera, her concert repertory includes Messiah (Händel), The Ballad of the Brown King (Margaret Bonds), El Amor Brujo (Manuel de Falla), and most notably the North American premiere of Ēriks Ešenvalds’ St. Luke’s Passion conducted by Michael Slon.
Isabel was an Apprentice Artist at Des Moines Metro Opera in 2022 and 2023. She holds a Graduate Performance Diploma in Voice from Longy School of Music of Bard College, a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Azusa Pacific University and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Baylor University.
Introducing Jamison Lee Walker
Dr. Jamison Walker commands an impressive vocal range and an extensive repertoire. From opera and oratorio to musical theater and pops, Walker has performed in recital, opera, symphonic, and academic settings, nationally and internationally across the United States and in Europe and Asia.
Mr. Walker’s voice has evolved, over the past several years, toward a more dramatic bent. His most recent performance with his new repertoire includes Canio in Puccini’s Il Tabarro and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci with Opera in the Ozarks under the baton of Thomas Cockrell (summer 2016). Additional new roles in his repertoire include: Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème, Romeo in Gounod’s Romeo et Juiliette, Hoffman in Les contes d’Hoffman, Radames in Verdi's Aida, Tito in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Paul in Korngold's Die tote Stadt, and Parsifal in Wagner's Parsifal.
His early vocal years were spent with lighter tenor roles of Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and the Rossini leading tenor roles in Il Barbieri di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, and L’Italiana in Algeri. He has appeared with Augusta Opera, New World Opera, Florida Grand Opera, First Coast Opera, and Central Florida Lyric Opera and is frequently featured as an oratorio soloist in Handel’s Messiah, J. S. Bach’s Magnificat, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater.
Before completing his education, Mr. Walker served as a Counterintelligence Agent in the U. S. Army. He performed in over 400 venues as soloist for the Signal Center of Excellence at Fort Gordon with the Army Band. After completing a Vocal Performance degree at Stetson University, Mr. Walker was awarded a graduate assistantship in opera and studio voice at Florida State University, obtaining a Master of Music and a Doctor of Music in vocal performance. Dr. Walker has served on the faculties of Troy University, Stetson University, The Kaiwen School in Beijing, China, and has joined the Faculty of James Madison University in the fall of 2018 as an Assistant Professor of Voice.
Introducing Weston Hurt
photo: Jeff Roffman
During the 2023-2024 season, baritone Weston Hurt joins the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for the first time, covering Alvaro in Catan’s Florencia en el Amazonas. Last season featured several returns to signature roles, including Germont with Lyric Opera of Kansas City in their covid-postponed La Traviata, Scarpia with Arizona Opera in Tosca, and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with New Orleans Opera. On the concert stage, he joined Opera Roanoke for Britten’s War Requiem, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra for Verdi’s Requiem, and Madison Opera for their outdoor Opera in the Park concert.
In the 2021-2022 season, Mr. Hurt joined the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras in concerts of La traviata, and made his Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony debut with the Alabama Symphony. Notable opera engagements have included his role debut as the title character in Nabucco at Seattle Opera, his debut with New Orleans Opera as Germont in La traviata, his house and role debut with Houston Grand Opera as Scarpia in Tosca, his role debut as Iago in Otello with Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, and a return to Seattle Opera in another role debut as Talbot in Maria Stuarda. He has also appeared as Renato in Un ballo in maschera with Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, the title role of Rigoletto with New Orleans Opera, PORTopera and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, Scarpia in Tosca with Tulsa Opera and Nashville Opera, Germont in La traviata at the Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera San Antonio and Atlanta Opera, Ford in Falstaff at the Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, and Virginia Opera; Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at the Seattle Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, New York City Opera, Atlanta Opera, Berkshire Opera Festival and Opera Grand Rapids; Schaunard in La bohème at the Dallas Opera, Peter in Hansel and Gretel at the Portland Opera; Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor at Portland Opera, the Arizona Opera and Austin Lyric Opera; the Count in Le nozze di Figaro at Michigan Opera Theater, Frank in Die tote Stadt at the Dallas Opera, the New York City Opera and with Odyssey Opera; Baldassare in L’Arlesiana with the Opera Orchestra of New York, Creon in Cherubini’s Medea with Opera Omaha and John Peerybingle in I Grillo del Focolare with Teatro Grattacielo, and a performance of Der ferne Klang with the American Symphony Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall.
A prolific concert singer and recitalist, Mr. Hurt has performed in recitals sponsored by the prestigious Marilyn Horne Foundation in the United States, and has also performed in concert internationally, including a South American tour of performances of the Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem. Recent engagements have included appearances with the Nashville Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, and the Oratorio Society of New York in Carnegie Hall. His large repertoire includes such works as the Handel Messiah, Beethoven’s Ninth, the Fauré Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, the Bach Mass in B minor and Magnificat, the Mozart Mass in C minor and Coronation Mass, the Haydn Paukenmesse, and the Britten War Requiem, which he sang at Carnegie Hall.
A graduate of the prestigious Juilliard Opera Center, Mr. Hurt has received many notable vocal awards, including 1st place and the People’s Choice Award from the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, the Vienna Prize from the George London Foundation, and 1st Place in the 2003 Oratorio Society of New York Competition, as well as various awards from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Competition, Liederkranz Foundation, Metropolitan Opera National Council, Opera Index, and Palm Beach Opera Competition, and two career grants conferred by The Santa Fe Opera.
Introducing Peter Henderson
A versatile pianist, Peter Henderson is active as a performer in solo, chamber and orchestral settings. Henderson is currently Associate Professor of Music and Artist-in-Residence at Maryville University, where he has served on the faculty since 2005. In 2015, Henderson was appointed Principal Keyboardist of the Sun Valley Music Festival Orchestra. Prior to the 2023-24 season, Henderson was appointed to the Principal Keyboard position in the Saint Louis Symphony (SLSO) by Music Director Stéphane Denève.
During January and February 2016, Henderson was the piano soloist in the SLSO’s California tour performances of Olivier Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux étoiles… (From the Canyons to the Stars…). Critics described him as a “powerhouse soloist” (San Francisco Chronicle) and praised his Messiaen playing for its “intense focus and thrilling vibrancy” (San Jose Mercury News). A frequent ensemble keyboardist with the SLSO, Henderson also often delivers pre-concert lectures, introducing SLSO subscription concert programs from Powell Hall’s stage.
Henderson’s discography includes collaborations with violinist David Halen, flutist Mark Sparks, bass trombonist Gerry Pagano, violist Jonathan Vinocour, and soprano Marlissa Hudson. His most recent solo album is A Celebration of African Composers for Piano (AMP AGCD 2706, released 2017). In addition to his teaching and performing activities, Henderson occasionally composes music and works as a recording producer. His composition for trombone and piano entitled Rückblick (Looking Back) appears on Gerry Pagano’s album Solitude, released December 2018. Printed and electronic editions of the score of Rückblick were issued by Ascenda Music Publishing in early-2024.
Henderson is an advocate of new music, having given several premieres of solo piano and chamber works. He enjoys performing solo recitals exploring focused repertoire: during the 2011-12 season, he performed the thirty-two piano sonatas of Beethoven; in November and December 2012, he presented the complete piano works of Debussy; and in November 2013, he played Chopin’s twenty-seven études in a single concert.
Henderson holds the degree Doctor of Music from Indiana University, Bloomington, where his main piano instructor was Dr. Karen Shaw; he has also studied with Dr. Jay Mauchley at the University of Idaho. He and his wife Kristin Ahlstrom, the SLSO’s Associate Principal Second Violinist, live in Saint Louis with their lively, sweet beagle/terrier-mix, Zinni.