TACOMA, Wash. – Acclaimed vocalists Dawn Padula and Chia-wei Lee will give a free public concert at University of Puget Sound on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011. An Evening of Vocal Music will present Padula (mezzo-soprano), director of vocal studies at Puget Sound’s School of Music, and guest artist Lee (baritone), associate professor of voice at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. The performance will start at 7:30 p.m. in Schneebeck Concert Hall. Admission is complimentary and tickets are not required.
The evening’s program will include selections of works by German composer Robert Schumann; French composer and pianist Gabriel Fauré; and the versatile Italian opera, chamber music, and piano music composer Gioachino Rossini, who was known among his contemporaries as the “Italian Mozart.”
Padula (pictured left), an alumna of Trinity University, sang as the alto soloist in Mozart’s Requiem at Cleveland, Ohio’s famed Severance Hall with Lee (the bass soloist) last spring to commemorate Kent State University’s 100th anniversary. As a result of that collaboration, the performers decided to arrange a concert and master class exchange between Trinity and Puget Sound.
In December Padula traveled to Texas to give a master class and to perform a joint recital with Lee (pictured below) at Trinity. The Jan. 28 concert is the other half of that exchange. Lee will present a master class for Puget Sound vocal students on Jan. 26. Both Lee and Padula will serve as faculty at the Kunming Asian Music Festival, an opera training program open to undergraduate and graduate students worldwide, this summer in Kunming, China.
Padula’s career includes performances of many of the major operatic roles, solo concert repertoire, and reading and recording sessions with major music organizations throughout the United States. She has won critical acclaim for her beautiful tone quality, her musical interpretations, and her characterizations. She has performed with Houston Grand Opera, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Amarillo Opera, Alamo City Men’s Chorale, Opera in the Heights of Houston, and Living Opera Company of Dallas, among others. Prior to joining the faculty at University of Puget Sound, Padula was assistant professor of voice and director of Opera Workshop at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.
Lee, a native of Taiwan, is associate professor of voice at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Lee is quickly establishing himself as one of the most compelling emerging baritones on the musical landscape. His distinctively beautiful and strong voice has won him international acclaim. An extremely gifted artist, Lee is at home on both the operatic and concert stages. Lee has appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), Austin Symphony Orchestra, Ever Green Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), Taipei Symphony Orchestra, and Jersey Symphony Orchestra. He recently made his Alice Tully Hall debut as the soloist in the Yellow River Cantata.
For photographs of the artists please contact sskeel@pugetsound.edu or call 253.879.2611.
For directions and a map of the campus visit www.pugetsound.edu/directions
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