Jeanne Robison, soprano; Manami Kawamura, piano

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A NEW DATE FOR THIS RECITAL (rescheduled from March 25).

Join us for a recital showcasing the artistry of our extraordinary faculty members! Jeanne Robison, soprano, collaborating with Manami Kawamura, piano, will be performing Robert Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben and Libby Larsen's Try Me Good King (Based on last letters and words of Henry VIII's first five wives).

Jeanne Robison, Voice Area Coordinator, received her bachelor’s in music education and her master’s degree in vocal performance at Kent State University where she studied voice with Donna Pegors and opera with James Stuart. She continued her graduate studies, earning a Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where she studied opera direction under Italo Tajo and voice with Nancy Carr and Patricia Berlin. Robison has sung numerous roles with college opera workshops and professional companies, including the Ohio Light Opera Company, Duluth-Superior Opera Association, Des Moines Metro Summer Opera Festival and the CCM Opera Theatre and Opera Studio, and has performed with regional orchestras in Ohio, Mississippi and Arkansas.

Robison has had a long career as a university voice teacher and opera director beginning at the University of Minnesota, Duluth in 1976, and later Mansfield State University, Delta State University and John Brown University before joining the faculty at Biola. She has had students placing and winning voice competitions every year since she first entered students in the Southern Regional NATS Competition in 1986. Her students have gone on to such esteemed graduate schools as Peabody Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, AJ Fletcher Opera Program, Boston University, The Royal Academy of Music and Guild Hall in London. Robison has performed numerous faculty recitals through the years performing a wide variety of works from the Middle Ages through the 20th century, including songs and arias by composers Argento, Bach, Barber, Bellini, Britten, Chausson, Chopin, Debussy, Donizetti, Duparc, Fauré, Gershwin, Grieg, Handel, Victor Herbert, Ives, Liszt, Machaut, MacDowell, Mahler, Marx, Meyerbeer, Milhaud, Mozart, Poulenc, Puccini, Purcell, Rameau, Rorem, Roussel, A. Scarlatti. Schubert, Schumann, Strauss, Trimble, Verdi, Walton and Wolf

Manami Kawamura is a graduate of Uenogakuen Junior High and High School Music courses, and College with a B.M. in piano performance. She received the highest honor among the graduating seniors and performed in the 52nd New Professionals Concert Series sponsored by Yomiuri Times in Tokyo. She studied for two years at Biola University, where she received the Outstanding Musician’s Award (1986–87), Outstanding Pianist Award (1985–86) and was chosen to play in the Honors Concerto Concert (1986). She then went to Indiana University, where she received an Assistant Instructorship with the full tuition waiver, and earned her M.M. in Piano Performance in 1990. Her performances include solo recitals, as well as playing piano concerti with the Biola Symphony Orchestra, piano duo and duet with Menahem Pressler, piano accompanying and chamber ensemble performances, and has given recitals in the United States, Japan, and Indonesia. Professor Kawamura has been a member of the music faculty of Biola University since 1990 and Pasadena City College since 2013. Her piano instructors include Menahem Pressler, Artist-in-Residence at Biola, distinguished professor of Indiana University and pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio; Ms. Jennie K. Wong, former Piano Area Coordinator at Biola University; and Ms. Hisako Mizuno, former distinguished professor of Uenogakuen.