Opera singer Barbara Paré will offer an evening of poems by Emily Dickinson and songs by various composers at Bluefield College, Friday, September 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Harman Chapel.
Open and free to the public, the event will also feature Dr. Abigail Heiniger, a published writer and assistant professor of English at Bluefield College.
Paré, an assistant professor of music at DePauw University, has extensive solo and operatic experience, having performed with a variety of nationally-known opera companies, including the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, the Cincinnati Opera Summer Festival, the Ensemble Company of Cincinnati Opera, the Des Moines Metro Opera, and Opera Iowa.
She has also performed as a soloist with the Cincinnati Ballet, presented numerous recitals at colleges and universities, and recorded Bernard Gilmore’s Five Folksongs for Soprano and Band with the Cincinnati Wind Symphony. In addition, she has been a participant in the Grandin Festival for vocal chamber music and is an active adjudicator and clinician for the Indiana State School Music Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and the Indiana Music Teachers Association.
Paré holds a Bachelor of Music degree in voice performance from Westminster Choir College and a Master of Music degree in voice performance from Florida State University. Her major teachers have included Patricia Berlin, Barbara Doscher, Yvonne Ciannella, and Lindsay Christiansen. Before joining the faculty at DePauw University, she taught at Northern Kentucky University, Florida State University, Western State College, and Simpson College.
Dr. Heiniger, who joined the BC faculty in the fall of 2015, recently published a book on literature by and about women, titled The Fairy Tale Legacy of Jane Eyre at Home and Abroad: Constructions and Deconstructions of National Identity. Before Bluefield, she taught at Lawrence Technological University, Wayne State University, and the University of Louisville. She holds a Ph.D. in English literature; master’s degrees in English literature, and humanities, literature and art history; and a bachelor’s degree in English and humanities.
For more information about the September 29 concert, contact the BC Department of Music at 276-326-4258.