Trio to perform recital of Mendelssohn-Hensel

The performers include a soprano, a tenor and a pianist.
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Soprano Dr. Anne Hagan Bentz, assistant professor of music at Westminster College; tenor Dr. David Smith, associate professor of music at Geneva College; and pianist Marie Libal-Smith, will give a recital featuring songs of Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel during a program at 7 p.m. Nov. 14 in Wallace Memorial Chapel.
Bentz, who has been with Westminster since 2001, earned undergraduate degrees from the University of Delaware and the Hochschule f & uuml;r Misik und Theater in the former West Germany and a master of arts from the University of Maryland. She spent more than 14 years as a soloist at The Badisches Staatstheater, The St & auml;dtisches Landestheater Flensburg and the Eduard von Winterstein Theater. Her many roles, which span the opera and operetta repertoire, include Gilda Rosina, Pamina, Adina Susanna from the "Marriage of Figaro" and Susanna from & quot;The Secret of Susanna."
Smith, a dedicated recitalist, includes in his repertoire art songs of Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, Wolf and Spohr. He produced a recital that presented the complete Lieder of Clara Schumann during the centenary commemoration of her death.
Libal-Smith earned an undergraduate degree from Baldwin-Wallace and master's degree from Indiana University. She has performed extensively as vocal accompanist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Canada. Her recital collaborators include flutists Carol Wincenc, Amy Porter and Sean Gabriel, principal flutist of the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and Cleveland Opera; and violinists Marissa Regni, principal second violinist of the National Symphony Orchestra and Christopher Wu, first violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Libel-Smith has recorded a CD with violinist Sharon Stanis of the Lafayette String Quartet. In addition to coaching and rehearsing for the opera programs at Westminster College, she is staff accompanist at Carnegie Mellon University.
The event is free and open to the public.