Violet appears on Show 459.

Violet Paris-Hillmer (soprano), 17, lives in Brooklyn, New York and attends Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division and the Special Music School. Violet attended Boston Conservatory Tanglewood Institute during the summers of 2022 and 2023. In the summer of 2024, she traveled to France to study at the Académie Internationale d’Eté de Nice with Lorraine Nubar. In school, Violet is a member of student government, an editor of the school newspaper, and an ambassador to Kaufman Music Center.

In 2024 Violet won first place in the Classical Singer Vocal Competition High School Division. She won first place in the Philadelphia Schmidt Vocal Arts Competition and was a finalist in the Schmidt Vocal Arts National Competition. She won the Special Music School Concerto Competition with “Bell Song” from Leo Delibes’ Lakme which she performed at Merkin Concert Hall accompanied by Park Avenue Chamber Symphony. In 2023 and 2024 she received scholarships from the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers. In 2022 she won first place in the Salzburg Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition as well as the Amsterdam Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition. Previously she received first place in Young Virtuoso, Prima Volta, and International Grande Music Competition.

In 2023 she represented the Tanglewood Young Artist Voice Program at Tanglewood on Parade, performed her original composition Flowering Corpse with Caroline Shaw, was a soloist for Caroline Shaw’s Bed of Letters, and had an original composition performed by VOCES8. In 2022 she made her debut with New York City Opera creating the role of Young Micòl in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Garden of the Finzi-Continis.

In May of 2022, she performed in Aging Magician by Paola Prestini with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus at the San Diego Opera. As a member of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus Concert Ensemble, she has worked with and recorded works by Philip Glass, Lauri Anderson, Olga Neuwirth, Missy Mazzoli, and Nico Muhly with ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic and The American Symphony Orchestra on stages including Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Merkin Concert Hall.

Peter was named Host of From the Top in January 2020.

Peter Dugan’s position is sponsored by Susan and Gerald Slavet.

Peter first appeared on From the Top Show 158, recorded in April 2007, at age 18.

Prizing versatility as the key to the future of classical music, pianist Peter Dugan is equally at home in classical, jazz, and pop idioms.

He is heard nationwide as the  host of NPR’s beloved program From the Top.  He has appeared as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across North America and abroad. 

In 2020, Mr Dugan performed with Joshua Bell on a PBS Broadcast “At Home with Music” and appeared on  the album of the same name on Sony Classical. He was also featured on PBS Great Performances with mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan for the series “Now Hear This”.

A sought-after multi-genre artist, Mr. Dugan has performed in duos and trios with artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman and Renee Fleming to Jesse Colin Young and Glenn Close. Mr Dugan’s debut performances with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony were described by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning” and by the SF Chronicle as “fearlessly athletic.” The Wall Street Journal described Mr. Dugan’s collaboration with violinist Charles Yang as a “classical-meets-rockstar duo.” Mr. Dugan has been presented in chamber music recitals by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Music at Menlo, Moab Music Festival, and recently in recital with Joshua Bell at the Minnesota Beethoven Festival.  He was the 2019 featured recitalist for the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, and has soloed with the San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, New World Symphony, and Mid-Texas Symphony.

His album with baritone John Brancy –  A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song – pays homage to composers who lived through, fought in, and died in the Great War. Brancy and Dugan toured this program across North America in commemoration of the centennial of WWI, including performances at The Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Stanford University, the United States Naval Academy, and the Smithsonian Institute.  Together Brancy and Dugan won first prize at the 2018 Montreal International Music Competition and second prize at the 2017 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. He can also be heard as the piano soloist on a recording of Ives’ Fourth Symphony from Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, a recording which the New York Times named one of the top classical albums of 2019. 

Mr. Dugan advocates the importance of music in the community and at all levels of society.  As a founding creator of Operation Superpower, a superhero opera for children, he has traveled to dozens of schools in the greater New York area, performing for students and encouraging them to use their talents – their superpowers – for good.

Mr. Dugan holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Matti Raekallio. He was a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Young Scholar, College Scholar, and Graduate Scholar awards.

He resides in New York City with his wife, mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan, and serves on the piano faculty at the Juilliard School Evening Division. Mr. Dugan is a Yamaha Artist.