The Department of Music welcomes three new singing faculties

The Music Department at Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is proud to welcome three new vocal teachers to the University of Arkansas. These individuals bring a range of experience and research to the Department of Music in the fields of opera, jazz studies, musical theater, as well as various special projects.

“We are very happy to welcome Lauren Claire, Lenora Green and Jonathan Stinson,” said Ronda Mains, chair of the music department.

Jeffrey Murdock, Vocal and Choral Studies Coordinator, added, “These new faculty additions will be a game-changer for our vocal and choral field, and for the department as a whole. Our students are fortunate to be able to work with these researchers. – educators. “

Hands said that the professional accomplishments of these new faculty members are inspiring and that everyone’s passion for education and student success will help prepare U of A music students well for their future.

Lauren Clare joins the faculty of the department as a music teacher after serving one year as an assistant professor in the department. A native of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, Clare began her professional career as a singer in 2001 when she gave a solo recital for the Carol Brice series at the age of 17. Oral Roberts University, Lauren returned home to sing as a member of the summer production choir of the Cimarron Opera Company of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe. That fall, Clare began coloratura soprano studies at the prestigious Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University, where she graduated with High Honors in the Master of Music program for vocal performance.

In 2009, Clare moved to the Fayetteville area and began working as a local singer / songwriter under the pseudonym Ren. In 2011, she formed what is now known as The Allie Lauren Project. The Allie Lauren Project is an avant-garde collective of classical, alternative and jazz musicians and has performed for the Oklahoma Film & Music Office’s SXSW Film Panel Event, Tourism Roadshows, Norman Music Festival, 35 Denton , Backwoods Music Festival, Sunday Twilight Concert Series, Wheeler Summer Music Series, Oklahoma City New Year’s opening night celebrations and other numerous performances for the Oklahoma City Arts Council.

Clare has also performed works from this project in Chicago, St. Louis, New York and London. In 2018, The Allie Lauren Project was nominated for a Regional Emmy Award by the Heartland Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for their work with Outsiders Productions and Play It Loud Season II at the Grand Casino Hotel & Resort. In addition to her work for The Allie Lauren Project, Clare has spent time giving private voice and piano lessons, writing and producing work for hip-hop artist Jabee, and performing jazz standards for them. Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra events. She also collaborated with her tribe, the Chickasaw Nation, in the production of her composition which was billed as the theme song for the nation’s annual reunion in 2019.

Lenora Green-Turner joins the faculty of the department as an assistant professor of music education. An American soprano, Green-Turner, from Macon, Georgia was greeted by Opera news like an awesome singer and the New York Times like a most expressive singer.

She sang roles such as Mimi (La Bohème); Mary (Highway 1, United States); Countess Susanna (Il Segreto di Susanna); First Lady (The Magic Flute), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), title role Suor Angelica, Berta (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), High Priestess (Aida), Antonia (The Tales of Hoffmann). Green-Turner also holds numerous awards, namely the Jane Willson Emerging Artist Award, Leo Rogers Scholarship / Sarasota Opera Guild; MONC Incentive Award, Regional NATS, William Knight Competition, MTNA Young Artist Program, Former Artist in Residence for Stax Music Academy, LeMoyne-Owen College and Opera Memphis (2013-2017). Green-Turner received his DMA and MM from the University of Michigan and his performance degree from Indiana University.

Green-Turner is a member of Requirement under the direction of Eugene Rogers, in partnership with the Sphinx Organization, a non-profit organization that builds diversity in classical music. She is also the founder and CEO of Green Room Studios LLC; a private vocal studio that helps singers find their authentic creativity. She is excited to join the prestigious University of Arkansas Faculty of Music and give students a new perspective on finding their place in the music industry. She and her husband, Anthony J. Turner, Jr. are excited to embark on this new adventure.

Jonathan Stinson joins the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Music Education. Baritone, Stinson has appeared in leading and supporting roles with opera companies across North America and Europe, including Cincinnati Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Kentucky Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Memphis, Dayton Opera, Cleveland Opera, Central City Opera, Ohio Light Opera, Opera New Jersey, as well as abroad in Italy, England and Bulgaria. He made his international debut in Cortona, Italy, in 2010, in the title role of Don Giovanni.

During the 2019-2020 season, he sang Lescaut in Manon Lescaut at the Cleveland Opera House and performed as a soloist with Connecticut Choral Artists in Handel’s Le Messie. Stinson has performed as a soloist with the Kentucky Symphony, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Carmel Bach Festival, Orchestra of Northern New York, Lafayette Symphony, Liberty Symphony and Battle Creek Symphony. His recent solo works include the Requiem by Fauré, Duruflé and Brahms, the complete Weinachts-Oratorium by Bach, Von Himmel hoch by Mendelssohn, Le Messie de Handel, Israel en Egypt and Alexander’s Feast, Cantata Misericordium by Britten, Dona Nobis Pacem by Vaughan-Williams and John The Adams Bandage.

Also a prolific composer, Stinson has written seven song cycles, two one-act operas for young audiences, two opera vignettes and several choral works. His song cycles have been performed in the United States and Germany, and his children’s operas have been produced by Atlanta Opera, Opera Memphis, and Seagle Music Colony, among others. In 2015, her hymn “Beloved” won the Grand Prize at the ninth annual international hymn competition sponsored by the First Baptist Church in Worcester, Massachusetts.

From 2013 to 2018, Stinson was Assistant Professor of Vocals at the Crane School of Music in SUNY Potsdam. In 2018 he moved to the UK to accept the post of Senior Lecturer in Musical Theater, where his research focused on vocal health and the effectiveness of all styles of singing, particularly the musical theater belt. Stinson was a regional finalist at the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and received the “Bel Canto Award” at the Orpheus National Voice Competition. He holds degrees in vocal performance from the Oberlin Conservatory (BM), Indiana University (MM), and the University of Cincinnati-College-Conservatory of Music (DMA). It is part of the faculty of song and musical theater of the International Academy of Music in Varna in Bulgaria every June.