RACHEL WALKER CORPUS, soprano, is a singer and actress who ...

RACHEL WALKER CORPUS, soprano, is a singer and actress who has been on stagesince the age of 4. Her performance credits include Mabel in Gilbert & Sullivan’sPirates of Penzance, Cherubino from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, Despina in Mozart’sCosi fan tutte, Gianetta from Donizetti’s Elixir of Love, Emily in Barab’s FortunesFavorites, Anne Egerman in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Dorothy in the Wizard ofOz and Liesel in the Sound of Music. Mrs. Corpus has had several orchestral engagementsas well with the Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra, the Mt. Sinsiniwa Choir, the SouthernIowa Honor Choir, and the University of Iowa Mass Chorus and Orchestra. Rachel’svocal coaches have included Susan Miller-Hult of the Chicago Lyric and Shari Rhoadsfrom the University of Iowa. Some of her directing credits include Treasure Island,Grease, The Wiz, Cinderella, Nottingham High, Geppetto and Son, and MidsummerNight’s Dream. Rachel currently teaches general music grades 5 and 6, choral ensemblesgrades 6-12, show choir, high school drama, and junior high musicals in the AlbiaCommunity School District. Her current Albia High School Drama production isHumperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel, which opens February 25 at the Albia Theater.Rachel is active in her church as a Catechist and Cantor, and she and her husband are thevolunteer managers of the Albia Theater. Mrs. Walker Corpus is married to EdwardCorpus. Together they have three children: Olivia, 4, Sam, 17 months, and Felix, 3months. This is her first engagement with the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra.MARGARET CLAIR has been a frequent soloist with SEISO since becoming anadjunct voice professor at Iowa Wesleyan College. She earned her MA from theUniversity of Iowa, in Voice Performance in 2007. Her undergraduate work in MusicEducation was started at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, and finished at theUniversity of San Francisco, in San Francisco, CA. During her twenty years inCalifornia, Ms. Clair studied voice with Blanche Thebom, leading mezzo at theMetropolitan Opera, and performed in opera, operetta, musical theatre, recital, andperformance work. She is a versatile singer and teacher who now makes her home inFairfield, Iowa with her husband, a musical theatre director, and their two sons. She findsBeethoven to be the most challenging and exciting composers of Classical music and isthrilled to be part of this performance with SEISO and Maestro McConnell.DENNIS WILLHOIT has received numerous awards for singing and served astenor soloist with various ensembles in New England and the Midwest. Concertappearances include performances of Beethoven’s 9 th Symphony, Orff’s Carmina Burana,Handel’s The Messiah and Stephen Paulus’ new work To Be Certain of the Dawn for theSoutheast Iowa Symphony Orchestra, University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra, TrumanState Symphony Orchestra, Iowa City Chamber Singers, Rockford Symphony Orchestraand Chorus and the Janesville-Beloit Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Wisconsin.Equally at home on the operatic stage, Dr. Willhoit’s opera credits include DieFledermaus, Cosi fan tutte, Carmen, Cenerentola, Falstaff and most recently with theFox Valley Symphony Orchestra in Carmen. He has performed in master classes withFrederica von Stade, Adele Addison, Dawn Upshaw, Leslie Guinn and Martin Katz andsung at summer music festivals in Aspen, Colorado and Brattleboro, Vermont.

Dr. Willhoit is the founding Artistic Director of the Greater Ottumwa Vocal ArtsProject in Ottumwa, Iowa where he served as the conductor to the children’s chorusesand musical director for the summer musical theatre productions for eleven seasons. Heserved as the musical director for the 2008 Illinois All-State Theatre Festival’s productionof Jason Robert Brown’s Parade.Dr. Willhoit is Assistant Professor of Music-Voice/Opera at the University ofWisconsin Stevens Point. He is a recipient of the 2010 University Excellence inTeaching Award. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music degreefrom Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa; holds a Master of Music with honors in vocalperformance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he studied with JonHumphrey; and recently graduated from the University of Iowa with a Doctorate ofMusical Arts in vocal performance and pedagogy, where he studied with StephenSwanson. His scholarly research has focused on the operatic works of Vivaldi. Herecently travelled to Torino, Italy on a Stanley Fellowship from the University of Iowa tocomplete his work for the publication of a critical edition of selected tenor arias from thatcomposer’s opus. Dr. Willhoit returned to Torino in the summer of 2009 to continueexamination of the Vivaldi manuscripts choosing one opera to publish in critical editionand produce in the near future at UWSP. Dr. WillhoitPrior to his appointment at UWSP, he has taught at Drake University in DesMoines, Iowa and Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.Bio: EDWARD CORPUS, BassEdward Corpus, bass, hails from Elgin, Illinois. He attended Illinois State University andthe University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he earned the Bachelor of Music and Masterof Music degrees, respectively. Mr. Corpus has completed coursework for the Doctor ofMusical Arts degree at the University of Iowa. Mr. Corpus is a three-time consecutivewinner of the N.A.T.S. vocal competition and a winner of the Metropolitan OperaNational Council District Audition. Mr. Corpus’ most recent operatic performances haveincluded Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Zuniga in Carmen and Colline in La Bohème withOpera Quad Cities, William Jennings Bryan in The Ballad of Baby Doe with Peoria’sOpera Illinois, the Modern Major-General in Pirates of Penzance with Cedar RapidsOpera, Escamillo in Carmen with the University of Iowa Opera Theater, and Zuniga inCarmen with Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. Other operatic roles include the title role inLe Nozze di Figaro; Dr. Dulcamara L’Elisir d’amore; Orgon Tartuffe; Balthazar Amahland the Night Visitors; and Count Carl-Magnus in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little NightMusic. Mr. Corpus’ oratorio repertoire includes Fauré’s Requiem, Dubois’ The SevenLast Words of Christ, Mozart’s Requiem, and C Minor Mass most recently performedwith the Drake University Symphony Orchestra and choirs at Des Moines’ Civic Center,Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Handel’s Messiah, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, mostrecently performed with the Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra and the Ottumwa SymphonyOrchestra. Mr. Corpus is also featured on the newly released CD of Daron Hagen’sopera, Bandanna, on Arsis records. Mr. Corpus has held teaching positions at AugustanaCollege in Rock Island, Illinois and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Currently, heis on the voice faculty at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. In addition to his

operatic ventures Mr. Corpus is also a singer/songwriter of adult contemporary music andis a member of Broadcast Music International (BMI). He lives in Albia, Iowa with hiswife Rachel and three children Olivia, Samuel, and Felix.