Duo Rossignol

About

Vocalist Hillary LaBonte and flutist Mary Matthews began performing together in 2008 at the Peabody Conservatory. They formed Duo Rossignol in 2014 with a commitment to performing new and adventurous works by 20th-century and living composers.  

Recently, they presented a program of music by Kate Soper, Cherise Leiter, and Kaija Saariaho at the 2019 Music by Women Festival in Columbus, Mississippi.  They performed Kate Soper’s Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say to acclaim at the 2018 National Flute Association Convention. In 2017 Duo Rossignol performed the Soper at the New Music Gathering at Bowling Green State University and the Dairy Arts Center’s Soundscape Series in Boulder, Colorado. During the 2019-2020 season, they will travel to Urayasu, Japan to make their international debut performing the works of Kate Soper, Nicole Chamberlain, and Andre Previn.

Duo Rossignol has been featured as a guest ensemble at the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, the Baltimore War Memorial, Harmony Hall in Columbia, Maryland, and they have presented outreach concerts at numerous venues throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Their repertoire includes a premiere by Nicole Chamberlain and works by Thea Musgrave, Ursula Mamlok, Hilary Tann, John Corigliano, Andre Previn, and Daron Hagen.

Both Hillary and Mary received their Bachelor of Music degrees from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music and their Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in their respective instruments. Mary Matthews holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Hartt School, and Hillary holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Bowling Green State University.