On February 26, 2015, Randall Reid-Smith will present “Opera in West Virginia” at the Thursday evening lecture in the Archives and History Library of the Culture Center in Charleston. The program will begin at 6:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
West Virginia has produced several important opera singers, including Eleanor Steber of Wheeling and Phyllis Curtin of Clarksburg. In 1940 at the age of 26, Steber made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Sophie in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. Six years later, the 25-year-old Curtin made her professional debut with the New England Opera Theater. Both went on to have long, successful careers in opera. As a young singer, Randall Reid-Smith was inspired by the fact that someone from Clarksburg could be an opera star, and he will discuss Curtin and Steber in his talk, sharing clips of Curtin in performance from YouTube. He also will talk about Frances Yeend, a world renowned soprano who later taught at West Virginia University, and mezzo-soprano Jane Hobson Shepherd who taught privately and at Marshall University and whose vocal students included Reid-Smith.
Randall Reid-Smith has served as the commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History since 2006. While he has been commissioner, the division has introduced several programs designed to support youth involvement in arts and history including the West Virginia State History Bowl, the Festival of Songs for middle and high school show choirs, the West Virginia Marching Band Invitational and the first statewide initiative of the VH1 Save The Music Foundation’s program bringing free musical instruments to qualified pre-K through middle schools in West Virginia. In 2013, Reid-Smith received the prestigious Support Music award from the National Association of Music Merchants and the National Association for Music Education for his support of and leadership during the statewide rebuild of West Virginia music education programs.
Reid-Smith is an accomplished opera singer who has won numerous competitions at the state and regional level and has maintained an international career as an operatic tenor since the mid-1980s. He received a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a master’s in music from Indiana University. Reid-Smith was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from Glenville State University.
For additional information, contact the Archives and History Library at (304) 558-0230.
