Fellowship
The FELLOWSHIP component of The Federation of the Art Song supports the careers of exceptional singers and collaborative pianists who share a passion for art song performance by providing opportunities, mentorship, and financial support. Applicants of all ages are welcome.
The Fellowship is designed to help these artists in the following areas:
1. Develop entrepreneurial acumen in seeking new venues and designing programs for diverse settings and audiences. We encourage artists to effectively use media and other means to build audiences.
2. Champion both traditional repertoire and music from under-represented cultures and composers.
3. Re-imagine the recital/concert format for our 21st Century according to their unique artistic voices, skills and backgrounds.
Claire McCahan, mezzo-soprano and pianist Barbie Noyes performed splendidly in the Oct. 24 final auditions of this year’s competition, heard in Greenfield Hall, Manhattan School of Music. This year’s performances were at an extremely high level of quality. A distinguished panel of judges considered ten impressive duos in the semifinal auditions, five of which advanced to the finals, performing short programs of American song.
Distinguished judges and talented duos from the FAS 2026 finals, from the left: Elem Eley, Lydia Brown, Faith Esham, Barbie Noyes, Martin Neron, Claire McCahan, Jarod Yap, Gregory Feldmann, Margaret Tigue, Chris Yao, Anna Kelly, Alta Malberg, Isabel Merat, Anna Sunmin Park, Ziyi Hong, Bryan Murray
The 2027 FAS Fellowship invites singer-pianist duos to be creative storytellers and artistic visionaries. Applicants are encouraged to create an original, thoughtfully assembled concert program built around a unifying artistic concept.
Rather than focusing on a prescribed repertoire tradition, this year’s Fellowship auditions embrace imaginative programming that reflects each duo’s unique artistic voice and intellectual curiosity. Examples are: explore a literary or cultural theme; celebrate a particular genre, musical tradition, or artistic movement; or illuminate a broader idea through song.
Contestants are encouraged to present programs that demonstrate imagination, communicative power, and audience appeal. FAS seeks artists who can shape meaningful concert experiences for contemporary audiences.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Applications for the 2027 FAS Fellowship must be submitted by October 3, 2026. There is no application fee.
The preliminary round of auditions will be via submission of an online video. Selected artists must be prepared for the live Semifinal and Final auditions on November 12 and 13, 2026, to be hosted by the Manhattan School of Music.
Approximately ten singer-pianist duos will be selected for the Semifinals, and five duos for the Finals. Each duo will perform for approximately fifteen minutes in the Semifinals and twenty minutes in the Finals.
The Manhattan School of Music graciously welcomes us to their facility (130 Claremont Ave., NYC) for our auditions. Live Semifinals will be heard on Thursday afternoon, November 12, 2026, with Finals on Friday evening, November 13, 2026.
APPLICATIONS
The application form for the upcoming auditions is available at this link. Completed applications are due by October 3, 2026.
We require the following: headshot, curriculum vitae, biographical sketch, website address/social media presence (if available), as well as names and contact information for two professional references.
As a vital component of the application, each singer-pianist duo will create a document outlining a sample program of thirty minutes in length, reflecting their unique abilities and creativity, as described above.
REPERTOIRE
The preliminary round consists of performance video(s) of three art songs. At least two of the selections must be from the “sample program” referenced above, with a third song in English (which may also be from the sample program). The video(s) must include a spoken introduction (in English) featuring both performers; this introduction can appear anytime during the video(s). The performances may be recorded separately and uploaded individually, or all three songs may be edited together into one video. In other words, each team will submit one to three links to their YouTube videos (as directed on the application), with each performer speaking at least once during this round.
Repertoire for the Semifinal and Final auditions must be selected primarily from the “sample program” that is to be submitted with the application.
Semifinal repertoire selections must be submitted in advance, date TBD. Repertoire for the Final auditions may include selections from the Semifinal repertoire.
Each duo will prepare fifteen minutes of music for the Semifinals and twenty minutes for the Finals. Each performer must speak about their repertoire during the Semifinals and Finals (similar to the preliminary auditions).
AWARDS
The Fellowship will be awarded to the duo which best exemplifies the mission of FAS, based on performance, creativity, and communicative abilities demonstrated throughout the auditions and in conversation with the panel of judges.
As recipients of the Fellowship, the Winning duo will receive a $2,000 stipend per artist (total $4,000 for the duo) for two Winners’ Recitals (to be scheduled in NYC and in Princeton by FAS), and $1,000 seed money for a third performance to be produced by the duo.
All finalists will be awarded a $250 honorarium per artist. All finalists will also receive an opportunity for a paid performance during 2027 in NJ.
For more specific information, click here to view the letter of understanding between FAS and the 2025 Fellows.
Auditions for the FAS Fellowship 2025 were held on October 24 and 25, 2024, in Miller Recital Hall, Manhattan School of Music.
We are thrilled to introduce our brilliant Federation of the Art Song Fellows 2025:
KERRIGAN BIGELOW, soprano
AMBER SCHERER, piano
Kerrigan Bigelow, from North Andover, Massachusetts, is currently a fast-rising young soprano on the New York concert and opera scene. In fall 2024 she began her Masters degree in voice performance at The Juilliard School, where she recently completed the degree Bachelor of Music. There she studies with Amy Burton.
During 2024, she debuted as Mariuccia in I Due Timidi, covered Aldimira in Erismena, and sang Sarriaho’s Aria from The Grammar of Dreams as part of Juilliard’s The New Series: The Mad King and Carnegie Hall’s Fall of the Weimar Republic: Dancing on Precipice. Notably, Kerrigan was the winner of the Vocal Arts Honors Recital at Juilliard, and thus made her Alice Tully Hall debut.
Kerrigan has also performed with the New York Festival of Song on three occasions. She is the honored recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School.
Amber Ginmi Scherer is a Brooklyn-based pianist and educator. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Piano Performance and Psychology from Oberlin, as well as a Master’s in Collaborative Piano from The Juilliard School. Amber’s artistic passion is rooted in collaboration and dedication to the underrepresented demographics of the classical canon. During her second year at Juilliard, Amber performed works by H.T. Burleigh and Christopher Armstrong (Juilliard ‘25) on a program in celebration of Black History Month. One month later, she performed a recital at Merkin Hall with soprano Kerrigan Bigelow, in addition to a recital through City Lyric Opera with soprano Amanda Simms, both of vocal works on femininity and disenfranchisement.
As part of her education, Amber has attended various programs on fellowship, including the Tanglewood Music Festival, Caramoor Residency, and Art of the Piano Festival. Amber is deeply committed to broadening accessibility to the arts. She spent 2022-23 as an Americorps Resident Teaching Artist in Queens, NY, and was subsequently a recipient of the U.S. Department of Education’s Segal Education Award. Currently, she is on faculty at the Brooklyn Music School at BAM, on staff at PROTESTRA, and serves as an opera pianist at The Juilliard School.
The outstanding duo of JARED MICHAUD, baritone, and CHRISTINA KOTI, piano, served us beautifully as FAS Fellows 2023.
Jared and Christina with our President, Alta Malberg.