Wendy Rowe

Education

MM & BM, Applied voice, UW-Madison

Biography

Wendy Rowe, lyric soprano, holds a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from U.W.-Madison. Although classically trained Ms. Rowe has performed in a variety of vocal styles including Opera, Oratorio, Operetta, Musical Theater and Jazz/American Song Book. She is a past winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions at the District and Regional Levels and has received numerous top prizes in Competitions such as Wisconsin Federation of Music, NATS and the National Mozart Aria Competition. Operatic roles include Mimi/La Boheme, Michaela/Carmen, Alma/Summer and Smoke (Lee Hoiby) Abigail/The Crucible (Robert Ward) and Esperanza/Esperanza (David Bishop, World Premier). She has performed with many regional groups including Milwaukee Ballet, Dubuque Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Little Rock Chamber Ensemble and Nashville Symphony in works including Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Mozart's Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Poulenc’s Gloria and Les Nuits d’Ete by Berlioz among many more. Ms. Rowe has many roles to her credit in the Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire including Yum-Yum/The Mikado, Elsie/ The Yeomen of the Guard and Mabel/The Pirates of Penzance. Her Maria/West Side Story received critical acclaim. She has sung many recitals featuring the songs of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin and has been heard frequently on Wisconsin Public Radio in many of the Sunday Afternoon Live from the Elvejhem concert series. Ms. Rowe recorded a CD of original songs written by her voice student at the time (Neara Russell) called Food for the Gods. Ms. Rowe was on the faculty at Clarke College in Dubuque where she taught Voice lessons, Class Voice, Diction and The Art of Listening. At UW-Milwaukee she has been a frequent guest lecturer in the recent past and joined the UWM Voice Faculty in 2015. She teaches Class Voice, Diction and Individual Voice Lessons for students of Classical and Musical Theater. She has been a long time member of NATS and recently served on the board for 7 years. Many of Ms. Rowe’s students have gone on to have careers in Opera, Musical Theater and Contemporary Commercial Music in the United States and Europe.