College of Charleston SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

Soprano faculty member Amanda Castellone to Open 2nd Monday Series

Amanda Castellone | Photo by Colby Lysne

Amanda Castellone | Photo by Colby Lysne

The 2nd Monday Series at the College of Charleston School of the Arts will present a concert featuring voice faculty member Amanda Castellone, soprano, for an evening of operatic arias and art song. Faculty member Lorna Barker, piano, also will perform.

The Series highlights the College’s talented music faculty and guest artists, and the opening concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019, at the Recital Hall in the Simons Center of the Arts, 54 Saint Philip St. Castellone will perform repertoire by Vincenzo Bellini, Ernest Chausson, Gustav Mahler and Jake Heggie. General admission is $15 and $10 for all students with school I.D. Tickets can be purchased ONLINE, at the door or reserved by emailing concerts@cofc.edu

Soprano Amanda Castellone, a native of Charleston, holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance from Arizona State University. An active performer of opera, recital, and oratorio, she is the featured soloist of the Bethel United Methodist Church (Charleston, S.C.).  In Ariz., Castellone performed extensively as a soloist with Scottsdale Musical Arts; favorite concerts include Missa in C Minor, K. 427/417a (Mozart) and Messiah (Handel). Favorite opera roles include the First Handmaiden in Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot with Arizona Opera, Despina (Così fan Tutte), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi), and Frasquita (Carmen). Castellone holds a Master of Music degree from The Boston Conservatory and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Music and Biology from Wake Forest University. She joined the music faculty of the College of Charleston in 2012 and is the Assistant Director of Opera. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity and is the President of the South Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Lorna Barker is a concert pianist, accompanist, adjudicator and teacher in the Charleston area. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, after receiving a Bachelor of Music degree from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory and a Master of Music degree from Syracuse University, all in piano performance. She is the principal pianist with the North Charleston Pops Orchestra, Music Director at Christ Church and the founding director of the East Cooper Concert Series. Barker has composed and published two books, Trumpet Descants for 101 Noteworthy Hymns and Vocal Descants for 101 Noteworthy Hymns. Both are published by the Church Hymnal Corporation in New York


Housed within the College of Charleston School of the Arts, CofC Concerts includes five extraordinary series: International Piano Series, Magnetic South, Charleston Music Fest, 2nd Monday Series, and CofC Ensembles (CofC Concert Choir, Opera and Orchestra), featuring international, national and regional artists, as well as the award-winning student ensembles in the College of Charleston’s Department of Music.