Founder and conductor of Ensemble Lumina, Caroline Drury, is an astute musician and has made a number of appearances as conductor, soprano, and pianist, in the US, Europe, and the Middle East.
Caroline has a strong background as both a formally trained singer and a skilled instrumentalist. When she officially picked up the baton in 2014, she realized this unique combination of perspectives brings an added depth to her abilities as a choral conductor.
An accomplished artist, she was heard most recently as the soprano soloist in Brahms Requiem with the Association Symphonique de Paris. She is hailed as having a voice “of uncommon distinctiveness, creamy and full as it moved through the break to a lustrous top register,” “perfect in placement and pitch.” She has been featured as a soloist in Mäntyjärvi’s Canticum calamitatis maritimae, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Bach’s Johannes Passion and B Minor Mass, Händel’s Joshua and Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Fauré’s Requiem, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Mendelssohn’s Lobesgesang, among others. She has had the privilege of singing under conductors Howard Arman, Volker Hempfling, Michael Reif, Joseph Rescigno, James Rightmyer, Kent Hatteberg, Fred Gramann, and Franck Chastrusse. Operatic roles include Zauberin (Die Schneekönigin), Susanna, Zerlina, Mother (Amahl), Papagena, Princess (Everyone Wa
nts To Be Free), and Nora (Riders to the Sea). Drury has sung as a professional chorister in a number of choirs, most notably with Leipzig’s Rundfunchor MDR, Kölner Kantorei, and Europäischer Kammerchor.
A proficient pianist, Caroline has served in Germany, the US, and Lebanon as a collaborative pianist with various churches, in seminars, and in academia. She is an experienced vocal coach with an acute ear for languages and a strong command of language diction. She has also accompanied a large number of choirs throughout her career. Caroline spent her formative musical training also as a violinist, performing in selective orchestras in her home state of Illinois until she was 18.
She holds a Masters in Music from the Manhattan School of Music and graduated from the University of Louisville School of Music summa cum laude. Drury also holds a Masters in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action from Sciences Po Paris. She is based in Paris with her husband, co-founder of Lumina and amateur baritone Hadi, and children, Luciano and Leonora.