Dr. Ron Brendel
Dr. Ron Brendel, associate professor of voice at Lee University, will present and perform at the Benjamin Britten on Stage and Screen Conference in Nottingham, England, July 5-7.
Dr. Brendel was selected from a large number of international applicants to be a part of the conference which celebrates the centennial year of Benjamin Britten, a British composer famed largely for his eclectic approach to composition, and noted for his operas.
“I am honored to be selected,” said Dr. Brendel. “To be part of this significant conference with international scholars and performers is a special privilege for me.”
Dr. Brendel is widely performed in the music of Britten and wrote his doctoral monograph on a Britten topic. His lecture/recital for the conference is titled “The Tenor’s Solo Music in The Turn of the Screw.” He will sing the Prologue and an aria from the opera, and will be accompanied by Mervyn Cooke, a pre-eminent Britten scholar.
Dr. Brendel has presented Britten’s music at events in Liverpool, England; Dunedin, New Zealand; and numerous conferences in the United States.
Dr. Brendel’s performances have been heralded as "effortlessly professional...strongly lyric...memorable" in opera, oratorio and recital. As an opera singer, Dr. Brendel shines brightest in the Mozart tenor roles of Cosi fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, and Der Shauspieldirektor, but is equally at home in the contemporary operas of Britten.
Dr. Brendel has appeared as Goro (Madama Butterfly), Ferrando (Cosi fan tutte), Alfred (Die Fledermaus), Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Frederic (The Pirates of Penzance) and Nanki-Poo (The Mikado) among other roles. He has also sung numerous recitals and oratorios, and was tenor soloist at Carnegie Hall.
Dr. Brendel joined Lee’s School of Music in 2005 where he teaches voice and graduate vocal pedagogy. He earned his doctor of musical arts and his master’s in music from Temple University and his bachelor of music education from Evangel College.
Since 2007 he has served with his wife Chery, also Lee music faculty, as the co-director of music ministries at Wesley Memorial UMC. The couple also founded, and currently direct, the Schumann Liederfest, a summer music program for American singers in Zwickau, Germany.
For more information about the Britten Centenary Conference, visit http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/music/research/conferences/britten-conference.