Tracy Cowart (mezzo-soprano) enjoys a wide range of vocal interests, from twelfth-century polyphony to contemporary art music. Praised by the New York Times as “the real attraction” with a voice that is “light and lithe,” Tracy has performed with Apollo’s Fire, Musica Pacifica, Opera Lafayette, the Newberry Consort, Rose of the Compass, Tenet, Three Notch’d Road, the Vox Vocal Ensemble, and the Washington Bach Consort. She is co-founder of the medieval ensemble Alkemie, with whom she has performed on the Capitol Early Music, Indianapolis Early Music, and Music Before 1800 series. Also known for her interpretations of new music, Tracy has performed with the Great Noise Ensemble, sung cabaret with the Richmond Festival of Music, and toured with Weird Uncle, an experimental group that fuses medieval modes, jug band, and electronica. Tracy received a D.M.A. in Historical Performance Practice from Case Western Reserve University. She is on the faculty of the Amherst Early Music Festival, and directs the early music Collegium at Fordham University. She has been a guest-artist/lecturer at Pennsylvania State University, Fairmont State University, Bucknell University, and the Society for Seventeenth Century Music. She and Richard have been working together for over a decade, and have collaborated on a number of musicological programs, including division-style ornamentation in the early English Baroque and virtuosic cantatas in 17th-century Rome. www.tracycowart.com