Kara Sainz Dugan first appeared on From the Top Show 211 and has also appeared on Highlight Show 27 and Show 274.

Mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan has been praised by The New York Times for her “vocal warmth and rich character.” Recent highlights include her Los Angeles Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall debuts with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting his new work, Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind with poetry by Carl Sandburg. Ms. Dugan’s work with living composers also includes performances in the roles of Amadora and Stelladora in John Musto’s opera Bastianello for Festival Napa Valley, and a final workshop performance as Mrs. Van Buren in Ricky Ian Gordon’s new opera, Intimate Apparel commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center Theater.  Additional orchestral work includes three international tours with Juilliard415 and conductors Ton Koopman, Masaaki Suzuki, and Nicholas McGegan, culminating in a performance as the Soprano II soloist in Bach’s Mass in B minor. Ms. Dugan also enjoys recital work with her husband, pianist Peter Dugan. The husband and wife duo perform together at festivals throughout the United States. Recent guest artist appearances include the Joye in Aiken Festival, Portland Chamber Music Festival, and Moab Music Festival. In her 2020-2021 season she will make her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting. Ms. Dugan has sung with the San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Steans Institute, Boston Early Music Festival, Wolf Trap Opera, Alice Tully Hall, and Aspen Music Festival. Ms. Dugan earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School.

Program bio from Show 274:

Kara Sainz (mezzo-soprano) first appeared on From the Top as a soloist in 2010. Originally from Temecula, California, she is a rising fourth year undergraduate student at The Juilliard School, where she is a recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship and a student of Edith Bers.  Kara was awarded the ASCAP foundation’s 2010 Lieber and Stoller Scholarship as well as a Grand-Prize Finalist Award in the coveted Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards in 2008, for which she performed in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.  This summer Ms. Sainz will return to Aspen Summer Music Festival to perform the role of La Ciesca in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.

Peter was named Host of From the Top in January 2020.

Peter Dugan’s position is sponsored by Susan and Gerald Slavet.

Peter first appeared on From the Top Show 158, recorded in April 2007, at age 18.

Prizing versatility as the key to the future of classical music, pianist Peter Dugan is equally at home in classical, jazz, and pop idioms.

He is heard nationwide as the  host of NPR’s beloved program From the Top.  He has appeared as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across North America and abroad. 

In 2020, Mr Dugan performed with Joshua Bell on a PBS Broadcast “At Home with Music” and appeared on  the album of the same name on Sony Classical. He was also featured on PBS Great Performances with mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan for the series “Now Hear This”.

A sought-after multi-genre artist, Mr. Dugan has performed in duos and trios with artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman and Renee Fleming to Jesse Colin Young and Glenn Close. Mr Dugan’s debut performances with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony were described by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning” and by the SF Chronicle as “fearlessly athletic.” The Wall Street Journal described Mr. Dugan’s collaboration with violinist Charles Yang as a “classical-meets-rockstar duo.” Mr. Dugan has been presented in chamber music recitals by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Music at Menlo, Moab Music Festival, and recently in recital with Joshua Bell at the Minnesota Beethoven Festival.  He was the 2019 featured recitalist for the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, and has soloed with the San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, New World Symphony, and Mid-Texas Symphony.

His album with baritone John Brancy –  A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song – pays homage to composers who lived through, fought in, and died in the Great War. Brancy and Dugan toured this program across North America in commemoration of the centennial of WWI, including performances at The Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Stanford University, the United States Naval Academy, and the Smithsonian Institute.  Together Brancy and Dugan won first prize at the 2018 Montreal International Music Competition and second prize at the 2017 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. He can also be heard as the piano soloist on a recording of Ives’ Fourth Symphony from Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, a recording which the New York Times named one of the top classical albums of 2019. 

Mr. Dugan advocates the importance of music in the community and at all levels of society.  As a founding creator of Operation Superpower, a superhero opera for children, he has traveled to dozens of schools in the greater New York area, performing for students and encouraging them to use their talents – their superpowers – for good.

Mr. Dugan holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Matti Raekallio. He was a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Young Scholar, College Scholar, and Graduate Scholar awards.

He resides in New York City with his wife, mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan, and serves on the piano faculty at the Juilliard School Evening Division. Mr. Dugan is a Yamaha Artist.