Great music ... nearby
Friday, February 16, 2024, 7:30 PM
Pulcinella
A Neapolitan love story
featuring
Kara McBain, soprano
Zhihui Pang, tenor
Jeffrey Tarr, bass
Tenor Zhihui Pang, originally from China, is currently doing a GAC program in vocal performance at UNT under Carol Wilson. He was a master’s student of voice and graduate assistant at IU Jacobs School of Music studying with Deanne Meek and music coach Gary Arvin. He studied journalism and communication at Renmin University of China for his undergraduate program. Since his master’s program, he has performed the roles of Tamino (the Magic Flute), Prunier (La Rondine), Liberto (the Coronation of Poppea), the Governor (Candide). He has performed opera scenes from Faust as Faust and from La fille du regiment as Tonio. He has participated opera chorus of the Magic Flute and Don Giovanni. He participated Lyric Opera Studio Weimar in 2022 Summer and received scholarship. He successfully held his master recital in Feb, 2023, the repertoire of which includes Schumann’s Dichterliebe and songs by Henri Duparc, Roger Quilter, Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. He studied with François Le Roux on French melodie on his master class. He was the winner of Verdi Award of 2023 Orpheus Vocal Competition student group. He looks forward to his performance as Rinuccio of Gianni Schicchi at Opera Lucca and his performance as Don Jose of Carmen at Chicago Summer Opera this coming summer.
Kara McBain, soprano, currently studies at the University of North Texas in the Doctor of Musical Arts program with Dr. Carol Wilson, having been named a Teaching Fellow in the Voice Department in 2022. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, she earned her Bachelor of Music summa cum laude in Voice Performance from Missouri State University in 2020, and received her Master of Music in 2022 from the University of North Texas. She is the 2022 winner of the Mary Prudie Brown Award from the National Federation of Music Clubs, won first place in the 2021 Texoma NATS competition, was a finalist in the 2021 Colorado Bach Ensemble Young Artist Competition, and won first prize in the 2021 GCC Series “Best Handel Performance”. Recent roles include La Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro) at the University of North Texas, Magda (La Rondine) at Opera in the Ozarks, La Musique (Les arts florissants) with the Dallas Bach Society, Marenka (The Bartered Bride) at the University of North Texas, and Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors) with the Missouri State University Opera.
Possessing a rich, warm voice with "rock-solid vocalism and powerful projection" (The Capital), bass Jeffrey Tarr is equally in demand for opera and concert work. Among the opera companies with which he has performed are the Washington National Opera, Baltimore Concert Opera, and Oper Gut Immling. Mr. Tarr’s operatic credits include Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Bartolo and Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia. On the concert stage, Mr. Tarr has performed in Handel’s Messiah, Hadyn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Mozart’s Requiem with the Handel Choir of Baltimore, Abilene Philharmonic, and the Frederick Symphony Orchestra, to name a few. His performance of Messiah with the New Dominion Chorale was lauded by The Washington Post as "outstanding…a large, resonant voice, filled with both power and clarity." As a recitalist, he has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Mr. Tarr earned his DMA in Vocal Performance with an emphasis in pedagogy from the University of North Texas and serves as the Coordinator of Vocal Studies at Texas Woman’s University.