10TH ANNIVERSARY NYC GALA

Nadine Sierra is an internationally acclaimed American soprano. At the age of 19, she became the youngest singer to win the Marilyn Horne Foundation Award and at the age of 21, she became the youngest soprano to win the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Ms. Sierra is a fixture at many of the top houses around the world, including the Met, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra national de Paris, and Staatsoper Berlin. She was honored with prestigious awards as winner of the Veronica Dunne, Montserrat Caballé, and Neue Stimmen international singing competitions. She was a recipient of the 2017 Richard Tucker Music Award and the 2018 Beverly Sills Artist Award. Ms. Sierra trained at the Mannes College of Music in New York City, Music Academy of the West, and as a Young Artist at Palm Beach Opera and in San Francisco Opera’s Adler Program.

Michael Fabiano (he/him) is one of the world’s most celebrated opera singers, an accomplished entrepreneur, and an advocate for arts education. Over the course of his career, he has sung in 76 cities, in 26 countries, and on 89 of the most renowned stages, including The Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Real de Madrid, The Royal Opera Covent Garden, and Sydney Opera. He is the recipient of the industry’s most prestigious awards, including the Richard Tucker Award and the Beverly Sills Artist Award, and is a Grand Prize winner from the Gerda Lissner Foundation and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In addition to his prolific performance career and commitment to ArtSmart, Mr. Fabiano is also Chief Strategy Officer for Resonance, a BizOps platform which combines powerful software solutions to allow businesses to streamline administration and operations, manage people, and maintain business partnerships. Mr. Fabiano is a native of Montclair, New Jersey and holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the Academy of Vocal Arts. michaelfabianotenor.com

Mary Pinto, an acclaimed accompanist and vocal coach, has worked with international opera singers and major American opera companies for the past 25 years. She serves as musical and artistic director for Opera at Florham.

In 2012, Ms. Pinto coached and served as rehearsal pianist for Metropolitan Opera star and international soprano Deborah Voigt as she prepared for the three Brünhilde roles for the Met’s production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. In 2014, she performed with Opera Noire’s Ensemble in the American Embassy in Moscow and St. Petersburg and spent the past three summers coaching at Masterclass d’Ischia in Italy. In March 2018 she was the official accompanist for the Deborah Voigt International Competition in Vero Beach.

Ms. Pinto has been a private coach and accompanist on the faculty of Montclair State University since 2007. In Fall 2018, she joined the adjunct faculty at SUNY Purchase College teaching Italian and French lyric diction, operatic styles, and coaching.

ArtSmart student and rising star Luz Velázquez is a 2025 YoungArts Winner with Distinction. She won the Gold Award in Jazz Voice Jazz in February, receiving a prize of $10,000. Luz studies with ArtSmart mentor Christine Moore Vassallo at The Celia Cruz Bronx High School Of Music.

A Puerto Rican from The Bronx, she won first place in the High School American Songbook Competition and third place in the National Jazz Festival in Philadelphia. In December 2024, she participated in the All-State Choir of the New York State School Music Association festival, an honor made possible through a selective auditioning process. A member of MasterVoices, she has participated in shows at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, among others. Luz is also a seasoned trumpet player, studying at Third Street Music School, and is a featured musician for the New York Police Department’s La Jara Youth Orchestra.