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Soprano Maureen Balke holds performance credits in recital,
opera and oratorio throughout the Midwest and in national and
international forums. Opera and oratorio credits include Artist in Residence at
the Skylight Theatre (Milwaukee), Mozart Opera Studies Institute (Kaprun,
Austria), and numerous performances in Indiana and Michigan. She has recently
performed as soprano soloist in Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen,
Vivaldi's Gloria, Orff's Carmina Burana, as well as a Cole Porter
Review for Albion College Homecoming.
A specialist in art song, Dr. Balke has performed in the
Aston Magna Academy on Schubert (NEH Fellowship), the International Festival of
Art Song, the Princeton/Westminster Choir College Schubert Lied and Keyboard
Festival, and other Lieder festivals, and has earned high marks in master
classes with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Gerhard Heusch, Dalton Baldwin and Martin
Katz. She has recently recorded, with pianist Narciso Solero, a CD of art songs
by Joseph Marx and Albion Emeritus composer Anthony Taffs, titled "Never Seek to
Tell Thy Love," and has recently performed art song recitals with Mr. Solero in
the Washington, D.C. area including at Dumbarton United Methodist Church and at
the Lyceum in Alexandria.
Dr. Balke has earned her degrees in German (Marquette
University, 1974) and in voice (Masters and Doctorate, Indiana University), with major
teachers including Martha Lipton and Carol Smith (Zurich Opera). She is former
Chair of the Music Department at Albion College where she is currently the
Professor of Voice. She served as Governor of the Michigan Chapter of the National
Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) from 1994 through 2000, and served as the NATS
Great Lakes Regional Governor from 2002-2006.
