Clara Osowski

Mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski, praised for singing “from inside the music with unaffected purity and sincerity” (UK Telegraph), is an active soloist and chamber musician performing across the United States and Europe.

Clara’s 2024/2025 season features performances of Copland’s Old American Songs and Handel’s Messiah with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Mozart’s Requiem with the Rochester Philharmonic; and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the South Dakota Symphony. She will also perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Mid-Columbus Symphony and take on the role of Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress at the 2024 NDSU Chamber Music Festival. Additional engagements include Ulrike in Bjorn and Anderson’s Kristine with VocalEssence; Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Master Chorale of South Florida; and Bach Cantatas with Arts on Alexander. Clara will also perform Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and excerpts from Messiah with Spire in Kansas City. Other highlights include Schubert Lieder with Salastina, a recital at Brigham Young University, and appearances at LyricFest in Philadelphia and the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival.

In the 2023/2024 season, Clara performed Schubert Lieder with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Bach’s St. John Passion with Music of the Baroque, conducted by Dame Jane Glover. She returned to LA’s Salastina for Handel’s Messiah and collaborated with the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra for Clara Schumann Lieder. Other engagements included the Bach Christmas Oratorio with Madison Bach Musicians, SongSLAM at National Sawdust, and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Master Chorale of South Florida. She also performed Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee and Bach’s Mass in B Minor with TENET in NYC.

Clara’s recent notable performances include Handel’s Messiah with the Kansas City Symphony; Mozart’s Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Elijah led by Ken-David Masur with the Milwaukee Symphony; her London debut at Wigmore Hall; and Handel’s Jephtha with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. She has also performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Delaware Symphony, as well as Mozart’s Requiem and Pärt’s Stabat Mater with the South Dakota Symphony. Her extensive performance history includes collaborations with the St. Paul Civic Orchestra, Tulsa Signature Symphony, Mobile Symphony Orchestra, and Milwaukee Symphony, among others. A frequent collaborator with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Clara has performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Dominick Argento’s Casa Guidi and A Few Words About Chekhov. She has also worked with the Bach Society of Minnesota, Madison Bach Musicians, National Lutheran Choir, and Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee.

In 2017, Clara became the first American prize winner at Thomas Quasthoff’s International Das Lied Competition in Heidelberg, Germany, where she placed second. She also won the Houston Saengerbund Competition that year. In the 2019 Wigmore Hall Song Competition, Clara received the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society Prize for the best interpretation of English songs by a British composer. Additionally, she won the Richard Tauber Prize in the 2017 competition for her interpretation of Schubert Lieder. Other accolades include the Radio-Canada People’s Choice Award and third place in the song division at the 2018 Concours Musical International de Montréal, as well as the 2014 Bel Canto Chorus Regional Artists Competition in Milwaukee.

Clara is an active educator, having given masterclasses and lectures at institutions such as Syracuse University, Muhlenberg College, Seattle University, Concordia College (Moorhead), and North Dakota State University. She served as guest artist-in-residence at Indiana State University’s 50th Contemporary Music Festival, celebrating the work of Libby Larsen, and has taught at the Aspen Music Festival’s Professional Choral Institute in partnership with Seraphic Fire.

Clara earned her Bachelor of Musical Arts degree with an emphasis in Voice from North Dakota State University in 2008, where she was later honored with the 2022 Horizon Award for professional success. She received her Master of Arts in Voice from the University of Iowa in 2010 and was recognized as a 2018-2019 McKnight Artist Fellow for Musicians, administered by the MacPhail Center for Music.

Clara serves as the Artistic Director of Source Song Festival, a week-long art song festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota.