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Arwen Meyers

Praised for her “crystalline tone and delicate passagework” (San Francisco Chronicle), soprano Arwen Myers is quickly gaining a reputation as a captivating & sensitive interpreter of repertoire spanning from early to new music. A versatile artist equally comfortable in oratorio, chamber music, and on stage, Ms. Myers has performed major works with Portland Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Vancouver, Pacific MusicWorks, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, among others. Recent & upcoming highlights include Handel with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Bach & Purcell with Portland Baroque Orchestra; Vivaldi, Monteverdi, and Gabrieli with Early Music Vancouver; Fauré with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; world premieres by Robert Kyr, Zachary Wadsworth, J.J. Wright, and Michel Petrossian; and Handel Semele (title role) with American Bach Soloists Academy. An enthusiastic collaborator, she has been featured with some of the nation’s premiere chamber ensembles, including Seraphic Fire, Bach Akademie Charlotte, and Cappella Romana, among others. A native of Augusta, GA, Arwen holds degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and she currently serves as Director of Communications & Marketing at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and Executive & co-Artistic Director of Northwest Art Song in Portland, OR. She is an active freelance artist across the United States & beyond. Learn more at arwenmyerssoprano.com.

Inés Voglar Belgique

Violinist Inés Voglar Belgique, in her fourteenth season with Fear No Music, served as Artistic Director from 2005-2011. She studied music under “El Sistema,” and came to the States in 1996 to complete her BM and MM from Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon Universities. After playing two seasons with the Pittsburgh Symphony as a substitute musician, Inés joined the Oregon Symphony in 2004, and is a faculty member at Lewis and Clark College, the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp and OSU Chamber Music Camp. In September of 2012, Inés won a national audition for the title chair of Assistant Principal Second Violin with the Oregon Symphony. She has been the conductor of the Young String Ensemble of PYP since 2015, and regularly performs chamber music around Portland with Palatine Piano Trio. Her most influential violin teachers have been Roberto Valdes and Andrés Cárdenes. You can hear her in FNM’s latest CD “Somewhere I’ve Never Traveled,” music by Bonnie Miksch. Inés has been part of Venezuela’s Voice in Oregon since September of 2018, a nonprofit organization of volunteers dedicated to providing aid to centers in need in Venezuela by collecting primarily food and hygiene items throughout the year.

James Shields

James Shields joined the Oregon Symphony as principal clarinet in the autumn of 2016. Before relocating to Portland, Shields served as principal clarinet of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto as well as the New Mexico Philharmonic in Albuquerque.

A graduate of The Juilliard School, Shields studied with Ricardo Morales, principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Shields has appeared as a soloist with the Oregon Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, Interlochen’s World Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra, and as guest principal clarinet with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, and Santa Fe Pro Musica.

In addition to his orchestral and solo activities, Shields is increasingly becoming known to North American audiences as a dynamic and passionate performer of chamber music, making over 30 appearances annually in intimate settings throughout the United States and Canada. Shields is co-artistic director of Chatter, an Albuquerque-based chamber music organization that presents more than 60 concerts per year, and a core member of the Portland-based chamber music collective 45th Parallel Universe. In addition to his performing activities, Shields holds a Master of Music in Composition from the University of New Mexico, and continues to compose regularly.