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Assistant Professor of Music in Voice Penelope Shumate
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WIU's Shumate to Make 13th Appearance at Carnegie Hall in November

August 28, 2017

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MACOMB, IL – Western Illinois University Assistant Professor of Music in Voice Penelope Shumate will make her 13th appearance in New York City's Carnegie Hall in November to perform Handel's "Messiah," presented by Distinguished Concerts International New York.

Shumate has performed in New York City, at either Carnegie Hall or David Geffen Hall (formerly Avery Fisher Hall) at Lincoln Center, every year since her appointment to the WIU School of Music in 2014. She was also the recipient of the 2017 College of Fine Arts and Communication Award of Excellence for Scholarly, Creative, Performing and Professional Activities. Her recent critical acclaim includes being complimented by The New York Times as singing with "bell-like clarity and surpassing sweetness," and The New York Concert Review has complimented "her sparkling coloratura perfection" and "beautiful, flexible, dramatic voice."

Shumate was also selected as the recent winner of the Chicago Oratorio Award. Her upcoming and recent soloist debuts and return engagements include appearances with the Distinguished Concerts International New York ("Messiah," "Requiem"/Verdi and Mozart, "Stabat Mater"/Mealor, "Carmina Burana"), the Heartland Symphony Orchestra ("Symphony No. 9" and "Carmina Burana"), the Rapides Symphony Orchestra ("Symphony No. 9" and "Carmina Burana"), the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra ("Messiah"), Galesburg Community Chorus and Orchestra ("Paukenmesse" and "Dona nobis pacem"), the Fourth Presbyterian Church Concert Series in Chicago ("Of Love and Peace" Vocal Recital), the Muddy River Opera Company ("Carmen"/ Micaëla), the Waynesboro Symphony Orchestra ("Symphony No. 9"), the Virginia Consort ("Requiem"/Rutter), the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra ("Carols and Candles" Holiday Concert), the Quincy Symphony Orchestra Association ( "Ah! perfido"/Beethoven), the Oklahoma City Philharmonic ("Carmina Burana"), the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra and Chorus ("Ein Deutches Requiem" and "Benedicite") and the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra ("Symphony No. 9" and "Carmina Burana").

Shumate has appeared with opera companies and orchestras across America, including the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Roanoke, Lake George Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, Berkshire Choral Festival, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, among others.

She is an award winner with the Gerda Lissner Foundation, Marie E. Crump Vocal Arts Competition, MacAllister Awards, New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera Vocal Competition, Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition, Kennett Symphony Orchestra Vocal Competition and the Altamura/Caruso International Vocal Competition, among others.

For more information, visit penelopeshumate.com.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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