Singer and professor honored with Outstanding Alumna award: 2 p.m., Sunday, May 3
TACOMA, Wash. – University of Puget Sound’s School of Music welcomes back to campus Freda Herseth ’77, Hon.’01 to perform with the Adelphian Concert Choir, Bruce Browne, conductor, in the choir’s final concert of the academic year. The critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano will be presented with the school’s Outstanding Music Alumna award at the performance.
The program will include choral works by Monteverdi, Rautavaara, Brahms, and Schubert. Herseth will be the featured soloist in Schubert’s Standchën. The concert will begin at 2 p.m., Sunday, May 3, in Kilworth Memorial Chapel, and is free and open to the public.
After graduating cum laude from Puget Sound in 1977, Freda Herseth earned a Master of Music degree and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Munich, Germany. Her early professional career saw performances in New York City, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Aspen Music Festival. She has since performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout Europe, Russia, Israel, and the United States. Well-known for her sensitive performances of new and contemporary music, Herseth has premiered works with some of the world’s most renowned conductors and ensembles, such as with conductor Ricardo Muti and the La Scala Opera Orchestra.
Since 1995 Herseth has been on the faculty at the University of Michigan, where she served as chair of the voice department for eight years and is currently the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Voice. Puget Sound awarded her an honorary Doctor of Humanitarian Service degree in 2001 and an alumni award for professional achievement in 2007. The School of Music Outstanding Alumna award honors Herseth’s exceptional career as a performer and pedagogue and recognizes her for being a model alumna of the University of Puget Sound.
Founded in 1932, the Adelphian Concert Choir has attracted accolades from audiences in Canada, Europe, and West Coast. Conductor Bruce Browne is an emeritus professor of choral studies and voice at Portland State University and conductor laureate of the Portland Symphonic Choir. He founded the professional choir Choral Cross Ties and co-founded Male Ensemble Northwest.
Choirs under Browne's direction have performed at five American Choral Directors Association national conventions, four National Association for Music Education conventions, and numerous regional and state conventions. He has been a guest director and clinician in several states and countries, including Spain, Greece, Canada, and England.
University of Puget Sound School of Music is the only national liberal arts college in the Northwest to be accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music and offer a full symphony orchestra, concert band, jazz band, and comprehensive choral program. The school offers three professional degrees for undergraduates.
Press photos of the Adelphian Concert Choir can be downloaded from pugetsound.edu/pressphotos
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