|
The American mezzo-soprano and music pedagogue, Ursula Maria Kuhar, holds a Bachelor degree in Arts Administration with Honors and Master of Music degree in music education from Butler University, where she studied with Michael Sells.. She also received a Diplôme d’études en langue française from Université de Paris IV (La Sorbonne) in Paris, France, and a Doctor of Music in Voice from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington (a student of Marietta Simpson). She has been a recipient of numerous honors and awards, including Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Sigma Iota and fellowships from Butler University and Indiana University. She was a 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Regional Finalist.
Ursula Maria Kuhar Director and Assistant Professor of Arts Management at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Her areas of expertise include orchestra/opera management, arts policy and cultural diplomacy. Previously, she was on the faculty of the arts administration program at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She has worked in development and education/outreach with Indianapolis Children’s Choir, Community Hospital Foundation of Indiana and Opera Columbus, and is also a consultant specializing in the areas of community engagement and arts advocacy. Her professional associations include Americans for the Arts, Association of Arts Administration Educators, League of American Orchestras and Music Educators National Conference.
An active performer, Ursula Maria Kuhar has sung in opera houses and concert halls throughout Europe and the Americas. With Indiana University Opera Theater, she has appeared in the chorus in She Loves Me, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Mrs. Ott in Susannah. Past roles include Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas and Katisha in The Mikado. On the concert stage, she has been the alto soloist in J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor (BWV 232), Johannes Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah,” George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, and Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria. Kuhar was the mezzo-soprano soloist for the world première of Frank Burch Brown’s Mary With Jesus with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir. |
