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05/5 - Internationally Renowned Soprano to Perform at University

The University of Scranton's Performing Arts Series will present a recital by internationally renowned lyrico- spinto voice Bridgett Hooks on Saturday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Jefferson Ave. and Muberry St. Admission is free and open to the public.

Hooks' engagements in recent seasons have included debut appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, at the Davis Festival in Paris, the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. She also performed at in in in a gala benefit concert for the Marilyn Home Foundation and in recital at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

A master's degree graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Hooks' roles there included Donna Anna in "Don Giovanni," Romilda in Handel's "Xerxes," and Laurie in Copland's "The Tender Land." She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music.

As a participant of the European Center for Opera and Voice in Ghent, Belgium, she sang the Countess in "Le Nozze di Figaro," and Madame Cortese in "Il Viaggio Reims."

Hooks is the recipient of career grants from Opera Index and the Curtis Institute of Music and has participated in master classes of Birgit Nilsson, Galina, Vishnevskaya, Regine Crespin and Tom Krause. She was a regional finalist of the National Council Auditions, a finalist in the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition and a winner of the Palm Beach Opera Competition.

A native of Phoenix, Ariz., Hooks currently studies with Ruth Falcon in .