Ms. Rebecca Turner
Associate Professor of Voice
Director of Converse Opera Theatre
rebecca.turner@converse.edu
864-596-9001
Blackman Music Hall

Soprano Rebecca Turner, a recent member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Germany, came to singing by way of the piano. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia, as well as a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance in Accompanying from the University of North Texas in Denton. Upon completing her studies in Denton, Ms. Turner began vocal training in order to become better equipped as a vocal coach. This led her back to Shorter College for a Vocal Performance Degree and after four short years of study, she landed her first professional contract as a member of the solo ensemble with the opera company of
Bremen, Germany. She performed there for four years before moving to Düsseldorf.

With over 500 performances to date, Ms. Turner’s repertoire is extensive, including the lead soprano roles in such operas as Der fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Der Freischütz, Aida, Il Trovatore, La Forza del Destino, Simon Boccanegra, Turnadot, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, La Gioconda, I Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Eugene Onegin, and Peter Grimes. In addition to Bremen and Düsseldorf, she has performed in the opera houses of Frankfurt, Cologne, Hannover, Mannheim, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Dortmund, Kiel, Münster, Graz, Basel, as well as the Shanghai
Grand Theater in Shanghai, China, where she was the first soprano in China’s history to perform a Wagner opera. Her concert repertoire includes Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Dvorak’s Requiem, Mahler’s Rückertlieder and Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder. Recital venues have included the United States, Austria, France and Germany.

In the 2006-2007 season, along with numerous recitals and master classes, Rebecca Turner was the soprano soloist in a Christmas Gala performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as well as Brahms’s Requiem with the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra of Tacoma, Washington. She was also heard in concert performing Duparc songs with the West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra and as soprano soloist in Dubois’ The Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ at Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia. Her recent professional activity has included performances of Der Fliegende Holländer in Düsseldorf and Kiel, Lohengrin in Bremen, Verdi’s Requiem in Pforzheim, Dvořák’s Requiem in Münster, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the South Texas Symphony in McAllen. Ms. Turner also recently undertook the role of “Lidoine” in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites with the West Virginia University Opera Theater. During the summer of 2004, she was Opera Music Director and Assistant Stage Director for productions of Copland’s The Tender Land and Britten’s Noye’s Fludde for the Shenandoah Performs Arts Festival at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia. In 2002 and 2003 she served on the voice faculty of the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival, a summer training institute sponsored by the Lutheran Music Program in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was Visiting Instructor of Voice at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas for the spring of 2004, Associate Adjunct Professor of Voice for the 2004-2005 academic year at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, Associate Professor of Voice at West Virginia University in Morgantown, and is now Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Opera at Converse College in Spartanburg, SC.