The only artist to receive the International Walter W. Naumburg Award twice, as a soloist and as a chamber musician, soprano Lucy Shelton has performed repertoire from Bach to Boulez in major recital, chamber and orchestral venues throughout the world.

Highly acclaimed as an interpreter of new music, Ms. Shelton continues to bring new audiences into the sound world of new works, often composed for her.  Notable among numerous world premieres are Elliott Carter's Of Challenge and Of Love and his Tempo e Tempi; Oliver Knussen's Whitman Settings; Stephen Albert's Flower of the Mountain; Joseph Schwantner's Sparrows and his Two Poems of Agueda Pizarro and Magabunda; Alexander Goehr's Sing, Ariel and The Mouse Metamorphosed Into a Maid; David Del Tredici's Quaint Events; Poul Ruder's The Bells; Gerard Grisey's L'Icone Paradoxiale; Ned Rorem's Schuyller Songs; Sally Beamish's Monster; James Yannatos's Trinity Mass; Lewis Spratlan's Of Time and the Seasons; and Rob Zuidam's Johanna's Lament.

Since her return to the USA from England in 1997, Shelton has had five recordings released on Deutsche Grammophon and KOCH International with repertoire of Carter, Stravinsky, Crawford Seeger and Messiaen.  Five additional CD's are in the works, with repertoire of Del Tredici, Rands, Adolphe, Kim, and Carter.  She also has recordings on Bridge Records, Unicorn-Kanchana and Virgin Classics with music of Goehr, Knussen and Schoenberg.

In the season 2001-2002 abroad, Shelton premiered Rob Zuidam's Johanna's Lament at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and gave the Dutch and UK premieres of Zuidam's McGonagall Lieder.  In the USA she gave the world premieres of Lewis Spratlan's Of Time and the Seasons in Boston and a work by Gheorghe Costinescu in New York.  In the city she also sings Ferneyhough's Fourth String Quartet, joined Da Capo for a recording of Shatin and a concert of Kernis, Previn and Birtwistle.  The season also included some of her "standard" repertoire:  Berio's Folk Songs, Babbitt's Philomel, Knussen's Hums and Songs of Winnie the Pooh, Carter's Of Challenge and Of Love and Tempo e Tempi, Druckman's Lamia and Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire.

Some highlights of previous seasons include staged performances of Berio's Passaggio with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire with Da Camera of Houston and the role of Jenifer in Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage for Thames Television.  Shelton made her BBC Proms debut in Dallapiccola's Il Prigioniero and her Vienna and Berlin debuts singing Kurtag's The Sayings of Peter Bornemissza with Andras Schiff.  Among notable conductors with whom Shelton has worked are Barenboim, Boulez, De Leeuw, Knussen, Metzmacher, Nott, Oetvos, Rattle, Rilling, Rostropovich, Salonen, Slatkin, and Wolff.

A native Californian, Ms. Shelton's musical training began early with the study of both piano and flute.  After graduating from Pomona College she pursued singing at the New England Conservatory and at the Aspen Music School where she studied with Jan de Gaetani.  Shelton has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the New England Conservatory and the Eastman School.  She is currently on the faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center and coaches privately at her studio in New York City.

"In the forefront was Lucy Shelton, a new-music diva if there ever was one, performing with fire, sensitivity, astounding surety of pitch, and what seemed like love abounding."  (The Boston Globe, May 2001)