Juliet Petrus, soprano, is recognized for her effortless coloratura and is steadily making her mark as a versatile and captivating performer in the world of recital, concert and opera. She is in high demand in the United States and China as one of the few Western interpreters Chinese music. Ms. Petrus spent the summers of 2011 and 2012 with the acclaimed iSing Beijing program (now known as iSing International) working with famed Metropolitan-Opera bass, Hao Jiang Tian, and making her National Center for the Performing Arts debut in Beijing. This also led to her Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall debuts in 2013, as well as a tour of the US and Paris, France. In 2014, she made her solo recital debut with a concert of Chinese repertoire with pianist, Fugen Wei. She also recently returned as a guest artist with iSing International making her concert debuts in Hangzhou and Suzhou. In summer of 2015, she made her solo debut with the Shanghai Symphony. In fall of 2015, she released her first solo CD, A Great Distance: A Collection of Chinese and American Art Song. Singing traditional Western repertoire, Juliet frequently performs as the soprano soloist for Carmina Burana, most recently making her premiere to great acclaim with the St. Louis Symphony and Colorado Symphony. In 2016, she will sing Carmina again with the South Bend Symphony, and make her solo debut with the Kalamzoo Symphony as the soloist in the Fauré Requiem. She has sung with Austin Lyric Opera in Texas (Queen of the Night, The Magic Flute), Glimmerglass Opera (Eurydice, Orpheus in the Underwold, and La Musica, L’Orfeo; Young American Artist 2007 and 2008), Michigan Opera Theatre (Mrs. Nordstrom, A Little Night Music, Giannetta, L’elisir d’amore), Union Avenue Opera, St. Louis (Galatea, Acis and Galatea). Other recent performances include appearances with the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, South Bend Symphony, Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, Music of the Baroque, and Fulcrum Point New Music Orchestra in Chicago. As a result of her devotion to the study of Chinese music and language, in 2014 she was awarded a Confucius Institute scholarship to study Mandarin at Tongji University in Shanghai, China. In 2015, she returned again to Shanghai to study Mandarin as a scholarship student at Shanghai University. Juliet is a founding member of the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, devoted to the education and performance of art song, and proudly serves as the Assistant Director of Education and Programs. She has been also a teaching artist for both Lyric Opera of Chicago and City Colleges of Chicago since 2008. Ms. Petrus is also an accomplished violist, pianist and former musical-theater choreographer. She currently lives in Chicago with her husband and their young son. Lydia Qiu, Collaborative pianist, was born into a musical family in Chengdu, China, Lydia began piano lessons at age four. She entered music school in Chengdu, receiving formal musical training for six years. At age 18, Lydia moved to Beijing and worked as a piano accompanist for the Vocal & Opera department in Central Conservatory of Music. It was in Beijing that Lydia decided to pursue a career as a collaborative pianist, and vocal coach. Between 1986 and 1996, Lydia performed actively in Beijing, collaborating with the most notable vocalists in China. Lydia came to study in the US in 1996, receiving degrees from Capital University, and College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. It was upon acceptance into University of Michigan that Lydia fulfilled her dream of studying with the renowned collaborative pianist, Martin Katz. Lydia has been invited to participate in Cleveland Art Song Festival, German for Singer and Collaborative Pianist in Vermont, Songfest in California, and Franz Schubert Institut in Austria. She had studied with master teachers John Wustman, Rudolf Jansen, Helmut Deutsch, Julius Drake, Rudolf Piernay, Robert Holl, Elly Ameling, and Deen Larsen. From Europe to the US, Lydia has received rave reviews for her artistry and musicality. Today, Lydia works for the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, serving as a vocal coach, staff accompanist, and the coordinator of accompanying services. She oversees the accompanying needs for all vocal, wind, and string studios, classes, and choral ensembles. Despite living in the United States, Lydia has remained committed to her work in China. In recent years, Lydia has taught at Central Conservatory, China Conservatory, Shanghai Conservatory, Tianjin Conservatory, Shandong Normal University, and Sichuan Conservatory in her hometown of Chengdu. During these visits, Lydia conducted master classes for both voice and accompanying students, gave lectures on vocal literature to voice teachers, taught diction classes, and performed in recitals with her students. Lydia resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, Feng Jiang, a talented violin maker, and their daughter. Art song was composed to exist in someone’s living room. It is what most singers learn first, allowing them to refine their expression of text in short form. I am attracted to it for the subtly it requires. It is not surrounded by strings and brass, or lost within a complex plot. It is just the singer and the piano, and it gives me the freedom to create the where, who, when, and why. Art song is the most honest conversation that a singer can have with her audience. I am well versed in the songs of America and Europe. Because of my fascination with other cultures, I began exploring the song of other countries, most recently and passionately, China. Before my first trip to China in 2011 with I Sing Beijing, I was unfamiliar with the body of music coming from China. Learning to sing in Mandarin created an immediate connection with my Chinese audience, and I recognized the importance of music as an ambassador. To introduce Western colleagues to the incredible music of China, and Chinese colleagues to the American song tradition became my goal. As I pondered wanting to reach these two groups, I knew it would need to be in a widely accessible form: a recording. This relationship has led me to create this CD of Chinese and Chinese-inspired American art song. This CD explores the influence of the West on Chinese art song, and the Chinese influence on American art song. Because many of the primary composers of art song in China had some education in America or Western Europe, they have adopted the form, and occasionally, the tonality of Western art song; yet, they have still found a way to maintain Chinese thematic elements, both musically and through their choice of poetry. It is a window into Chinese culture, while still maintaining something familiar for the Western ear. Likewise, Western artists and musicians have often found inspiration in the Far East. ‘Orientalism’ has cycled consistently through the artistic consciousness for centuries. The American composers whose songs I have chosen to compliment the Chinese also stay rooted in the form of art song, but clearly use borrowed tonality and text. In truth, both groups of songs are the perfect cultural exchange. I have long been drawn to the things that challenge me the most. China, with its language, musical, and cultural differences has brought me the most gratifying challenge with which I have ever been faced. Now more than ever, socially and politically, I find that I want to illustrate to those around me the commonalities we share, while still being able to shed light on the beautiful, fascinating differences. Because of the nomadic existence professional musicians live, we have the luxury of interacting with people from all walks of life, all over the globe. This CD is my way of showing a broader audience what I have been lucky enough to experience first hand: although there is a great distance between China and the United States, music creates an inspiration that flows freely among us all.