Dr. Joseph Perniciaro

Instructor
D.M.A., Louisiana State University, 2007
Voice/Opera
Office: Malloy Hall 233
Phone: (785) 628-5329
Email: jcperniciaro@fhsu.edu

Joseph Perniciaro, tenor, has performed nationally in opera, oratorio, and recital performances. He has been lauded for his “… superb vocal skills as well as formidable dramatic talent and a gift for languages.”

Dr. Perniciaro has sung principle roles with opera companies across the United States, including Kansas Concert Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera Southwest (Albuquerque), Longview Opera (Texas), Pensacola Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Shreveport Opera, Houston’s Moores Opera Center and Opera in the Heights, Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Seagle Music Colony. His repertoire is as extensive as it is varied, encompassing operas from Monteverdi, Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, and Strauss to late twentieth century operas by Benjamin Britten, Douglas Moore, and John Corigliano. Recent performances include Beppe in I Pagliacci with Kansas Concert Opera and Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte with Wichita Grand Opera. Through these performances he has worked with numerous influential conductors including Ekhart Wycik, Robert Lyall, Jerry Shannon, Joe Illick, Michael Butterman, and Robert L. Larsen, along with important stage directors such as Jonathan Field, Christopher Mattaliano, Ned Canty, Sandra Burnhard, Jay Lesenger, and Buck Ross.

Active also in concert and oratorio, Dr. Perniciaro has been the featured tenor soloist and guest artist with the Salina Symphony, Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony, Hays Symphony, and the Victoria Bach Festival performing Bach’s Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and Requiem, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Dr. Perniciaro is an active recitalist and his repertoire includes a broad range of songs and arias from the Baroque through Contemporary periods as well as a variety of selections from the American Musical Theater cannon. His April 2002 recital at Louisiana State University was recorded and broadcast on Louisiana Public Radio. Of a recent recital it was noted, “Perniciaro, an enormously gifted singer, actor, linguist and musician, was ‘in voice’ and in good spirits, and communicated every nuance of every text with vocal color, expression and gesture…”

Dr. Perniciaro served as consultant and contributor of Italian and Spanish International Phonetic Alphabet transcriptions for the internationally published (Fall 2006) A Chanticleer Christmas (Hinshaw Music, Inc.). He has also discussed opera and vocal music on High Plaines Public Radio’s “Monday with the Maestro” as well as Radio Kansas. His recent research culminated in a dissertation and lecture recital on Ross Lee Finney’s song cycle Chamber Music, a complete setting of the James Joyce’s texts by the same name.

Dr. Perniciaro has served as Artist-Teacher of Voice and Director of Opera at Fort Hays State University since 2005. Before joining the faculty at Fort Hays State University, Dr. Perniciaro taught on the faculty of Wartburg College (Waverly, IA) and as a teaching assistant at Louisiana State University. As Director of Opera he is producer, stage director, and musical coach for all productions and performances. His directing credits include a successful new production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, the Kansas and regional premieres of Robert Nelson’s Tickets, Please and an updated version of W. A. Mozart’s The Impresario or The Sopranos meet “The Sopranos,” Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge and Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium. Other credits include excerpts from J. Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and Bizet’s Carmen. The 2008 – 2009 season will feature an opera by Composer-in-Residence Richard Faith.

In February 2008, Dr. Perniciaro was selected by the Board of Directors of the National Association of Teacher’s of Singing (NATS) and the NATS Foundation as a YOUNG LEADER’S AWARD WINNER. Dr. Perniciaro’s students have been winners and semi-finalists at the National Association of Teachers of Singing student auditions (state and regional levels) as well as Federated Music Club Scholarship winners, a Hays Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition 2nd Place Winner, NAFTGER Young Artist competitors, Kansas District and State Choir members and have received superior ratings at the Kansas Regional and State Solo Contest at the high school level. His students have participated in the Cedar Rapids Opera Young Artist Program and the Johanna Meier Summer Opera Institute. As an adjudicator, he is in high demand in Kansas and Missouri and maintains an active private voice studio with students from Hays and surrounding areas. He has given masterclasses at Emporia State University, Barton County Community College, and Music/Arts Institute in Independence, Missouri.

He is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), National Opera Association, College Music Society, Pi Kappa Lambda International Music Honors Society, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Dr. Perniciaro has been included in Who’s Who and Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders.

Upcoming performances include a faculty recital and a recital of songs by Richard Faith, accompanied by the composer, both at FHSU, and a Guest Artist recital and masterclass Bethel College.

Student Performances