CLASSICS

Marilyn Horne comes to UT for program, class

Singer Marilyn Horne will participate in a public program at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the UT Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall. Tickets are $25.

Marilyn Horne is America’s belle of bel canto (beautiful singing), with a 30-year career of highly acclaimed performances on major opera and concert stages around the world to back up her reputation. Her rich, rounded mezzo-soprano voice brought to life operas by Bellini, Puccini, Bizet, Donizetti, and Verdi, among others.

Moreover, her capability to embrace a wide range of musical styles made her equally fine interpreting music by Bernstein, Cole Porter, Stephen Foster, and other popular composers.

Her performance in the Toledo Opera’s 2000 Gala was a highlight of the musical season. Even in retirement, Horne, now 79, remains a musical force of great magnitude, thanks to her devotion to education.

Scores of established and up-and-coming singers can trace part of their success to time spent in master classes and studios with her, either through her personal California-based teaching foundation or her regular visits to select American universities.

Such is the case in Toledo this weekend, when Horne will be in residence at the University of Toledo. This time, one of her former students, Denise Ritter Bernardini, is behind this fall event.

Ritter Bernardini has had an impressive career in opera, oratorio, and cabaret performances in the United States and abroad. She worked with Horne during her doctoral program at the University of Oklahoma.

Now on the UT faculty, Ritter Bernardini is revving up the opera program on campus and building a stable of fine singers. She will interview her former teacher and mentor in a public program set for 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall. Tickets are $25 with proceeds to benefit the UT Opera Ensemble.

On Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m., Horne will offer a master class with students from the UT voice program.

Also available will be copies of her latest book, The Song Continues, a sequel to her 1983 autobiography. For tickets and reservations, call 419-530-2375 or visit www.utoledo.edu/​BoxOffice.

Also at UT this weekend is the free Fall Choral Concert, with Concert Chorale and Da Capo Vocal Ensemble in performance at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Recital Hall at the Center for Performing Arts.

The program will include classical and contemporary works by Josef Haydn, Alophus Hailstork, David Brunner, Gwyneth Walker, and Stephen Sondheim. An artist showcase will feature student soloists who will have sung the day before in Horne’s master class.

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The Cathedral Concerts series will continue at 3 p.m. Sunday with a recital by organist Yun Kyong Kim at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary.

Kim, a native of Korea, moved to the United States at age 16, then studied organ at the University of Washington, and moved to Indiana University, where she earned master’s and doctoral degrees with a specialty in early music. She has performed and won major competitions around the United States and abroad.

She is past dean of the Dayton Chapter of the American Guild of Organists; is instructor of organ and harpsichord at Sinclair Community College, and organist and choirmaster at Christ Episcopal Church, all in Dayton.

On her program Sunday will be music by Cesar Franck and “Resurrection,” a work by Larry King inspired by the 2001 World Trade Center bombing. Admission to the concert at Rosary, 2535 Collingwood Blvd., is free.

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For the Toledo Youth Orchestra, this weekend’s free opening concert at 4 p.m. Sunday in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle is titled “Tchaikovsky with a Twist.” Kenneth Thompson and Wasim Hawary will conduct the Concert, Symphonic, and Philharmonic orchestras comprising 193 students from 43 schools.

In concurrence with the Toledo Symphony’s Frankenstein-inspired Classics series concert programs Friday and Saturday, the program will celebrate Halloween with works inspired by stories of love and hate, good and evil.

Works by Brahms (Tragic Overture), Mozart (Marriage of Figaro), and Strauss (Die Fledermaus — The Bat) are scheduled. Paul Dukas’ classic seasonal work, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, is on deck. And a world premiere, Schelle’s The Exorcism of the Sugar Plum Fairy will precede Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.

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The DePue Brothers, fiddler duo and their band, will bring their energetic mix of musical styles to a 7:30 p.m. concert Saturday in Bryan’s Arts and Education Auditorium, West High Street. The Williams County Community Concert Association is presenting the event as part of its 60th season.

Jason and Zachary DePue grew up in Bowling Green, sons of Linda and Wallace DePue, both musicians and educators. Jason and Zachary and their brothers were taught to play violin, as soloists and in ensembles with their parents.

In 1989, then President George H.W. Bush named them the “American Musical Family of the Year.” A 1993 PBS documentary further explored their artistry and the diversity of styles they can perform. Jason and Zachary maintain busy performance lives separately as well as in their band.

Tickets are $25 at the door. For more information call 419-636-3550 or visit http://​wccca-los.org.

Send information to svallongo@theblade.com two weeks ahead of events.