ISSUED: 19 November 2015
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — The Shepherd University music department is hosting an afternoon performance of opera scenes on Tuesday, December 1, at 2 p.m. in the Frank Center’s W. H. Shipley Recital Hall. Under the direction of Melanie Zayas Regan, adjunct music professor, selections include excerpts from “The Mikado,” “Little Women,” “The Magic Flute,” “Gondoliers,” “Trouble in Tahiti,” and “Elixir of Love.” Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, call 304-876-5555 or visit www.shepherd.edu/music.
The performance will be a semi-staged production with minimal costume and props. Piano accompaniment will be by Barbara Irvine, adjunct music professor, and performers will be students Henry DeBuchananne, Harpers Ferry; Jamie Friedel, Abingdon, Maryland; Matthew Gray, Magnolia, Delaware; Morgan Huyett, Charles Town; Stephanie Proctor, Chantilly, Virginia; Bethany Przybocki, Haymarket, Virginia; Simone Reynolds, Suitland, Maryland; Allexandra Rosle, Harleysville, Pennsylvania; Mary Sullivan, Lexington Park, Maryland; Hannah Wardell, Ellicott City, Maryland; Julie Wyant, Martinsburg; and Helen Zumbach, Knoxville, Maryland.
Mezzo-soprano Melanie Zayas Regan studied at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where she earned both her bachelor of music and master of music degrees in voice. Upon completing her master’s degree, she took the position of applied voice instructor at St. James School in Hagerstown, Maryland. In 2007 Regan founded the Saint James Boy’s Ensemble, a group that specializes in close harmony a cappella works with selections ranging from 18th-century polyphony to modern pop. In addition to her role as a teacher and private voice instructor, she is an active performer both locally and throughout the eastern United States.
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