Lisa Reagan

Last updated
Lisa Reagan
BornNichols Hills, Oklahaoma
Genres
  • Opera
  • classical
  • new age
  • ambient
  • jazz
  • pop
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • musician
  • composer
  • voice professor
Instrument(s)Piano
Website lisareagan.com

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. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

As a child in Oklahoma City, Reagan caught the attention of, and studied under Dr. Clarence Burg, Dean of Music and professor of piano at Oklahoma City University. [2] She took acting classes at the historic Mummers Theater, [3] and studied voice with Florence Birdwell, who also taught Kristin Chenoweth and Kelli O'Hara. After obtaining her bachelor's degree in voice and piano at Oklahoma City University, Reagan earned a master's degree in opera and vocal performance from the University of Maryland's Opera Studio. [4] Reagan was also Miss Oklahoma in that year's Miss America Pageant. [5]

Career

During her two-decade residency at the Washington National Opera, Reagan shared the stage with performers including Luciano PavarottiPlácido Domingo, and Renee Fleming. She gave solo performances for King HusseinOscar Arias of Costa Rica, Deng Xiaoping, and at White House events for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. [6] She presented a one-woman show of Sondheim at The Kennedy Center and performed at the Wolf Trap Opera. Her composition "a L'infini" was featured on the Bravo Network finale of Project Runway season 1. [7]

In 2021 Reagan performed the role of the Cantor in the Canterbury Voices' world premiere performance Of Perpetual Solace, composed by Edward Knight and librettist M.J. Alexander. The production, which honored people of Oklahoma City affected by the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, [8] won the 2022 American Prize in Choral Performance. [9] Reagan's world music/chant album Shunia earned the Silver Award in World Fusion Music at the 2021 COVR Visionary Awards. [10]

Academic career and teaching

Reagan was a professor of voice at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music from 1998-2008. [11] She was subsequently a professor of voice at the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University. [12] In 2013, she was invited to perform at the Salzburg Music Festival in Austria, and while there conducted classes in opera; performing and teaching there again in 2018. In May 2022 she taught a Masterclass in acting for opera singers at Accademia dell'Arte in Arezzo, Italy, which she reprised in 2023. [13]

Personal life

Reagan and her husband Greg Love live in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Aspen, Colorado. [14]

Discography

As Lisa Reagan

As Shunia

Additional recording credits

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christa Ludwig</span> German mezzo-soprano (1928–2021)

Christa Ludwig was a German mezzo-soprano and sometime dramatic soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, lieder, oratorio, and other major religious works like masses, passions, and solos in symphonic literature. Her performing career spanned almost half a century, from the late 1940s until the early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eileen Farrell</span> American soprano (1920–2002)

Eileen Farrell was an American soprano who had a nearly 60-year-long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc. NPR noted, "She possessed one of the largest and most radiant operatic voices of the 20th century." While she was active as an opera singer, her concert engagements far outnumbered her theatrical appearances. Her career was mainly based in the United States, although she did perform internationally. The Daily Telegraph stated that she "was one of the finest American sopranos of the 20th century; she had a voice of magnificent proportions which she used with both acumen and artistry in a wide variety of roles." And described as having a voice "like some unparalleled phenomenon of nature. She is to singers what Niagara is to waterfalls."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristin Chenoweth</span> American actress, singer, author (born 1968)

Kristin Dawn Chenoweth is an American actress and singer, with credits in musical theatre, film, and television. In 1999, she won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown on Broadway. In 2003, Chenoweth was nominated for a second Tony Award for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked. Her television roles include Annabeth Schott in NBC's The West Wing and Olive Snook on the comedy drama Pushing Daisies, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wanda Jackson</span> American singer, songwriter, and musician (born 1937)

Wanda LaVonne Jackson is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, recording a series of 1950s singles that helped give her the nickname "The Queen of Rockabilly". She is also counted among the first female stars in the genre of country music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Hopkins Seegmiller</span> American opera singer

Lisa Hopkins Seegmiller, credited as Lisa Hopkins until 2008, is an American classical singer and actress from Simi Valley, California. She holds a B.A. in Theater Studies and Acting from Yale University and a M.M. in Classical Voice from the Manhattan School of Music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jody Miller</span> American singer (1941–2022)

Myrna Joy "Jody" Miller was an American singer, who had commercial success in the genres of country, folk and pop. She was the second female artist to win a country music accolade from the Grammy Awards, which came off the success of her 1965 song "Queen of the House". By blending multiple genres together, Miller's music was considered influential for other music artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darlene Koldenhoven</span> American vocalist, pianist

Darlene Koldenhoven is an American Grammy Award-winning vocalist, pianist, composer, songwriter, arranger, and author. In 2021, her solo piano album The Grand Piano Spa debuted at #4 on Billboard's Classical Crossover Albums Chart, followed by The Grand Piano Spa: Legacy debuting at #8 on the same chart. She has performed onstage with such artists as Yanni, David Byrne and Ricky Kej; and she has provided vocals on albums by Pink Floyd, Neil Young, Celine Dion, and Kenny Loggins. As an actress, she has been featured in Sister Act, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Spy Hard, the Young and the Restless, and Malcom in the Middle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wanda L. Bass School of Music</span> Music school at Oklahoma City University

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.

Edward Monroe Miller was an American songwriter, in the country music genre.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. J. Alexander</span> American writer (born 1961)

Mary Jane Alexander is an American writer and photographer, playwright, poet, and lyricist who documents people and places of the American West, with an emphasis on centenarians and American Indian culture. She was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2019. During the pandemic, her work expanded into site-specific public art installations focusing on text and soundscapes that “amplify and illuminate facets of our collective shadowed history.”

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Bielawa</span> American composer

Lisa Carol Bielawa is a composer and vocalist. She is a 2009 Rome Prize winner in Musical Composition and spent a year composing as a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome.

Youngmi Kim is a South Korean vocalist known for her performance as a soprano opera singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Millben</span> American singer

Mary Jorie Millben is an American singer, actress and media personality. Millben has performed for three consecutive U.S. Presidents: George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. In addition, Millben has been a featured soloist for notable international royalty including Queen Noor of Jordan and Princess Basmah bint Saud Al Saud. Millben is the founder and CEO of JMDE Enterprises. She is featured in the online series Impact Now. Millben is a 2010 Helen Hayes Award Nominee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Radner</span> German opera singer (1981–2015)

Maria Friderike Radner was a German contralto who performed internationally in opera and in concerts. She studied at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf. She was described as an "extremely talented interpreter of Wagner's music" by Stern magazine and Abendzeitung. Possessing the "rare pitch of a true alto", she frequently appeared as Erda in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Leipzig Opera, Schwertleite in Die Walküre at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze with Zubin Mehta, and in Mahler's Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) conducted by Antonio Pappano in Rome and Milan. Her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 2012 in Götterdämmerung was part of that company's documentary Wagner's Dream.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tessie Mobley</span> American opera singer

Tessie Mobley was an American operatic soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SEAY</span> American singer

SEAY is an American award-winning New-age music artist and humanitarian who has gained prominence as both a vocalist and composer. She has released multiple recordings, many of which have received awards and nominations. Her 2016 release In the Garden featuring collaborations with Grammy Award winners Ricky Kej and Wouter Kellerman charted on the Billboard New Age albums chart for five weeks peaking at #3 and won the Zone Music Reporter best vocal album of the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa E. Harris</span> American artist, opera singer, and composer

Lisa E. Harris, also known as Li, is a multimedia artist, opera singer, and composer. She is renowned for her interdisciplinary work using voice, text, installation, movement, and new media.

<i>Reagan</i> (2024 film) Film directed by Sean McNamara

Reagan is an upcoming American biographical historical drama film directed by Sean McNamara and written by Howard Klausner and Jonas McCord, based on the 2006 book by Paul Kengor The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism. The film stars Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan. Penelope Ann Miller, Robert Davi, Lesley-Anne Down and Jon Voight feature in supporting roles.

Lisa Saffer is a soprano singer of opera, particularly Bach, Handel and modern works. She also teaches voice at the New England Conservatory.

References

  1. McDonnell, Brandy. "New world of music: OKC opera singer Lisa Reagan Love explores ancient chants in duo Shunia". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  2. "Pianist, Teacher Burg Dies". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  3. "Mummers-Theater". johnmjohansen.com. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  4. "MARYLAND OPERA STUDIO | School of Music". music.umd.edu. 2023-08-01. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  5. Glover, Mike. "Oklahoma Opera Singer, Teacher Has No Plans To Slow Down". www.newson6.com. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  6. "IN BRIEF". Washington Post. 2024-01-24. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  7. L' Infini Compilation - Lisa Reagan | Album | AllMusic , retrieved 2024-04-25
  8. Gilmore, Joan (March 13, 2020); "Around town: Canterbury voices commemorating bombing with premiere", Journal Record
  9. "National Finalists: CHORUSES, 2022" . Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  10. "2021 COVR Visionary Awards Winners | COVR". covr.org. 2021-06-28. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  11. "Music". Conservatory. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  12. "Wanda L. Bass School of Music". Oklahoma City University. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  13. "Accademia dell'Arte | European Theatre, Vocal Arts and Dance". Accademia dell'Arte. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  14. Holzer, Evie Klopp (2021-11-01). "Touring Lisa Reagan Love's Harmonious Home". 405 Magazine. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  15. Cady, Elise (2023-11-06). "REVIEW: Lisa Reagan "What We Need Is Here" - Americana Highways". americanahighways.org. Retrieved 2024-04-25.