Background
Background and Experience
DonnaChung
lyric coloratura soprano
donnachung@me.com
Phone: 847.400.4589
PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES
Height: 5’3”
Weight: 175 lbs
Eye color: Hazel green
Hair color: Ash blonde
OPERA & MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCES
Königen der Nacht, Die Zauberflöte ; Mozart
Juliette, Romeo et Juliette; Gounod
Najade & Zerbinetta, Ariadne auf Naxos; Strauss
Madam Herz, Der Schaulspieldirektor; Mozart
Barbarina & Susanna, Le Nozze di Figaro; Mozart
Rose, TEXAS drama; 180 performances
FEATURED SOPRANO SOLOIST
Adventlied, Op. 71; Schumann
Carmina Burna; Orff
Chanson des Ronsard; Milhaud
Ein Deutsches Requiem; Brahms
Exsultate, jubilate; Mozart
Mass in C; Beethoven
Missa Brevis in F; Haydn
Messiah, The; Händel
Messe G-dur; Schubert
O Qui Coeli
Requiem, Mozart & Verdi
RECITAL / RADIO / TELEVISON PERFORMANCES
Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series – WFMT Classical Music Station, Chicago, IL
Masterclass Technician & Kaleidescope Fine Arts Series Performer – Jacksonville State University
Geistliches Frühlingskonserten - Deutchland
Musicial Moments & Musical Moments Holiday Concert, Cable Television, Chicago, IL
REVIEWS
"She is a singer with immediacy and RANGE..."
"Lovely angel-singing in the Brahms' Requiem!"
"Donna has a very positive CHARISMA ...a high level of quality and engagement."
"Donna is a coloratura soprano of EXTRAORDINARY vocal clarity and range ...a lovely person."
"...an unforgettable impression with beautifully sung high Fs...a bright and lovely coloratura soprano!"
“She is a fine singer and an excellent teacher. She understands the mechanism of the voice and is careful to not push young singers. Her results are that of fine tuned voices beautifully and effortlessly produced!"
DonnaChung
BIOGRAPHY
Donna Chung's operatic roles are career highlights and include Juliette in Romeo et Juliette, Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte , Najade in Ariadne Auf Naxos, Mdm. Herz in Der Schaulspieldirektor and Barbarina / Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro. She has contractually performed four seasons with TEXAS musical drama (180 performances!).
Donna first was awarded engagements with Lansmusiken Agency and Svenska Kyrkan in Sweden. She was engaged as soloist in recital and operatic highlight concerts and toured through Skåne, Blekinge, Bohuslän, Halland, Vänern, Öland, Gotland, Vättern, Stockholm, Södermanland and Uppland. The Swedish contracts culminated in highly successful and attended presentations in Smaland's Elmia Konserthus with Cecilia Rydinger-Alin conducting. She was delighted to perform on radio shows and share American life and insights in newspaper interviews.
Donna then collaborated with Music Directors of the Southern Archdiocese of Bavaria, Martina Thoma and Andreas Wimmer. They presented sacred and secular concert programs throughout Germany. Her best received vocal programs were those featuring traditional American folk songs and gospel selections. She was featured also as soprano soloist in major oratorio presentations of Haydn, Mozart, Handel, Schumann and Schubert in Bavaria's most beautiful settings.
Since returning to the United States, Donna has been engaged as masterclass technician for voice majors and education majors at the collegiate level. She enjoys teaching voice students with outstanding results.
Originally from a large family in the small town of Tulia, Texas, Donna knew that her passion was singing from quite an early age. She overcame great odds to attend college and to earn her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas / New England Conservatory and Master of Music degree from Cleveland Institute of Music.
DonnaChung
THREE PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES
Dr. Samuel Bomar Brown
Professor Emeritus: Jacksonville State University
Professor: Wayland Baptist University
Address: 404 Navasota Drive; Plainview, TX 79072
Phone: (806) 291-0850
Email: bomar1941@suddenlink.net
It is my understanding that Donna Galloway Chung has made application to teach voice at your university. I am pleased to give her a very positive recommendation. She is a fine singer and an excellent teacher. She understands the mechanism of the voice and is careful to not push young singers. Her results produce fine tuned voices. Her students sing beautifully and with an effortless sounding production.
I have known Donna since around 1975 when she was a high school voice student of mine in Tulia, TX. Even then, she was a wonderful student who aspired to do her best. I invited her to give two recitals at Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL (where I was Professor of Voice) around 1999 and 2002. The second recital was in connection with our Kaleidoscope Series, a celebration of the Arts. Both recitals were exceptional and were met with great enthusiasm from our audiences. She also coached my university students the week that she was visiting in 2002 and the results of her teaching were outstanding. Donna has achieved a great deal musically and I know your students would benefit greatly from her expertise.
Please give her application careful consideration and should you wish to talk with me about Mrs. Chung, please feel free to call me at any time at the number listed above. You will have my email address in your address book which is another option for visiting with me.
I retired from Jacksonville State University in 2003 (Professor Emeritus) and have been teaching adjunct at Wayland Baptist University, Plainview, TX since that time.
Sincerely,
Samuel B. Brown, DMA
NATS Member
Dr. Raouf George Zaidan
Professor: NJ City University, NY University Adjunct
Address: 31 River Court, # 1105
Jersey City, NJ 07310
Email: raoufzdn553@gmail.com
Cell phone: 720 394 1272
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
Donna Galloway Chung is a singer of distinction. I was involved in part of her early training and found her always to be serious, extremely hard-working, dedicated and unusually gifted. She possesses a flexible, wide-ranging soprano voice capable of fine coloratura singing and also dramatic expression. She is an active performer and is also a teacher and choir director of many years experience.
She is the kind of young artist that would bring credit and excellence to any program she belonged to. I highly recommend her to you.
Raouf G Zaidan
D.M.A. – Colorado University-Boulder
M.M. – University of North Texas
Associate of the Royal College of Music, London
Fellow of Trinity College, London
NATS Member
Mrs. Linda Rosen
General Music/Choral Director
Woodlawn Middle School
Kildeer Countryside School District 96
Address: 6362 Gilmer Rd, Long Grove, IL 60047
Email: lrosen@district96.k12.il.us
Phone: 847.353.8500
To Whom It May Concern:
It is my pleasure to recommend vocal teacher Donna Chung as a candidate worthy of your consideration. Donna is an outstanding musician, vocalist, and most importantly…teacher. I have exclusively sent any middle school students that I teach to Donna’s studio, because of that rare skill – a musician that not only is gifted, but is a true educator.
While many see their students only in their lesson, Donna always goes above and beyond. She sends her students to music contests and she’s right there with them – before and after the performance. If her students are in a musical, she’s in attendance in the audience. Donna becomes part of the student’s lives, and her interest in not only their vocal skills, but everything that revolves around them. And Donna is grateful – she never fails to thank those around her for giving her these wonderful kids. Her warmth, kindness, and concern for her “kids” are boundless.
While I know that I will feel a huge loss at not being able to send my students to this unique teacher, I know that she will be an excellent addition to any faculty. I unequivocally recommend Donna Chung as a candidate for your vocal program.
Sincerely,
Linda Rosen
DonnaChung
TEACHING STATEMENT
Learning music, specifically vocal technique and repertoire, is a multi-layered process and is of special concern in this economy and real world culture. I know that students learn with different senses, have their own strengths and weaknesses and prepare in their time.
It is important to me to create an inclusive learning environment and to help young singers find their strengths, tune into their capabilities and market niche. They are better prepared for economic realities and the real world around them for these focuses. And these goals keep me working for my young singers’ success.
Now, everything starts at first meeting. The first initial meeting is the most important and is low-key. I do require a face-to-face, seated discussion. The student and I work through my student questionnaire and talk about their experiences in music up to the present moment, including their abilities, what they want to do and how they want to reach their goals. This discussion gives me a road map not only as to what and where they want to be but also insight into their emotional, spiritual and academic thinking. This is also the time, we start to build a PR packet together (resume, headshot, references, etc.) that the voice student will use out in “the real world”.
I have been very impressed with the teachings of Manual Garcia (1775-1832), and have long taught using the Mathilde Marchesi instructional books. I use the Vaccai vocalizes as well to underscore the freeing/opening of the students’ voices and to show a progression of their ability in these short exercises. So, at the beginning of each lesson, there is a very close attention to the details of the vocal warm-up as I accompany the student singing first the easy, singular notes that rise up through the upper middle register. It is ever important to sing through the lower register with full breath support; placing the voice as if speaking or singing recitations.
My reason for hearing warm-up for each student, each lesson, is to hear if the warm-up is strengthening the voice range and tone. I like to hear clear, easy and accurate pitches. This is a good time to get an idea or read of how the students’ practicing may be going. This is an important time to answer any questions or to suggest another option for the student with achieving a better support of their tone or try out another way of accomplishing an exercise. Gradually, the natural voice is allowed to go through the passaggio between the upper middle voice and into the head register. Hopefully, everything is good and
no stress or tension is seen or heard. (If there are problems, then the focus of the lesson changes.)
The warm-up is followed by working through German, French, Russian, Italian or English languages /diction. Repertoire is well-balanced and includes sacred classical, contemporary, secular classical and contemporary selections. Translation, research, performance practice is shared between the student and myself. The goal of working with the student at this point, is to build confidence, reiterate the positive performance of the repertoire and to get questions out in order to answer them.
My teaching reflects a positive, can-do, let-me-try attitude that is spontaneous yet grounded in reality. AUDITION preparation, press kit with headshot, dressing the part with their clothing, social and public conduct, recording CD/mp3 demo of their top five classical and theatre songs...are all a part of my voice studio directives too. I have also been known to give the, “You are a Role Model” speech to my students engaged in leading roles too.
Evidence of my successful teaching can be seen in my young students performing their first recital, to the amazement of their friends and family, in my high school voice students advancing to national competitions and receiving college scholarship, and most recently, a singing actress of mine flying between LA and NYC campuses of AMDA.
So, in closing, let me leave you with my perceived importance to create an inclusive learning environment and to help young singers find their strengths, tune into their capabilities and market niche. They are better prepared for economic realities and the real world around them for these focuses. And these goals keep me working for my young singers’ success.
Qualifications
- M.M. Cleveland Institute of Music
- B.M. University of North Texas
- minor: choral conducting
- minor: piano
- minor: theory
Professional Associations:
AGMA, NATS, SAI, ZBF
