SPUTTER BOX
A Sputter Box performance is a captivating and unique experience. While only a trio (clarinet, voice, and percussion), this ensemble moves from “mindfully constructed textures that are light as a feather, and then turn on a dime to explode into something practically orchestral” (Michael Genese). As pioneers for the unique instrumentation, Sputter Box is committed to building a diverse and exciting repertoire. They have commissioned over fifty works with the majority of their commissioning budget going to composers from historically marginalized identities. Sputter Box was a guest artist at University of Massachusetts–Amherst (2020) and University of Florida (2021-2022) and a recipient of the CMA Ensemble Forward Grant (2021, 2024) and Queens Arts Council New Works Grant (2022). Sputter Box was a Kinds of Kings Bouman Fellowship (2022) collaborating ensemble and a Cortona Sessions (2020) Featured Ensemble Fellow.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Sputter Box created their Sputter (SHRINKS THE) Box album. In March 2020, they called for 1-minute compositions for bass clarinet, soprano, and djembe. Composers were not only limited in their instrumentation but also by Sputter Box’s desire to not disturb their NYC apartment neighbors while recording their parts separately. The project expanded into Sputter Box’s debut album featuring 28 composers from around the world. In December of 2023 they premiered a preview of an evening-length dramatic work by Brooklyn-based composer Noah Magnus. The piece takes the audience through a high school love triangle between a deflated football, Charlie, who is in love with Lucille the Pom Pom who is torn between Charlie and Harry the Pencil. In 2024, Sputter Box will present a complete concert of works for Sputter Box + electronics, including a piece by composer DM R with the support of the FROMM Music Foundation Commission from Harvard University. You can find all of their latest performance dates, videos, and ways to support their projects at their website www.sputterbox.com.
Sputter Box was founded by Kathryn Vetter (clarinets), Alina Tamborini (voice), and Peter White (percussion).
ALINA TAMBORINI | SPUTTER BOX
VOICE
Soprano ALINA TAMBORINI, has been praised by the New York Times for being, “unusually big-voiced and feisty,”and “luxurious” by Broadway World. This season, Ms. Tamborini debuts four roles as Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with Bronx Opera, Sofia in Rossini’s Il signor Bruschino with Bronx Opera, Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula with Bel Cantanti Opera and Giulietta in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Teatro Nuovo, as she returns to the Lincoln Center. Last season, Ms. Tamborini returned to Bronx Opera as Blanche in The Dialogues of the Carmellites, returned to her alma mater singing the solo in Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, was a finalist in the Orpheus Vocal Competition sponsored by the Middle Tennessee Choral Society, and competed in the Rocky Mountain Regional Finals of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition after winning the Utah District Finals.
Recent season engagements include singing the role of Servilia in Bronx Opera’s production of La clemenza di Tito and premiering Nirmali Fenn’s “When Apathy Becomes Betrayal.” In 2021, she returned to the Lincoln Center stage performing with Teatro Nuovo as Berta in their production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, bringing live opera back to the NYC stages. In 2019, she made her Lincoln Center debut as a Resident Artist with Teatro Nuovo, singing the role of Isoletta in Bellini’s La straniera. Ms. Tamborini was an Apprentice Artist for the inaugural season of Teatro Nuovo. Ms. Tamborini portrayed the roles of Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen and Mrs. Hayes in Floyd’s Susannah with Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point and performed with the Vancouver International Song Institute. In 2016, she made her international debut in a Bernstein Revue at the Peking National Opera House and the China Conservatory of Music.
Notable engagements with Michigan State University Opera Theatre include: Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Romilda in Handel’s Serse, Miss Lavish in Robert Nelson’s contemporary opera, A Room With a View, and Giannetta in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. Her operatic roles at Stony Brook include: Aminta in Mozart’s Il re Pastore, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Céphise in Rameau’s Pigmalion, and Adele in Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus. Ms. Tamborini recently won Second Place with The Century Opera’s Lucine Amara Art Song Competition and competed as a semi-finalist for Opera Index, MIOpera, and the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs’ Emerging Soloist Competitions. Additional competition accolades include winning the 2020 Riverside Opera Competition and making her Carnegie Hall debut after placing third in the Talents of the World International Voice Competition. She was a semi-finalist for the Orpheus Vocal Competition, Premiere Opera Foundation & NYIOP Competition, Annapolis Opera Competition, MIOpera Competition, 5 Towns Music and Art Foundation Music Competition, Lyra Mozart Competition, and Camille Coloratura Awards. Other season competition highlights include First Prize Winner in theElaine Malbin and Mario Lanza Competition, First Prize Winner in the The North International Music Competition, Finalist in the Harold Haugh Light Opera Vocal Competition, and First Prize Winner at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition, (Junior Woman’s division). She has performed as a guest artist with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, the soprano soloist for Handel’s Messiah with the Stony Brook Chamber Orchestra, and as a soprano soloist in numerous recital programs.
Ms. Tamborini received her master’s degree from Stony Brook University where she studied under the tutelage of Ms. Brenda Harris. She is a Michigan native having earned her bachelor’s degree at Michigan State University, studying with Dr. Anne Nispel.
KATHRYN VETTER | SPUTTER BOX
CLARINET
KATHRYN VETTER is an internationally award-winning clarinetist based in New York City. She performed at the 66th Festival Internazionale di Musica Contemporanea during La Biennale diVenezia, where she was awarded “Best Performance.” As a soloist, Kathryn won the 2018 Cortona Sessions Contemporary Performance Competition in Cortona, Italy and performed as a concerto soloist with the Oklahoma Community Orchestra after winning their 2018 Young Artists Competition. Kathryn regularly performs solo recitals at the International Clarinet Association’s annual ClarinetFest conferences. As an orchestral musician, she has previously performed with the New York Philharmonic Very Young Composers, Juilliard Lab Orchestra, Painted Sky Opera, Ohio Light Opera, Oklahoma Festival Ballet, and Norman Philharmonic.
Kathryn is the founding clarinetist of Sputter Box, a clarinet, voice, percussion ensemble and Nu Quintet, a woodwind quintet. Sputter Box was a grant recipient of the Harvard University FROMM Music Foundation Commission Grant (2021) with composer DM R, Chamber Music America Ensemble Forward Grant (2024, 2021), and Queens Arts Fund (2022), and has been guest artists at the University of Florida and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Nu Quintet has been featured in the Flute Center of New York’s Salon Series, the Montgomery Chamber Music Series, and regularly performs at Chelsea Market. Nu was a 2024 recipient of the New York Women Composers Seed Money Grant and hosts an annual Nu Works concert at DiMennna Center for Classical Music. As a freelance chamber musician, Kathryn has also performed with Contemporaneous, infraSound, and Collide-O-Scope Music, and regularly performs at the Saturdays at Six Concert Series at All Souls’ Episcopal Church in Stony Brook, New York. In 2022, she performed at the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival.
Dr. Kathryn Vetter is currently an Adjunct Music Professor at Five Towns College and teaches music theory and ear training at Mannes Prep–The New School. In 2022, she served as the Visiting Professor of Clarinet at the University of Oklahoma while Dr. Suzanne Tirk is on sabbatical. In 2016, she was a maternity-leave replacement for Dr. Tirk at the University of Oklahoma and was awarded the OU Provost’s Certificate of Distinction in Teaching award. Since 2013, Dr. Vetter has taught early childhood music classes for students ages 0-7 years. In addition to her university teaching, Dr. Vetter teaches a private studio of clarinet, saxophone, and flute students in New York. As a soloist and chamber musician, Kathryn has premiered over eighty new works. She has also contributed to the contemporary classical music field through her research. She presented a lecture recital on Kaija Saariaho’s Duft for solo clarinet at the Music by Women Festival in Columbus, Mississippi (2017) and presented research on Saariaho’s clarinet works at the Norton Lecture Series at the University of Oklahoma (2018). Kathryn completed her doctorate in clarinet performance at Stony Brook University, master’s degrees in clarinet performance and music theory at the University of Oklahoma, and her bachelor’s in music education at Michigan State University. Originally from New Jersey, she now resides in Brooklyn.
PETER WHITE | SPUTTER BOX
PERCUSSION
PETER WHITE is a solo and chamber percussionist from Tacoma, Washington. He earned his DMA in percussion performance at SUNY Stony Brook with Eduardo Leandro. An early interest in piano and drum set developed into an attraction to mallet and multiple percussion. During his undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon, he had his orchestral debut with the Eugene Symphony, and his solo debut presenting Iannis Xenakis’ Rebonds b at the 2014 Oregon Bach Festival. Throughout his studies with Svetoslav Stoyanov at the University of Miami from 2015-2016, he performed with the Nu Deco Ensemble in collaborations featuring artists such as Andy Akiho, Brika, and Project Trio.
Peter was a semi-finalist at the TROMP International Percussion Competition in 2016, where he met Joe DeMarco and began to build duo repertoire together. The following year, Peter performed with Stoyanov and three University of Miami colleagues on World Music Day at Kolorac Hall in Belgrade, Serbia as the percussion group Elemental Culture. In 2018, Peter officially joined with DeMarco as membranophŌn, testing their musical partnership by advancing to the semi-final round of the International Percussion Competition Luxembourg. The following year, Peter had his Carnegie Hall debut playing with the Children’s Orchestra Society in a concert featuring violinist Ray Chen.
Since 2020, Peter has been a guest percussionist for the two percussion and piano trio Pathos, premiering six new works. Also in 2020, Peter rejoined his University of Miami colleagues as the percussion quintet Pneuma, and were scheduled to perform in a Carnegie Hall Recital featuring Concert Artist’s Guild winner Mitya Nilov. Unfortunately, this concert was cancelled due to COVID-19. Since 2018, Peter has been working with Kathryn Vetter (clarinets) and Alina Tamborini (soprano) as the contemporary chamber trio Sputter Box, focusing their efforts on expanding therepertoire for their unique instrumentation.