Come hear some of our TUNDI singers work with master teacher Rebecca Turner.

Admission by donation at the door.

Soprano Rebecca Turner, a recent member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Germany, came to singing by way of the piano. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance, piano pedagogy, and vocal performance from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia, as well as a Master of Music degree in piano performance and accompanying from the University of North Texas in Denton. Upon completing her studies in Denton, Ms. Turner began vocal training in order to become better equipped as a vocal coach. This led her back to Shorter College for a vocal performance degree and after four short years of study, she landed her first professional contract as a member of the solo ensemble with the opera company of Bremen, Germany. She performed there for four years before moving to Düsseldorf.

With over 500 performances to date, Ms. Turner’s repertoire is extensive, including the lead soprano roles in such operas as Der fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Der Freischütz, Aida, Il Trovatore, La Forza del Destino, Simon Boccanegra, Turnadot, Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, La Gioconda, I Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Eugene Onegin, Dialogues of the Carmelites and Peter Grimes. In addition to Bremen and Düsseldorf, she has performed in the opera houses of Frankfurt, Cologne, Hannover, Mannheim, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Dortmund, Kiel, Münster, Graz, Basel, as well as the Shanghai Grand Theater in Shanghai, China, where she was the first soprano in China's history to perform a Wagner opera. Her concert repertoire includes Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Dvorak’s Requiem, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Rückertlieder, Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder, Vaughan Williams’ Hodie and Wagner’s Wesendoncklieder. Recital venues have included the United States, Austria, France, Germany, Ireland and Mexico.

Performances for the 2009-2010 season included concerts in Colorado, Florida and North and South Carolina with the American Chamber Players and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Sarah Ioannides. In recent seasons Rebecca Turner has presented many recitals and master classes, including a master class series and recital in Dublin, Ireland, a master class and recital at the University of Texas Brownsville, and a recital at the Escuela Superior de Musica in Matamoros, Mexico. In the 2006-2007 season, along with numerous recitals and master classes, she was the soprano soloist in a Christmas Gala performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as well as Brahms's Requiem with the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra of Tacoma, Washington. She was also heard in concert performing Duparc songs with the West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra and as soprano soloist in Dubois’ The Seven Last Words of Christ at Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia. Her recent professional activity has included performances of Der Fliegende Holländer in Düsseldorf and Kiel, Lohengrin in Bremen, Verdi’s Requiem in Pforzheim, Dvořák’s Requiem in Münster, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the South Texas Symphony in McAllen. In June of 2008, she was a Guest Artist and Master Class Clinician for the Saltnotes Stageworks Festival at Indian Head, Maryland, and during the summer of 2004, she was the Music Director and Assistant Stage Director for productions of Copland’s The Tender Land and Britten’s Noye’s Fludde for the Shenandoah Performs Arts Festival at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia.

Ms. Turner’s students have sung with major opera companies around the world, including those of Berlin, Leipzig, Hannover, Brussels, and Strasburg, as well as the New York City Opera, Des Moines Opera, and Utah Summer Opera Festival. In 2002 and 2003 she served on the voice faculty of the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival, a summer training institute sponsored by the Lutheran Music Program in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was Visiting Instructor of Voice at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas for the spring of 2004, Associate Adjunct Professor of Voice for the 2004-2005 academic year at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, Associate Professor of Voice at West Virginia University in Morgantown from 2005-2007, and is currently Associate Professor of Voice  at Converse College in Spartanburg, SC.