3 Sopranos

A Celebration of Works by African-American Female Composers

Amazing Grace (2019) Esther Hinds (b. 1943)

(Still officially unpublished) Arr. By Lundy

Violin (2018) Maria Thomson Corley (b. 1966)

I, of the Hurricane (2018)
Nakia Verner, Soprano

Love Let the Wind Cry…How I Adore Thee (1977) Undine Smith-Moore (194-1989)
Watch and Pray (1972)
Joyce Lundy, Soprano

Balm in Gilead (1990) Evelyn Simpson-Curenton (b. 1953)

Lil David Play on your Harp (1990)
Marilyn Moore, Soprano

Free At Last (1951) Julia Perry (1924-1979)

Nakia Verner, Soprano

My soul’s been anchored (1937) Florence Price (1888-1953)

Joyce Lundy, Soprano

Three Dream Portraits (Two Movements, 1959) Margaret Bonds (1913-1972)

II. Dream Variation

III. I, too
Marilyn Moore, Soprano

Scandalize my name Evelyn Simpson-Curenton (1990)

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands arr. Margaret Bonds (1963)

Lundy, Moore, and Verner (2019)

Irina Kats

Ms. Kats’ career started in her native Russia where she graduated with honors from Astrakhan Conservatory,
studying with the respected and accomplished pianist Vasily Pavlov. She completed her studies at the Kazan
Conservatory post-graduate program, receiving a Ph. D in Piano Performance and Pedagogy. She then joined
the faculty at her alma-mater Astrakhan Conservatory and performed extensively in Russia as a soloist and
chamber musician, including for TV and radio broadcasts. After moving to the US, Ms. Kats joined Levine
Music in 1998 where she is currently a piano teacher, chamber music coach and accompanist.

Nakia Verner

South Carolina native Nakia Verner is praised for her sumptuous sound and spontaneous passion in recital
performances and operatic portrayals which have delighted listeners from San Francisco to Rome. Here
notable roles include Madama Butterfly , the First Lady in Die Zaüberflote, , Mother in Amahl in the Night
Visitors, Magda in La Rondine; and the title role of Suor Angelica. Verner has also sung the role of Fiordiligi
in Cosi Fan Tutte and the title role in Ariadne Auf Naxos. Nakia has degrees from Winthrop University, The
University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and the Peabody Conservatory. Nakia graduated from The Catholic
University of America with a D.M.A. in October 2014. She is the winner of the George Woodhead prize for
Voice, 1st place winner of both 2010 Washington Summer Opera Theatre Scholarship Competition and the
2012 CUA Concerto Competition . Ms. Verner made her debut in the title role in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf
Naxos in Berlin, Germany in August of 2017.

Joyce Lundy

Joyce Lundy a native of Washington, D.C., made her operatic debut as Nella in Gianni Schicci with the
Municipal Opera of Baltimore. Ms. Lundy hails performances with the Washington National Opera, Virginia
Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Summer Opera Theater of Washington, Opera Bel Canto, Opera Camerata, Diaspora
Opera, the Maryland Opera Society and the Washington National Wagner Society. Recent roles include Aida
(covered for Virginia Opera), Ortlinde from Die Walkure (Virginia Opera), Jo from Bruce Adolpe’s Let
freedom sing! (Washington National Opera), Mother fromHansel and Gretel (Opera Camerata) and Annie
from Porgy and Bess (Virginia Opera). As a soloist, notable performances include Verdi’s Requiem with the
National Cathedral Choral Society and Handel’s Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Lundy
is also the 2009 – 2010 recipient of the Meistersinger Award from the Washington National Wagner Society, a
spectrum artist for Virginia Opera, and a former teaching artist for the Washington National Opera.

Marilyn Moore

Critically acclaimed soprano Marilyn Moore is on the voice faculty at Levine Music. She is a versatile
interpreter of opera, oratorio and concert repertory. Her career has taken her to the world’s great opera houses
and concert halls. Operatic appearances include engagements with New York City Opera, Michigan Opera
Theater, The Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janiero (Brazil) and The Philadelphia Opera Company. Equally
committed to oratorio, chamber music and song recital literature, Ms. Moore performs a richly varied
repertoire that includes solo appearances in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Chartres /cathedral, and the
Beijing Music Festival in Shanghai and Beijing, as well as appearances as soloist with the Charlotte
Symphony, the Philly Pops Orchestra, the American Repertory Ballet Company and the Cathedral Choral
Society of Washington, DC. Ms. Moore is also on the voice faculty at the Music Theater Department of the
Catholic University of America.