Schubert Club Courtroom Concert: Jennifer Kreider, soprano & Andrew Sun, piano

Jennifer Kreider, soprano, is establishing herself as a performer of opera, new music, and song. Most recently, Jennifer performed a concert of world premiere chamber works at the 2025 Aldeburgh Festival. In summer 2024 Jennifer was a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theater of Saint Louis where she performed the role of Sagredo and went on as a cover to sing the leading role of Maria Celeste in Philip Glass’ opera Galileo Galilei. In September 2024, Jennifer was a Britten Pears Young Artist as part of the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme in England.  In competition, Jennifer won second place in the Upper Midwest region of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition after being named a winner of the Minneapolis district in 2023. At her alma mater, Indiana University, Jennifer premiered the featured role of Mrs. Frank in the world premiere production of Shulamit Ran’s and Charles Kondek’s opera Anne Frank.

In May of 2023, Jennifer covered the role of Erika in Samuel Barber’s Vanessa at the Spoleto Festival, USA in Charleston, South Carolina. Jennifer was also a young artist at the CoOPERAtive Program in 2015 and 2018, and at Opera in the Ozarks in 2019 where she sang the role of Musetta (LA BOHÈME) and covered Konstanze (DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL). Other performed roles include Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Monica (THE MEDIUM), Ramiro (LA FINTA GIARDINIERA), Linfea (LA CALISTO), La Fée (CENDRILLON), Iolanthe (IOLANTHE), Nella (GIANNI SCHICCHI), Donna Elvira (act II of Don Giovanni), and Miss Jessel (TURN OF THE SCREW).

Jennifer is also well versed in art song and teaches Song Literature I and II for undergraduates at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. In 2016 she attended the Franz Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien, Austria, where she intensively studied and performed German Lieder with master teachers such as Elly Ameling, Julius Drake, and Roger Vignoles, among several others. She is also especially passionate about the performance of new music — while studying at Rice University, she performed regularly with Rice’s Hear & Now ensemble and the Rice Chamber Series. Highlights include Crumb’s Madrigal Book I and III, String Quartet No. 2 by Schönberg, Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan, as well as several premiere works by young composers.

In addition to placing at the Upper Midwest Region of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in 2023, she won the St. Louis district of the same competition in 2022. She also has had success as first place winner in her divisions at the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota National Voice Competition in 2016 and the National NATS competition in Greensboro, NC in 2015, and was a finalist in the National Opera Association’s Dominick Argento and Carolyn Bailey Vocal Competition in 2019. Jennifer also won the Clifton Emerging Young Artist Award in 2016, giving her the opportunity to perform Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, PA. Additional honors include receiving an Associate Instructorship at Indiana University and the prize for Best Supporting Actress in a Supporting Role for Musetta at Opera in the Ozarks.

​Jennifer received her Artist Diploma in Solo Vocal Performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where she studied with Jane Dutton. Previously, Jennifer attended Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, TX where she received her Master of Music under the guidance of Barbara Clark and Robin Rice, and Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ where she received her Bachelor of Music while working with Laura Brooks Rice.

Andrew Sun is a Minneapolis-based pianist and arts administrator with a career that bridges performance, education, and nonprofit leadership. He has worked as an opera coach at NYU and the Manhattan School of Music, and appeared in featured performances with Carnegie Hall Citywide and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts. He gave the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s song cycle Without Music in London, UK and has performed locally with the Jungle Theater and St. Croix Valley Opera. At Minnesota Opera, Andrew served as both a Resident Artist and later as Executive Manager, blending artistic insight with organizational strategy. A Merola Opera Program and Music Academy of the West alum—and winner of the Marilyn Horne Song Competition—he now brings his passion for the arts and community-building to his role at the St. Paul Downtown Alliance, supporting efforts to revitalize and reimagine the city’s urban core.