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The American soprano and voice teacher, Wanda Yang-Temko, obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Liberal Studies from Emory University (1988-1992); her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Georgia State University (1993-1995); ad her Doctor of Music degree in Music Literature and Performance from Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana (1997-2001). She was Finalst at Mozarteum Competition of The Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta (1994). An acknowledged interpreter of J.S. Bach, she was a semi-finalist in the inaugural year of the Chimay Baroque Singing Competition in Belgium (2000).
Wanda Yang-Temko has been described by critics as having "simply unbelievable vocal power and control," and "a winning stage personality." She made her international operatic debut as Erste Knabe in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in Rome. Other highlights include the Mother in Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors and Morgana in George Frideric Handel's Alcina.
Acclaimed for performances on the operatic and concert stages, Wanda Yang-Temko has collaborated with some of the most renowned Early Music artists of our time, including Andrew Lawrence-King, Paul Hillier, Nigel North, Paul Elliott, and Stanley Ritchie. In 2001 she created the role of Ninfa in the Bloomington Early Music Festival's innovative production of I lavori d'amore persi, a theatrical experience utilizing the works of Claudio Monteverdi, and was soloist in J.S. Bach's Passion According to St. Matthew (BWV 244) with the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic Orchestra. As a recitalist she performs throughout the country, featuring the works of Samuel Barber, Sergei Rachmaninov, Ravel, G.F. Handel, J.S. Bach, and the great German Romantic composers. Her interest in contemporary music is equally keen, as evinced by her skilled and nuanced performances of the works of Olivier Messiaen. As a professional chorister, she has performed with conductors such as Robert Shaw, Robert Spano, Donald Runnicles, William Fred Scott, and Alfred Calabrese.
A multi-faceted performer, Wanda Yang-Temko was the host of Afternoon Classics and Concert 90 on Atlanta's own NPR affilliate, WABE, 90.1FM, where she also wrote, produced, and hosts a 30 minute weekly show highlighting singers and their connections to their art and the world, called "The Art of Song" (April 2002-January 2009). She can also be heard as Detective Phillips in Mind's Ear Audio Productions' French Quarter , a radio drama series featured on National Public Radio's "NPR Playhouse." Equally at home as a stage director, she has received warm reviews for her direction of Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde for the Cathedral of St. Philip.
Wanda Yang-Temko has also been Schola Choristers Vocal Coach at Rock Spring Presbyterian Church (September 2009-March 2011); Director of Choristers at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church (May 2011-September 2013); Voice Teacher at The Lovett School (August 2012-May 2016); Artist Affiliate at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she taught Applied Voice and Music and Culture (August 2016- May 2021); Staff Singer at Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta (since August 2011); Instructor at Atlanta Institute of Music in Duluth, Georgia, where she teaches Survey of World Music History and Sociology of Popular Music (since April 2016). Since 1995, she also teaches voice at her own studio in Atlanta, Georgia. |
