January 9th, 2020
MANKATO, MN. –Minnesota State Mankato welcomes world class opera singer Paul Spencer Adkins to campus on Thursday, January 16. While on campus, Adkins will present a short musical concert including an informative talk at 2:00 pm followed by a master class from 3:00 – 4:30 pm for Department of Music students and Department of Theatre actors and singers. Both events take place in the Elias J. Halling Recital Hall of the Earley Center for Performing Arts, 320 Maywood Avenue and are free and open to other college students and to the public.
A reception for Paul Spencer Adkins will follow the afternoon events from 5:30 – 6:30 pm. The reception is sponsored by the Office of African American Affairs and will take place in the Multicultural Center, 269 Centennial Student Union. Please RSVP with Director Kenneth Reid via email at kenneth.reid@mnsu.edu by Wednesday, January 15.
A winner of the First Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, Paul Spencer Adkins is a leading tenor with opera companies and orchestras throughout the United States and abroad. He made his New York debut at Lincoln Center in the title role of Virgil Thomson’s Lord Byron. Mr. Adkins also produced and starred in the PBS television special “The Musical Legacy of Roland Hayes”. Paralleling his work on stage and in the classroom, Adkins works to create uplifting dialogues on cultural diversity in the workplace and centers of learning. He is a graduate of West Virginia University, the University of the Arts and The Academy of Vocal Arts.
Over the years, his students have included Benj Pasek, one half of the Tony, Oscar and Golden Globe-winning songwriting team Pasek and Paul, whose credits include La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen. Adkins has also taught actor Nathaniel Stampley, operatic tenor Gregory Schmidt, and actress Amanda Jane Cooper, who currently plays Glinda in Broadway’s Wicked.
“When any student leaves Paul’s studio, they’re pretty much in line with themselves, emotionally and physically, in accepting their own voice,” says Annie Sciolla, associate adjunct professor of voice at both UArts and the Community College of Philadelphia. “You can just tell he’s seen a lot of things, been around a long time, and has a great amount of gravitas.”
For more information, call the Performance Series office, (507) 389-5549.