Joseph Perniciaro, Professor
Voice
Director of Opera
Contact Information
Email jcperniciaro@fhsu.edu
Phone (785) 628-5329
Office Malloy 238
Joseph Perniciaro, tenor, has been heard throughout the United States and Italy in opera, oratorio, and recital performances and has been lauded for his "superb vocal skills as well asformidable dramatic talent and a gift for languages." Dr. Perniciaro has sung over 30 tenor roles in operas with companies including Oratorio Society of New Jersey, New Orleans Opera, Pensacola Opera, Opera Southwest, Chautauqua Opera, Shreveport Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera. Recent concert appearances include Haydn's Creation, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Mozart's Vespers and Requiem, Bach's Magnificat, and Handel's Messiah. He has been heard on Louisiana Public Radio and HighPlains Public Radio. His research on American composer Ross Lee Finney has been presented in lecture-recitals at regional conferencessponsored by the College Music Society and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Dr. Perniciaro's students are active in international, national, regional and state competitions and young artist programs with winners, finalists, and semi-finalists in competitions sponsored by Lyric Opera of Kansas City, NATS, the Coeur d'Alene Symphony, the Hays Symphony Young Artist Competition, the Wichita Symphony NAFTZGER Young Artist Competition, and Federated Music Club. His students have gone on to further study at Westminster Choir College (Ryder University), Boston University, AMDA (American Musical and Dramatic Academy), Oklahoma City University, and the University of Kansas. In 2013, he was nominated for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award, in 2012 for the prestigious FHSU Pilot Award for Teaching Excellence, and was chosen in 2008 by the Board of Directors of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the NATS Foundation as an Emerging Leaders Award winner. He maintains an active adjudication and masterclass schedule most notably as the guest clinician during the 2011 NATS West Central Region Conference and Student Competition along with master classes in Mississippi, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Louisiana and Texas. As of 2012, he is Level I certified in Somatic Voicework The LoVetri Method.
Dr. Perniciaro is Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Opera at Fort Hays State University, and has taught at Wartburg College (Iowa) and Louisiana State University where he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance with a musicology minor. He is also a graduate of the University of Houston (Master of Music) and Simpson College (Bachelor of Music) with degrees in vocal performance.