Acclaimed Pianist And Vocalist To Appear As Guest Artists

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Noted artists Brenda Frye and Michael Borowitz will appear in an 8 p.m. concert on Friday, September 19, in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall at the University of Arkansas. They will present a program that includes the songs of Richard Strauss, Ravel, and Faurè as well as Andromache’s Farewell, a scene by Samuel Barber. Borowitz will perform compositions by Carlos Guastavino and Frederic Chopin as well. Admission is $5 for the general public, $3 for faculty and seniors, and $1 for University of Arkansas students.

American conductor and pianist Michael Borowitz is currently the Guest Artistic Director of the Nevada Opera, where he is scheduled to conduct performances of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Donizetti’s Elisir D’amore. For five seasons, he was Director of Musical Studies with the Pittsburgh Opera. He has also appeared as a conductor with Opera Columbus, the Des Moines Metro Opera, the Cleveland Concert Opera, and Pensacola Opera. He has been assistant conductor with The Metropolitan Opera, the Indianapolis Opera and the Cleveland Opera. He has toured with the Cleveland Concert Opera in a production of Poulenc’s opera La Voix Humain, in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.

Mr. Borowitz, who has studied extensively at the Istituto Donizettiano in Bergamo, holds music degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and The Cleveland Institute of Music. Mr. Borowitz has served on the faculties of the University of Memphis, The Cleveland Institute of Music, Kent State University and the University of Akron.

Brenda Frye, a native of Memphis, Tennessee, has appeared with Opera Memphis, the Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Nevada Opera. She received the silver award in the 2002 Vera Scammons SOS Competition in Denver, Colorado, and she was a 1999 finalist in the International Contemporary Opera Competition in New York City. Upcoming engagements include an appearance with the Nevada Opera in Samuel Barber’s Andromache’s Farewell and with the Mississippi Opera’s HMS Pinafore as Buttercup.

She has sung the roles of Turandot in Puccini’s Turandot, Alida in Robert Ward’s Roman Fever, Leonora in Fidelio, and the Witch and the Mother in Hänsel und Gretel. An advocate for contemporary music, she performed the word premiere of Jeffrey Ryan’s Found Frozen and portrayed the role of the wife in James Legg’s opera The Informer.

Mr. Borowitz will be presenting a master class for vocal students at the University of Arkansas from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on the 19th, which will be free and open to the public.