UST Voice Professor To Perform At Carnegie Hall
January 29, 2009
UST Adjunct Professor of Music Marion Russell Dickson is on her way
to New York. Russell Dickson, a soprano who teaches Studio Voice and
Diction in English, French and Italian, will take the stage at the
famed Carnegie Hall on March 14.
Russell Dickson, tenor Todd Randall Miller and pianists Shannon Hesse
and Jay Whatley will give a preview performance of the Carnegie recital
entitled “A Faculty Recital of 20th Century American Song,” at 7 p.m.
Feb. 21 in Cullen Hall. The performance is free and open to the public.
“We are overjoyed that one of our faculty members will be singing at
Carnegie Hall where so many great musicians have performed,” Music
Program Chair Tom Crow said.
Russell Dickson earned a Master of Music from Eastman School of Music
and holds an undergraduate degree in voice performance from Westminster
Choir College. She joined UST as a faculty member in 2008. Dickson
teaches Art Song Literature and Master Classes at UST. Prior to joining
the UST faculty, she taught at Sam Houston State University in
Huntsville, Texas, Lone Star College-Kingwood and Lone Star
College–Montgomery, Houghton College in Houghton, New York, Nazareth
College in Rochester, New York, and as a graduate assistant at the
Eastman School of Music.
Though she has performed with a choir on the Carnegie stage as a
student of Westminster Choir College, this is her Carnegie recital
debut at Weill Recital Hall, the intimate hall at Carnegie which is
appropriate for the song recital. Russell Dickson was invited to sing
in the recital by friend and colleague Dr. Todd Randall Miller of Lone
Star College Kingwood. The recital is presented by Distinguished
Concerts International New York.
Miller and Russell Dickson will perform one duet, the “Love Duet,”from
Sleeping Beauty by Richard Faith, and “One Hand, One Heart” and
“Tonight” from the earlier operatic version of West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. Russell Dickson will perform several solos including Four Dickinson Songs by Lori Laitman, selections from Chasms by Randolph Partain, selections from Metamorphosis by Benton Hess, The Silver Swan by Ned Rorem and Della’s Aria from The Gift of the Magi by David Conte.
Many of the selections on the program were written by composers whom Miller and Russell Dickson know personally.
“When Todd Miller and I selected the music for the program, we wanted
to highlight American composers who were meaningful to us,” Russell
Dickson said. “When I was working at Sam Houston State with Randolph
Partian, he wrote Chasms specifically for my voice. Metamorphosis
is also special to me because Benton Hess was one of my coaches at
Eastman School of Music. I chose to sing these pieces to celebrate
American composers and to, hopefully, motivate other singers in the
audience to explore their music.”
For more information about Marion Russell Dickson visit www.marionrusselldickson.com.
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