THE MUSIC OF FRANZ SCHUBERT

Vocal Music Concert
Friday, February 8, 2008
Featuring

 

Carol Meyer Willingham, soprano, has sung in major opera houses across the United States, including a nine-year career at the Metropolitan Opera, where the range of her roles extended from Mozart to Poulenc.  Her operatic and concert tours have taken her throughout the world, including the Middle East and Asia, and she has also performed extensively with orchestra and in recital.  In addition, she was featured in the 1992 PBS broadcast of Sondheim:  A Celebration at Carnegie Hall.  Carol has also been an active recording artist for the Milken Archive for American Jewish Music (available under the Naxos American Classics label), work for which she earned a Grammy nomination in 2004.  During her years in New York, Carol made regular appearances with the contemporary music ensemble "Continuum", performing with the group in Mongolia and Uzbekistan.  She has also been a regular performer with and guest faculty member of the Chamber Music Conference of the East and Composers' Forum in Bennington, Vermont.  In addition, 2006 marked the 30 year anniversary of working with her voice teacher, Dr. John Van Cura, during which time she collaborated on countless recitals with pianist Dr. Kim Van Cura.  Carol Meyer Willingham holds bachelor's and master's degrees in vocal performance from the University of Iowa, as well as a certificate (diplom) in Art Song and Oratorio from the Hochschule "Mozarteum" in Salzburg, Austria. 

Robin Roewe, tenor, received the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Baylor University.  He is currently Music and Worship Associate at Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy, TX. He has served as a faculty member at Houston Baptist University, Houston, TX and Simpson College, Indianola, IA.  He made his American debut as Alfredo in La Traviata with the Aspen Opera Theater and his international debut as the tenor soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Orquestra da Camera del Nuevo Mundo in Mexico city.  His portrayals of some of the most demanding roles written for tenor have been have been heralded as "...well-executed and masterfully sung... by the brilliant and large-voiced Robin Roewe...with ...an apparent natural ease..."

 Mr. Roewe has appeared in numerous opera, oratorio, concert and recital venues throughout the world with such organizations as the Aspen Opera Theater, Des Moines Metro Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Waco Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, AIMS orchestra in Graz, Austria, Opera in the Heights in Houston and the Orquestra da Camara del Nuevo Mundo in Mexico City.  He also quite active as a performer within church music programs across the country as a guest soloist and clinician.

 He has been an international finalist in several prestigious competitions including the Eleanor McCullom competition with the Houston Grand Opera, a regional winner and national semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a semi-finalist in the Mobil-Austria Meistersinger competition.  He has also been awarded top honors as the Singer of the Year by the National Association of the Teachers of Singing.

 Mr. Roewe resides in Houston with his wife Suzanne and their children Adam and Lauren. 

John Van Cura, National Association of Teachers of Singing Master Teacher, received Bachelor and Master's degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in his hometown of Baltimore, MD.  While still a young scholarship student he debuted at the Baltimore Opera singing with renowned singers Sherrill Milnes, Birgit Nilson, Norman Treigle & Blanche Thebom.  His mentors included Rosa Ponselle, Peter Herman Adler, and teachers Francesco Valentino, Elena Nikolaidi, Lieder specialist Alice Gerstel Duschak, and Bach choral scholar for Jones.  He was a winner in the Washington DC International Vocal Competition, and was invited to audition at the Metropolitan Opera by Francis Robinson. 

While a student he discovered a passion and ability to diagnose and help other singers with vocal problems, and he began a career in teaching at Mercer University from 1966-1976.  At Mercer he taught voice, directed the opera theater, and was a choral director.  During this time he was a frequent soloist with Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony, and distinguished himself as a performer and teacher at Florida State University where he earned his doctorate in vocal performance and pedagogy. 

From 1976-1986 he taught at the University of Iowa where he sang numerous major orchestral and choral works with choral director and friend, Don Moses, and was baritone soloist at the Classical Music Seminar in Eisenstadt, Austria.  He has sung throughout Europe and on Austrian radio and TV, Radio Free Europe, and National Public Radio, was a recipient of many Iowa Arts council Grants, as well as awarded a Fulbright Grant for Teaching.  He has sung over fifty opera & oratorio roles, including the major works of Bach & Haydn. 

His students have won major vocal competitions including the Grand Prix of the Geneva Competition, Metropolitan National Auditions, Houston Opera Competition, Dallas Opera Grants, McCammom Vocal Competition, Contemporary Opera Guild of New York, and the Liederkranz Competition; and have sung in most of the major summer opera programs for young singers in the US, including the Merola Program, Santa Fe, Central City, Chatauqua, Des Moines Metro, Opera North, Aspen, Lake George, and Zurich Opera Studio.

First generation students include international opera star Michele Crider, one of the foremost Verdi sopranos in the world; Carol Meyer, Metropolitan Opera soprano, and  prominent contemporary music specialist; Leslie Morgan, well-known singer and prominent mid-western university voice teacher; Kimm Julian, distinguished American baritone; and Mark Schnaible, international opera singer and a former Baylor student.  Other aspiring singers from Baylor University include Marjorie Owens, 2006 NATIONAL Metropolitan Opera winner and winner of the Dallas Opera Guild grant, the Houston Competition, 2004 McCammon Competition, West Palm Beach Opera Competition, formerly a resident artist with Houston Grand Opera, and presently a resident artist with the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists in Chicago; Matt Trevino, Merola Opera Program, toured the US with the Western Opera Theater, and Des Moines Metro artist; Randall Ball, currently with the Zurich Opera School in Switzerland, & Matthew Moore, with the University of Boston Opera School.  Numerous students are also choral conductors and voice teachers in universities and colleges throughout the US, hold positions as music ministers, are musical theater singers, as well as contemporary Christian artists Dennis McDaniel and Paul Sike.

Through continuing work with his students, he and his wife of forty years, Dr. Kim Van Cura, have been associated with many of the great conductors and singers in the major opera houses of the US and Europe.  Their son, Ken Van Cura, an M.M. from Baylor University, continues the musical tradition through his music ministry at Faith Bible Church in DeSoto, TX.  The Van Curas are the founders of a concert series, MUSIC IN SALADO, TX Inc. and the Van Cura Institute for Voice and Teaching in Salado. 

Kim Van Cura has collaborated for over forty years with her husband, John Van Cura, beginning at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., where she majored in piano and voice and performed both as a singer and a pianist.  She was an honor graduate and received the outstanding student Phyllis Milner Award while there.  Master teachers include Leon Fleisher, Leonard Bernstein, Walter Hautzig, Martial Singher and Madame Alice Gerstel Duschak.  Dr. Van Cura earned a Master of Music degree in accompanying and chamber music from the University of Iowa where she taught and coached in the opera department.  At Iowa she was a professional pianist for degree recitals, bachelor through doctoral level, and performed under the auspices of the Iowa Arts Council with John Van Cura in recitals and master classes.  She also was an accompanist for Columbia Artist Concert Artist Guild in Canada and the US.

In 1995, while continuing to teach and perform in TX she earned a doctorate in education from Baylor University where she focused on the one-to-one teaching relationship in the applied music studio.  The subject of her dissertation was renowned teacher of violin, Dorothy DeLay.  The model of teaching is published by UMI.  She was honored by Baylor University in 1994 as the outstanding graduate student.  She has presented seminars for independent music teachers, college faculties, and heads of music in TX colleges and universities.  The list of singers she has accompanied in recital include Madame Alice Gerstel Duschak, Ingo Titze, John Van Cura, international opera star Michele Crider, Metropolitan Opera soprano Carol Meyer, and Kimm Julian.  She has supported, as pianist, numerous winners of vocal competitions, including NATS competitions and Met Opera Auditions.  She currently lives in Salado, TX where she and her husband founded the Institute for Voice and Pedagogy in the summer of 2002.  She is a private teacher whose students have won awards and honors in every area of music.