4/9/01
West Virginia native and internationally renown tenor Randall Reid-Smith will perform on the stage of the West Virginia State Theater in the Cultural Center, State Capitol Complex, Charleston, when the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History presents him in a recital on Friday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m. The program is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-seated basis.
Reid-Smith’s recital will include music by Robert Schumann, French songs by Henri Duparc, German opera arias by Georg Friedrich Handel, Italian favorites by Paolo Tosti and Austrian works of Franz Lehar. He will conclude the program with a medley of spirituals.
A native of Barboursville, Reid-Smith has enjoyed a thriving career in opera and as a concert soloist and recitalist. For more than a decade, he has performed leading roles in Europe at German State theaters including Aachen, Augsburg, Dresden and the Berlin Metropol and at the Teatro Arriago in Bilbao, Spain.
Prior to his work abroad, Reid-Smith fulfilled apprenticeships in the United States with the Santa Fe Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre and the Dayton Opera Association after receiving several honors including four Metropolitan Opera auditions at the district and regional levels.
In April 1999, he earned rave reviews for his Kennedy Center debut singing the tenor solos in the Mozart Requiem with the National Choral Society of Washington. Later that year, he toured in southern Italy as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata. Recently Reid-Smith performed Verdi’s Requiem with the Niedersachsen Philharmonic in Hanover, Germany, the Michigan Opera Theatre Orchestra, The Cathedral Cultural Series in Detroit, and at the Tonhalle in Zurich, Switzerland. Last summer, he performed gala concerts throughout Sicily and the French Rivera.
Reid-Smith holds a bachelor of music degree from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music and a master of music degree from the Indiana University School of Music. In addition to his touring schedule, he is an assistant professor of music at the University of Michigan.
For more information about the Reid-Smith recital or other programs of the Division, call (304) 558-0220.
The West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums. The Cultural Center is West Virginia’s official showcase for the arts. Visit the Division’s website at www.wvculture.org for more information about programs of the Division. The Department of Arts, Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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