Kilgore native to perform at St. Luke's recital

Eve K. Budnick (left) and Rebecca Grimes will not only perform at St. Luke's but will give a Master Class at Kilgore College.

Soprano Rebecca Grimes, a native of Kilgore, will appear in concert with pianist Eve Budnick next Monday, March 10 at 7pm at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Kilgore.

The recital is being presented in conjunction with a master class for voice students at Kilgore College on Wednesday, March 12. The two women are Boston-based musicians who co-direct Opera del West, a regional opera company that serves the western Boston suburbs. Selections to be presented in concert are songs by Purcell, Ravel, Kander, Strauss, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler and Ginastera.

Donations will be accepted at the door to benefit the St. Luke's United Methodist Church Music Ministry.

Described by the Worcester Telegram and Gazette as a singer with "clear-toned elegance and dignity," Texas native Rebecca Grimes has been featured in such roles as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro for Worcester Opera Works, Roxanne in L'Europe Galante for the Amherst Early Music Festival, Zerlina in Don Giovanni for Opera in the Ozarks, Angelina in Trial by Jury and La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Opera, The Shepherdess in L'enfant et les Sortiléges for Loyola University Opera and The Second Knitter in A Game of Chance with the New England Conservatory Opera Workshop. Other roles include Rosina in Haydn's La Vera Costanza and Belinda in Dido and Aeneas for The University of Connecticut Opera Theater. As an oratorio soloist, Grimes has been featured in such works as Bach's Cantata 51 (Jauchzet Gott) with the Cape Cod Consort and Mozart's Mass in C Minor with the St. Paul's Chamber Music Society in Houston. Other solo oratorio performances include Brahm's Ein Deutches Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Faure's Requiem and Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb.

As a 2004 winner of the University of Connecticut Concerto Competition, Grimes was featured with the UConn Orchestra in an all-Handel pro- gram. In her recent appearance with the Falmouth Chorale's Mozart Mass in C Minor, Grimes was critically praised for her "supreme musicality, grace, ease, and discriminating ornamentation." Upcoming projects include the premier of John Cooper's Peace Cantata at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, an appearance with the Connecticut Early Music Festival singing Diana in Gasparini's L'oraculo del Fato and a return to Worcester Opera Works singing Silberklang in The Impresario.

In addition to her work as a performer, Grimes is the cofounder and stage director of Opera del West, a regional opera company based in the Boston/MetroWest area. Grimes has been featured in recital throughout the greater Boston area, and holds a master's degree from New England Conservatory in Boston. She is a doctoral student and lecturer at the University of Connecticut, where she maintains a studio of voice students for the University.

Grimes' mother-in law is Carol Grimes, of Kilgore and her father-in law is Ben Grimes, of Longview. She and her husband, Eric, are parents of two sons, Tristan, 11 and Owen, 2. They live in Boston.

Eve K. Budnick is the music director and co-founder of Opera del West. She is the vocal coach and diction instructor at the University of Connecticut, where her duties include preparing the graduate voice majors for recitals, student operas, and professional auditions. This year she prepared them for a full production of The Magic Flute. She is also a staff pianist and vocal coach at Boston University and the lyric diction instructor for New England Conservatory's continuing education department. Eve has been the music director for Boston productions of Don Pasquale and Riders to the Sea, as well as opera scenes programs for Boston University Opera Institute, New England Conservatory Opera Workshop, and New England Conservatory Summer Opera Workshop. She played offstage organ for the Boston University production of Romeo et Juliette and harpsichord for a recent production of Radamisto.

Budnick's opera company has performed an Evening of Opera Scenes, Gianni Schicchi and A Game of Chance, and a Children's Opera Program under her musical direction. Her group received Massachusetts Local Cultural Grants in 2007 and 2008. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Musicology from Princeton University, a Master's Degree in Vocal Accompaniment from Boston University, where she studied art song with Allen Rogers, and a Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano from New England Conservatory where she studied Opera Repertoire with John Moriarty. She is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the music honors society. She lives in Wayland, Mass. with her husband and two sons.