New York City operatic soprano Krista Wozniak will perform “The Hardest Arias Ever Written” at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 6, at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Community.
Hosted by Winchester Academy, the program is free and open to the public.
Wozniak is returning to Waupaca to sing and provide narrative about some of the most difficult arias ever composed.
She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a graduate of the Opera Institute at Boston University, where she studied with soprano Phyllis Curtin.
Wozniak was awarded the Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Career Entry Award, the highest honor presented by Boston University’s School of the Arts.
Reviewers have applauded her performances, the Boston Globe calling her “a magnificent stage animal with a pealing soprano – glamour and personality to burn – her colorful voice and powerful singing brought out the spirituality of life.”
Wozniak performed Bernstein’s “Songfest,” conducted by Seiji Ozawa, as a Tanglewood Fellow, and made her professional orchestral solo debut with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, singing an all Viennese concert on New Year’s Eve, 2000.
She has performed internationally, including an Open Air Opera Concert at Kan Zaman in Amman, Jordan. Her credits include appearances with Greensboro Opera Company, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera North, Sali Marsh Opera, Boston University Opera, National Opera Company, Opera Company of North Carolina, Gateway Classical Music Society, Opera for the Young, Theatre X, State Repertory Opera of New Jersey and Milwaukee Opera.
She appears regularly with the New Vocal Arts Ensemble, a quartet of singers that performs nationally, presenting solos and ensembles from a variety of musical sources.
Her parents, Maurice and Suzanne Wozniak, reside in Waupaca.
J. Ingrid Lesley, of Scandinavia, is sponsoring the program in memory of her husband, Albert Van Lesley.
This is Winchester Academy’s final program for the summer of 2012.
Winchester’s fall series will begin on Sept. 10 with a presentation by Joe Janssen, a social studies teacher at Waupaca High School, on the Minoan civilization, to accompany the Waupaca Area Public Library’s photographic exhibit by Michael Patrick titled “The Island of Santorini.”