Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Lisa Reagan is an American singer, musician, composer, and professor of voice. Working in musical genres ranging from classical to new age, she has released eight albums. She performed with the Washington National Opera for more than 20 years.
Mathilde Marchesi was a German mezzo-soprano, a singing teacher, and a proponent of the bel canto vocal method.
Leona Pearl Mitchell is an American operatic Grammy Award-winning soprano who sang for 18 seasons as a leading spinto soprano at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Edward Knight is an American composer. His work eschews easy classification, moving freely between jazz, theatrical and concert worlds.
Chris Merritt is an American tenor.
Erna Spoorenberg, Huberdina Aletta Spoorenberg as real name, was a Dutch soprano.
The Wanda L Bass School of Music is a College at Oklahoma City University. It offers several degrees including; a BM, MM, and a BA in several areas of Music. The Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University is an All-Steinway School, the nation’s first Conn-Selmer School, a member of the National Alliance for Music Theatre, and winner of ASCAP’s national orchestral award for adventurous programming of contemporary music.
Florence Gillam Birdwell, sometimes referred to as Flo Birdwell, was an American educator, musician, and singer. She taught musical theater and opera singing for more than six decades. She served as a professor of voice at the Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University from 1946 to 2013, and afterwards periodically teaching master classes as a professor emerita.
Olga Averino was a Russian-born soprano and voice teacher. A white émigré to the United States in the wake of the Russian Civil War, she was prominent in the musical life of Boston for over 60 years, first as a singer and later as a distinguished voice teacher.
Patricia Misslin was an American voice teacher and soprano. She taught voice on the faculties of several American institutions, including the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam, the Manhattan School of Music, and the New England Conservatory. Several of her pupils had prominent careers in the field of opera, including Renée Fleming, Margaret Lattimore, Stephanie Blythe, and Alexandra Deshorties.
Stephen Dickson was an American baritone who had an active career in operas and concerts from 1972 through 1990. He was active with the United States's most important opera companies during the 1980s, sharing the stage with many notable singers like Luciano Pavarotti, Jessye Norman, and Renata Scotto. He was particularly admired for his portrayal of Papageno in The Magic Flute, a role he sang throughout Europe and the United States. At the time of his premature death, Dickson had just reached the pinnacle of his career, having only recently gained a more substantial role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and with major European opera houses like the Royal Opera, London and the Bavarian State Opera among others.
Shirlee Emmons was an American classical soprano, voice teacher, and author on vocal pedagogy. She began her career in the early 1940s as a concert soprano, eventually becoming one of the original singers in the Robert Shaw Chorale in 1948. She branched out into opera in the 1950s; performing mainly with regional companies in the United States. She achieved several honours as a performer, including winning the Marian Anderson Award in 1953 and an Obie Award in 1956.
Frances James was a Canadian soprano who specialized in concert repertoire. She worked prolifically as a performer on CBC Radio and as a recitalist from the late 1920s through the 1950s; premiering works by numerous Canadian composers of note and championing works by contemporary international composers. Her performances were noted for their musical intelligence and sophistication. Her singing was admired by several important composers, including Benjamin Britten, Paul Hindemith, and Darius Milhaud. While her performances, both live and on radio/disc, were mainly from the concert repertoire, she did perform in some broadcasts of operas on the radio and in the 1931 world premiere of Healey Willan's ballad opera Prince Charlie and Flora. In 1984 she was awarded the Canadian Music Council Medal.
Edyth Walker was an American opera singer who had an active international career from the 1890s through the 1910s. She began her career performing roles from the mezzo-soprano repertory, but later successfully added several soprano parts to her repertoire as well. She performed in Italian and French language operas, but had a clear affinity for works in the German language. She particularly excelled in the operas of Richard Wagner. After retiring from the stage, she was active as a voice teacher in both France and the United States. Her voice is preserved on several gramophone recordings, made mainly for His Master's Voice, between 1902 and 1908.
Gwendolyn Jones is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who has had an active career in concerts and operas since the late 1960s. From 1972–1980 she was a resident artist with the San Francisco Opera, and was afterwards a regular performer with the New York City Opera and New Orleans Opera.
Beverley Peck Johnson was an American voice teacher, soprano, and pianist who taught on the faculties of several institutions, including Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School. Her pupils included several prominent opera singers, actors, and entertainers, including sopranos Renée Fleming, Renata Tebaldi, Anna Moffo, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, and actors Madeline Kahn, Kevin Kline, Constance Towers, and Juilliard voice professor Cynthia Hoffmann among others. Music critic Anthony Tommasini wrote that "Johnson was particularly valued by students for a keen ability to find individual solutions to their problems."
Edytha Fleischer-Engel was a German soprano and voice teacher. She began her career as a principal artist at the Berlin State Opera and the Salzburg Festival.
Merle Alcock, born Merle Tillotson, was an American contralto who sang with the Metropolitan Opera in 236 performances from 1919 to 1929, officially signing in with them in 1924.