Saint Martin’s welcomes award-winning opera singer Kathy McNeil

February 28, 2011

Lacey, Washington — Kathy McNeil, an award-winning opera singer and educator who has performed throughout the United States, will give a recital at Saint Martin’s University on Monday, March 7, at 8:30 p.m. The concert will be held in the University’s Abbey Church on the Lacey campus. It is free and open to the public. McNeil also will teach a master class for Saint Martin’s vocal students the following day, Tuesday, March 8, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The class is free and open for observation by the public. It will be held in the Kreielsheimer Hall on the University campus.

McNeil is a versatile performer, having appeared in oratorio, recital and opera performances. She is a coloratura soprano, an operatic soprano specializing in music distinguished by agile runs and leaps. Her operatic credits include appearances with the Aspen Music Festival, the San Antonio Symphony and the Lyric Opera of Dallas. She has performed such roles as Marie in La Fille du Régiment, Violette in La Traviata, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus and the First Lady in Die Zauberflüte. She also has performed with symphony orchestras in Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas as well as overseas in Austria. McNeil is currently on the faculty at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

“Ms. McNeil is not only a talented performer with an impressive repertoire, but a dedicated educator working to help her students hone their craft,” says Darrell Born, chair of the music department at Saint Martin’s. “We have many fine aspiring singers here on campus, and this is a wonderful opportunity for them to learn new techniques from a seasoned professional. In particular, our soprano students will benefit from hearing a coloratura soprano and receiving expert advice in specific coloratura genre of song and opera.”

McNeil’s students have experienced success in a range of arenas. Her protégés are performing in opera houses in Germany and Austria and with orchestras throughout the United States, and have been accepted into prestigious graduate programs at schools such as the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, and Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.

McNeil herself won first place in the Mobil-Austria Meistersinger competition in Graz, Austria. She has twice been selected the winner of the Texoma region Young Artist Competition of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Other accomplishments include winning the Aspen Summer Music Festival vocal competition and being named finalist in both the WGN-Chicago vocal competition and the Merola Opera auditions.

McNeil holds a Master of Music in vocal performance from West Texas A&M University. Prior to joining the Texas Tech faculty, she taught at Hardin-Simmons University, where she was elected the Cullen Professor for outstanding teaching — the highest honor a faculty member may receive at the university. McNeil also has served on the music faculty at Arizona State University.

Concert:
Soprano Kathy McNeil
Monday, March 7
8:30 p.m.
Saint Martin’s University
Abbey Church

Master class:
Tuesday, March 8
11:00 a.m.– 1p.m.
Saint Martin’s University
Kreielsheimer Hall, Room 105

Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year, Catholic, coeducational university located on a 380-acre wooded campus in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 18 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University prepares students for successful lives through its 21 majors and six graduate programs spanning the liberal arts, business, education and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes 1,250 students from many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its main campus, and 650 more to its extension campuses located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Everett College, Centralia College, and Tacoma Community College.

For more information:

Jennifer Fellinger
Vice president, marketing and communications
Saint Martin’s University
360-438-4332
jfellinger@stmartin.edu