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jbrown84
03-27-2007, 09:55 AM
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Famed Opera Singer To Perform at OBU
March 23, 2007

Metropolitan Opera soloist Claudia Waite and Oklahoma Baptist University graduate Cynthia Swicegood will present a guest recital Thursday, March 29, at 7:30 p.m., in OBU’s Potter Auditorium.

An active soprano at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City’s Lincoln Center, Waite also will speak to OBU vocal students on Friday, March 30.

Waite has performed with Opera Orchestra of New York, Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, I’Opera de Lyon, Opera Centrum Nederland, New Israeli Opera, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Tulsa Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, the Houston Philharmonic, New Haven Symphony and other leading operas worldwide.

She has been featured in productions of War and Peace, Der Rosenkavalier, Nabucco, Macbeth, Elektra, Le Nozze di Figaro and other works. Waite performed as a soloist in a presentation of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the opening ceremonies of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Waite said the OBU recital will feature a range of works.

“In addition to Handel, Cindy and I will be performing a set of W.A. Mozart songs and concert arias,” she said. “We also will do sets by Richard Strauss, Sergei Rachmaninoff; some delightful 20th century Italian songs by Tosti, Toselli and Donaudy; and a very charming contemporary French cycle by American composer Craig Bohmler.”

Waite and Swicegood were colleagues in graduate school.

Dr. Swicegood, a 1984 OBU graduate, is a pianist and accompanist. She completed a doctorate in accompanying and collaborative piano at Florida State University. She resides in North Carolina.

“Claudia is a true artist in every sense of the word,” said Swicegood. “Her God-given voice is beautiful; her tone, rich and pure; her diction, impeccable; her acting, superb; and her musicianship, inspiring. She is an incredible performer-one with whom I feel honored and blessed to collaborate. I know you will thoroughly enjoy hearing her.”

Potter Auditorium is located in John Wesley Raley Chapel on OBU’s campus. The recital is open to the public with free admission.