Dramatic Soprano Performs One-Woman Show at Utah State University

Joy McIntyre, an internationally acclaimed dramatic soprano, brings her one-woman show, Shades of Shakespeare, to Utah State University for one performance only Friday, Feb. 17. Performance time is 7:30 p.m. in the Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall. The performance is sponsored by the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation and is part of activities in the department of music and the Caine School of the Arts at USU.

Collaborative pianist for the Friday performance is Lynn Jemison-Keisker, a music department faculty member and head of USU’s opera theatre program.

 

General admission tickets are $5 and USU students are admitted free. Tickets are available at the Performance Hall’s box office.

 

A master class with voice students from USU will also be provided by McIntyre. Sessions take place Saturday, Feb. 18, in The Performance Hall from 10 a.m. to noon and 2-4 p.m.

 

McIntyre has previous ties to music programs at USU. She headed the music department’s opera program in the mid-1980s. She returned to USU last year for master class sessions as well. She has performed in more than 30 opera houses throughout the world and is best known for her powerful portrayals of the title roles in operas that include Elektra, Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Der Ring Des Nibelungen, Fidelio, Parsifal, Lohengrin, Tannhauser, Wozzeck, Turandot, MacBeth and Jenufa, among others. She is professor emerita of Boston University and is former chair of voice/opera at USU and Boston University. She is past president and governor of chapters of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She has presented master classes in France, Germany and the United States, as well as being on the faculty of the University of Miami’s summer vocal program in Salzburg, Austria.

 

The works of Shakespeare are among McIntyre’s special interests. With that interest she combines dramatic scenes with texts of Shakespeare, set by renowned composers, into her one-woman show Shades of Shakespeare. Honoring the bard, she speaks through familiar characters from Henry VIII  to Taming of the Shrew, and in song settings from Henry Purcell to Cole Porter.

 

“‘There is never too much of a good thing’ when it comes to Shakespeare,” Jemison-Keisker said, incorporating a Shakespearean phrase. “‘Don’t stand on ceremony,’ join use for an evening to remember.”

 

In addition to the public performance of “Shades of Shakespeare,” members of the public are invited to observe the Saturday master class, where voice and opera students will perform a variety of art songs and opera repertoire for McIntyre. For information, contact Jemison-Keisker at (435) 797-3038.