Office Location: Sloan Music Center B018
Office Hours: By Appointment
Phone: 704-894-2592
Email: dithornton@davidson.edu

MM in Opera, Temple University, 1983
BM in Opera, Temple University, 1979, summa cum laude
Pennsylvania Opera Festival, 1983: courses in body movement, opera coaching
Bach Aria Festival, 1993: coaching sessions and master classes in performance practice of J.S. Bach cantatas.
Master classes with Martin Katz, John Wustman, Drew Minter, Sir Thomas Allen, Julianne Baird, D’Anna Fortunato, William Warfield

Courses Taught

Private voice, voice class, singing diction, opera theater workshop.

First as a mezzo soprano and then as a contralto,  I have performed with a number of opera companies and orchestras, in chamber music concerts and in recital across the United States, having the good fortune of solidly favorable critical reviews that include four Opera News reviews.  I have performed roles in eight different engagements for Piedmont Opera Theater as well as being repeatedly invited to sing roles for Greensboro Opera and Opera Carolina.  I have  also performed roles for Opera Company of Philadelphia, Gold Coast Opera, Pennsylvania Opera Theater, Minikin Opera, Triangle Opera, and the Delaware Valley Lyric Opera, among others.  Combining my interest in opera with that of contemporary music, I premiered operas by American composers Sam Dennison and Joseph Summer through the Billings Institute of American Music and the Contemporary Opera Company of America, followed later on by performances of some of Joseph Summer’s Oxford Songs through his Shakespeare Concerts in Boston and vicinity.  Among other venues through which I have premiered American works are the Carolina Composers Symposium, the Penn Composers Guild, the Belvedere Chamber Music Festival, and the Davidson College Concert Series.  Contemporary works (along with a variety of “classical” genres) have also been featured in recitals I have offered at institutions such as the Reynolda House Museum of American Art, the Weymouth Center Artist Series, the NC NATS Fall Conference, Wake Forest University, Appalachian State University, Salem College, and a WDAV Radio broadcast of Charles Ives songs.  Even orchestral performances have sometimes involved contemporary works, but the bulk of my orchestral engagements throughout the country has been that of pre-twentieth century composers and especially baroque music.  I have been repeatedly invited back to perform with the Winston-Salem Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony, and the New England Symphonic Ensemble in Carnegie Hall; as well as having performed with with a number of other orchestras and choral organizations. 

My love for teaching was kindled at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, after which I was adjunct instructor at Wake Forest University and at Catholic University.  I also served as part-time instructor at the Salem College Community Music School, at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (as a graduate assistant during doctoral studies).  I have also served as an adjudicator at competitions such as the NATSAA competition and the Charlotte Opera Guild. My teaching duties at Davidson College have sometimes involved unusual initiatives; including co-producing a Bachfest ‘96 that involved students and faculty from Davidson College, UNC-Charlotte, Charlotte area choruses as well as professional vocal soloists and instrumentalists, and the Bach Aria Group.  Another initiative involved my serving as Royal Shakespeare Company Davidson Residency vocal coach to Davidson students performing at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.   Through such initiatives and through Davidson courses, I continue to seek the provision of a connection between the performance of vocal music and the Liberal Arts experience.  
 

Awards and Honors

Performances