Posted on Monday, October 24, 2005
Soprano Dr. Anne Hagan Bentz, assistant professor of music at Westminster College, tenor Dr. David Smith, associate professor of music at Geneva College, and pianist Marie Libal-Smith, will give a recital featuring songs of Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel Monday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Wallace Memorial Chapel.
Bentz, who has been with Westminster College since 2001, earned her undergraduate degrees from the University of Delaware and the Hoschule fur Misik und Theater in West Germany, and her D.M.A. from the University of Maryland. She spent more than 14 years engaged as a soloist at The Badisches Staatstheater, The Stadtisches Landestheater Flensburg, and the Eduard von Winterstein Theater. Her many roles, which span the opera and operetta repertoire, include Gilda Rosina, Pamina, Adina Susanna from the "Marriage of Figaro, and Susanna from "The Secret of Susanna."
Smith, a dedicated recitalist, includes in his repertoire art songs of Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, Wolf, and Spohr. He produced a recital which presented the complete Lieder of Clara Schumann during the centenary commemoration of her death. He has been enthusiastically reviewed as Don Ottavio from "Don Giovanni," Don Ramiro in "Cenerentola," Don Curzio in "Marriage of Figaro," Remendado in "Carmen,"," and Pedrillo in "Abduction from the Seraglio."
Libal-Smith earned her undergraduate degree from Baldwin-Wallace and master's degree from Indiana University. She has performed extensively as vocal accompanist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Canada. Her recital collaborators include flutists Carol Wincenc, Amy Porter, and Sean Gabriel, principal flutist of the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and Cleveland Opera; and violinists Marissa Regni, principal second violinist of the National Symphony Orchestra and Christopher Wu, first violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Libel-Smith has recorded a CD with violinist Sharon Stanis of the Lafayette String Quartet, which includes music of Suk, Prokoviev, and Szymanowski. In addition to coaching and rehearsing for the opera programs at Westminster College, she is staff accompanist at Carnegie Mellon University
The event is free and open to the public. Contact Bentz at (724) 946-6045 or e-mail bentzah@westminster.edu for more information.
