Kari Ragan, soprano and Rhonda Kline, pianist, take recital programming into the 21st century with "Ah! Love But a Day," a program crossing both classical and music theatre genres. Featuring works by Bellini, Stravinsky, and Douglas Moore alongside the contemporary music theatre songs of Jason Robert Brown, Frank Wildhorn, and Stephen Sondheim, this unusual recital will showcase dramatic operatic arias such as The Rake's Progress, The Ballad of Baby Doe, and Les Contes d'Hoffmann interwoven with music theatre songs from The Last Five Years, Into the Woods, and Cabaret.

ARTIST BIOS

Kari Ragan, soprano

Soprano Kari Ragan holds degrees from Indiana University (BM, MM) and the University of Washington (DMA). Her dissertation, “The Ballad of Baby Doe: Historical Accuracy and Gender Ideology in the Characterization of August and Baby Doe,” focused on feminist perspective of Douglas Moore’s 1956 opera.

In 2012, Dr. Ragan was the recipient of the Van L. Lawrence Fellowship, a prestigious award presented jointly by The Voice Foundation and the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). Her research topic for this fellowship is “The Parameters and Utility of Vocal Cool Down Exercises.” In 2011, she earned the Wicklund Singing Voice Specialist Certificate and in 2010 the New York Singing Teachers (NYSTA) Association’s Distinguished Voice Professional Certificate. Dr. Ragan was selected to present at the 51st NATS National Conference on Voice Disorders and the Multidisciplinary Team. In 2009, she was the recipient of the NATS Pedagogy Award. Dr. Ragan’s article “Intubation Considerations for Singers” was published in the NYSTA’s VOICEPrints in 2010 and the augmented article co-written with anesthesiologist Dr. Kunal Gangopadhyay, will be published in the Journal of Singing in the fall of 2012. Additionally, her article entitled “The Connected Voice Studio” was published in the Journal of Singing in September 2010.

Dr. Ragan joined the University of Washington voice faculty in the fall of 2010 where she teaches graduates and undergraduates applied voice, vocal pedagogy, Italian diction, and French art song literature. Additionally, she has developed and maintained a thriving and collaborative independent voice studio for over twenty-five years.

Although her primary training, performing, and teaching is in the classical genre, she has also specialized in Contemporary Musical Theater (CMT) pedagogy and as a Singing Voice Specialist (SVS)—a voice teacher with specialized training in helping the injured voice. Her work in this area is in association with a team including Laryngologists and Speech Language Pathologists (SLP). As a result of her three specialties (classical pedagogy, CMT pedagogy and an SVS) she is frequently sought after as a clinician and adjudicator for workshops and masterclasses throughout the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Ragan is a member of NYSTA, an organizing member of the Northwest Chapter of the Voice Foundation (NWCVF), has served on the board of the Puget Sound Chapter of NATS, and is a member of Northwest Artists.

As an active performer she has sung with such companies as Seattle Opera, Spokane Opera, Fort Collins Symphony, Helena Symphony, Washington East Opera, Spokane Symphony, Lyric Opera Northwest, and Opera Idaho, among others. In addition, she is a frequent recitalist, having recently presented a series of recitals, throughout the Northwest, with Maestro Dean Williamson at the piano. She has been recognized as the Regional finalist for the Metropolitan National Council Competition and the MacCallister Competition.

Rhonda Kline, piano

Rhonda Kline is opera coach and coordinator of accompanying at the University of Washington School of Music. In addition to her work at the School of Music, Ms. Kline is general director and music director for NOISE (Northwest Opera In Schools, Etc.), an independent arts organization that presents adaptations of operas in elementary schools, performing for more than 25,000 elementary students annually in 100 schools. Her coaching and performing career with singers in Seattle includes a role as music director for Black Box Opera Theater, an ensemble company of opera professionals that produces topical operas of this century and the last. She is also a charter member of the faculty of Canta in Italia, a summer program for singers to study opera in Florence, Italy.

Ms. Kline has depth of experience as a collaborative pianist with strings, brass, woodwinds, voice, and opera theater. She is in demand as a collaborative pianist at regional and national levels with many organizations, including Music Teachers National Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), National Federated Music Clubs, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She has also served as pianist in master classes with such artists as Marcia Baldwin, Jean Barr, Vinson Cole, Jane Eaglen, Margo Garrett, Joyce Guyer, Carol Vaness, and John Wustman. In her home state of Kansas, she was accompanist for the Wichita Choral Society, Wichita Symphony Chorus, Crown Uptown Dinner Theater, and Opera Kansas, and was selected as pianist for a European tour with the Mid-Kansas Choral Society. Her operatic coaching repertoire includes more than 30 titles, including traditional operas, contemporary works, and musical theater.