The Beauty of Colors
Orange City Arts and NWC to host Mezzo-Soprano Melody Wilson
Orange City Arts (OC Arts) and Northwestern College Music Department (NWC) will host mezzo-soprano Melody Wilson from October 18 – 19, 2023. Wilson will present a storytelling session and lead a 30-minute master class on October 18 at Northwestern College. Ms. Wilson will work with several local high school and NWC music students, demonstrating some sound and vocal techniques to help the students improve their performances. A public performance accompanied by NWC professor and pianist Juyeon Kang will occur on October 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel. The “The Beauty of Colors” concert will reflect how the performers bring beautiful music while embracing diversity. The performance brings exceptional artistry and musicianship of world-class professional musicians to the community.
The program features “5 Canciones Negras” (5 Black songs) by Xavier Montsalvatge in Spanish, four German Lied (art songs) by Richard Strauss, three opera arias – one in Italian by Pietro Mascagni and two in French by Georges Bizet and Camille Saint-Saëns- as well as two spirituals and an English art song. These selections reflect various musical cultures through the languages and styles.
About Melody Wilson
With her warm, richly timbre voice, mezzo-soprano Melody Wilson has quickly made a name for herself in the USA and Europe. In 2023-24, she makes important debuts at Carnegie Hall with Mozart’s Requiem as well as with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Mary in Der fliegende Holländer and with Atlanta Opera as Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She also performs Rossweisse in Die Walküre with Dallas Symphony and Sanctuary Road at the Bach Festival in Orlando.
Melody Wilson has received recognition as an accomplished operatic artist in both classic and contemporary repertory in the United States and Europe. Ms. Wilson is a five-time recipient of the Jessye Norman Fellowship and a winner of the “Gabriela Benacková Competition” in Prague (2016) and the “International Czech and Slovak Competition” (2009). Wilson holds undergraduate degrees in Music and Spanish from the University of Delaware, and a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. She hails from Newark, Delaware, and is based in Vienna, Austria.
About Juyeon Kang
An award-winning concert pianist and professor of music at Northwestern College, Dr. Juyeon Kang released a recording, “Joyful Praise,” in 2022. Comprised of 15 pieces, this work was created to bring healing and comfort through the power of music to those who are wounded and suffering. A member of the Northwestern College faculty since 2003, Dr. Kang earned a bachelor’s degree in music at Seoul National University and master’s and doctoral degrees in piano performance and literature, as well as a master’s degree in pedagogy of music theory at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Additionally, she received a prestigious artist diploma in piano performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and served as part of the faculty in the college division.
Admission is $20 for adults and $10 for students. Free for children age 5 & under. NWC faculty and students are free with NWC ID.
Tickets are available for purchase online or at the door.
This event is sponsored by Orange City Arts and Northwestern College and funded in part by the Gilchrist Foundation.
