FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuscaloosa, AL – The University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences School of Music presents a guest recital featuring Rebecca Turner, soprano on Saturday, August 28, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building on the campus of The University of Alabama. The program will include “Per la gloria d’adorarvi” from Griselda by Giovanni Bononcini, “Amarilli, mia bella” from Le Nuove Musiche by Giulio Caccini, “Caro mio ben” by Tommaso Giordani, “Le Violette” from Pirro e Demetrio by Allesandro Scarlatti, Wesendonk Lieder by Richard Wagner, “Deep River,” “Give Me Jesus,” “The Water is Wide,” and “Simple Gifts arranged by Mark Hayes, “Chanson triste,” “Le manoir de Rosemonde,” and “Phidylé” by Henri Duparc, and “To This We’ve Come” from The Consul by Gian-Carlo Menotti. She will be accompanied by Mildred Roche. Turner will also hold a master class in the Choral Opera Room on Sunday, August 29, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. Both events are FREE and open to the public. For more information visit: www.music.ua.edu/calendar or call 348-7111.
Soprano Rebecca Turner, a former member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Germany, came to singing by way of the piano. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia, as well as a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance and Accompanying from the University of North Texas in Denton. Upon completing her studies in Denton, Ms. Turner began vocal training in order to become better equipped as a vocal coach. This led her back to Shorter College for a Vocal Performance Degree and after four short years of study, she landed her first professional contract as a member of the solo ensemble with the opera company of Bremen, Germany. She performed there for four years before moving to Düsseldorf.
With over 500 performances to date, Ms. Turner’s repertoire is extensive, including the lead-soprano roles in such operas as Der fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Der Freischütz, Aida, Il Trovatore, La Forza del Destino, Simon Boccanegra, Turnadot, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, La Gioconda, I Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Eugene Onegin, Dialogues of the Carmelites and Peter Grimes. In addition to Düsseldorf, she has performed in many other European opera houses, including Bremen, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hannover, Mannheim, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Dortmund, Kiel, Münster, Graz, Basel, as well as the Shanghai Grand Theater in Shanghai, China, where she was the first soprano in China’s history to perform a Wagner opera. A versatile artist, Ms. Turner also performs frequently in chamber music concerts throughout the United States, most recently as a guest-artist with the American Chamber Players at The Friends of Chamber Music of Denver, Colorado; The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Florida; The Friends of Music at Queens, Charlotte, North Carolina; and The Utsey Chamber Music Series of Clemson, South Carolina. Her concert repertoire includes Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Dvorak’s Requiem, Mahler’s Rückertlieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder, Vaughan Williams’ Hodie and Wagner’s Wesendoncklieder. Recital venues have included the United States, Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, and Northern Ireland.
In the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons, Rebecca Turner presented many recitals and master classes, most recently in Dublin, Ireland and Belfast, Northern Ireland; the University of Texas Brownsville; and the Escuela Superior de Musica in Matamoros, Mexico. In the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 seasons, along with numerous recitals and master classes, she was the soprano soloist in a Christmas Gala performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as well as Brahms’s Requiem with the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra of Tacoma, Washington. She was also heard in concert performing Duparc songs with the West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra and as soprano soloist in Dubois’ The Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ at Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia. In June of 2008, she was a Guest Artist and Master Class Clinician for the Saltnotes Stageworks Festival at Indian Head, Maryland, and during the summer of 2004, she was the Music Director and Assistant Stage Director for productions of Copland’s The Tender Land and Britten’s Noye’s Fludde for the Shenandoah Performs Arts Festival at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia. Ms. Turner’s students have sung with major opera companies around the world, including those of Berlin, Leipzig, Hannover, Brussels, and Strassbourg, as well as the New York City Opera, Des Moines Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Utah Summer Opera Festival. In 2002 and 2003 she served on the voice faculty of the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival, a summer training institute sponsored by the Lutheran Music Program in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was Visiting Instructor of Voice at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas for the spring of 2004, Associate Adjunct Professor of Voice for the 2004-2005 academic year at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, Associate Professor of Voice at West Virginia University in Morgantown from 2005-2007, and is currently Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Opera at Converse College in Spartanburg, SC.
