Artist Biographies

Christopher Warren-Green, music director

Now in his 12th season with the CSO, Maestro Warren-Green also serves as Music Director of the London Chamber Orchestra.

Over the last 30 years Maestro WarrenGreen has worked with eminent orchestras around the world. In North America he has conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit, Houston, St Louis, Toronto, Milwaukee, Seattle and Vancouver symphony orchestras, and Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra. In the UK, he has worked with the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Royal Scottish National orchestras.

2021–22 marks the final season of Warren-Green’s tenure as the Music Director of Charlotte Symphony, after which he will take on the titles of Conductor Laureate and Artistic Adviser. This season he will lead an all-English program to celebrate the orchestra’s 90th birthday, and conduct performances of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with soloist Paul Huang, concluding with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 as an appropriately spectacular finale.

A product of community music education, Warren-Green plays a key role in the CSO’s educational efforts, including two youth orchestras and Project Harmony, an El Sistema-based program providing afterschool music ensemble training in high-need areas. In addition to his international commitments, he has been invited to conduct at the wedding services of TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 2005, TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Westminster Abbey in 2011 and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 2018. He conducted the London Chamber Orchestra on the occasion of HM The Queen’s 80th birthday and the Philharmonia Orchestra for Her Majesty’s 90th birthday concert at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, as well as HRH The Prince of Wales’ 60th birthday concert in Buckingham Palace.

A violinist by training, Warren-Green began his career at the age of 19 as concertmaster of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, followed by the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, having been a Professor there for eight years, and has appeared numerous times on television and radio. He has recorded extensively for Sony, Philips, Virgin EMI, Chandos, Decca and Deutsche Grammophon, and records with the London Chamber Orchestra for Signum Classics.

Alicia Russell Tagert, soprano

This concert marks Ms. Tagert’s first appearance with the Charlotte Symphony.

Soprano Alicia Russell Tagert has been singing throughout the United States since 2013 and is currently based in the Southeastern USA. This summer, Ms. Tagert creates the role of Morgan in Fierce as part of the anticipated world premiere with Cincinnati Opera. Her recent operatic credits include Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Musetta in La bohème, Frasquita in Carmen, Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, the title role in Savitri, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. Equally recognized for her concert performances, Ms. Tagert’s orchestral credits include Honneger’s King David, Handel’s Messiah, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C Minor, and Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus. A competitive force, Ms. Tagert is a is a four-time award winner in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She holds a Master of Music from Northwestern University and Bachelor of Music from Furman University.

Sarah Larsen, mezzo-soprano

This concert marks Ms. Larsen’s first appearance with the Charlotte Symphony.

Praised as “sizzling,” “riveting” and possessing a “plummy, ripe mezzo,” Sarah Larsen made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2016–17 season as Käthchen in Sir Richard Eyre’s production of Werther. A regular at The Met, this season she will be heard as The Second Lady in The Magic Flute. Other appearances include Flora in La traviata and productions of Le nozze di Figaro, Parsifal, The Merry Widow, and Cendrillon. Further performances this season include performances as Laurene Powell in a new production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with Austin Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Atlanta Opera. Larsen performs regularly around the USA with companies including Arizona Opera, Virginia Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and The Glimmerglass Festival. An alumna of the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program, Ms. Larsen enjoys a long relationship with the company including performances as Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, and Maddalena in Rigoletto.

Sarah Larsen replaces the originally announced Briana Hunter as mezzo-soprano for these performances.

Sean Panikkar, tenor

This concert marks Mr. Panikkar’s first appearance with the Charlotte Symphony.

An American tenor of Sri Lankan heritage, Sean Panikkar achieved a break-out success in his 2018 Salzburger Festspiele debut in Henze’s The Bassarids as well as a Los Angeles Opera debut in Glass’ Satyagraha. Highlights this season include Nono’s Intolleranza 1960 at the Salzburger Festspiele, a Wiener Staatsoper debut in Wozzeck, the title role of Œdipus Rex at the San Francisco Symphony, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Minnesota Orchestra. Sean has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Komische Oper Berlin, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Pittsburgh Opera, and Michigan Opera among others. Next season he bows at the Metropolitan Opera in the creation of The Hours by Kevin Puts and Greg Pierce. Past symphonic performances include appearances with Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony, with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Michael Christie and the Phoenix Symphony, and Ragnar Bohlin and the San Francisco Symphony.

Jordan Bisch, bass

Mr. Bisch last appeared with the Charlotte Symphony in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in March 2020.

A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program, Mr. Bisch made his debut there as the Second Knight in Parsifal, also appearing in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Sonnambula, Aïda, Idomeneo, and Roméo et Juliette, and on tour in Japan in Don Carlos. US opera appearances include San Francisco Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Florida Grand Opera. In Europe he has appeared at the Théâtre du Capitol in Toulouse and at the Verbier Festival under the baton of James Levine. He also appeared in the world premiere of Daron Hagen’s Amelia at the Seattle Opera. In concert Mr. Bisch has appeared at the Hollywood Bowl in a performance of Aïda with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Tanglewood Festival in a performance of the Mozart Requiem with Michael Tilson Thomas, and the Tucson Desert Song Festival as Méphistophélès in Le Damnation de Faust. He also appears on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recording of Shostakovich’s Orango (DG) conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonnen.