Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music will present Glenda Secrest, Jon Secrest and Cindy Fuller in a faculty recital on Monday, Sept. 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall. Dr. Glenda Secrest, soprano, Dr. Jon Secrest, tenor, and Cindy Fuller, piano and organ, will be joined by the Secrests’ daugher, Caitlin Secrest, soprano, as well as Kristin Grant on flute. The recital is free and open to the public.

Repertoire presented will include “Pie Jesu” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem, a duet and arias from Georges Bizet’s Carmen and Gabriel Fauré’s Pavane Op. 50 for 2 Voices, Flute and Piano. The recital will conclude with several selections by Cole Porter and arranged by Mark Hayes, including “Just One of Those Things,” “Night and Day,” “True Love,” “Anything Goes” and “Blow, Gabriel, Blow.”

Dr. Glenda Secrest serves as associate professor of music at Ouachita, teaching applied voice and vocal diction and is co-director for the opera theatre. She holds degrees from Arizona State University and the University of Memphis and has numerous opera credits in both performance and directing positions. Secrest has presented at the National Convention of NATS, with the corresponding article published in the September/October 2007 “Journal of Singing,” the official journal of NATS. She has also served as Arkansas NATS president.

Dr. Jon Secrest serves as chair of Ouachita’s applied music department, coordinator of vocal studies and co-director of opera and musical theatre workshops. He holds degrees from Friends University, Kansas State University and Arizona State University. Secrest has appeared as the tenor lead in numerous operas and has appeared with symphonies and orchestras nationwide. He has also served as Arkansas Governor for the Southern Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).

The Secrests daughter, Caitlin, is a senior at Arkadelphia High School, where she has been a member of the Arkadelphia Singers, All-Region Choir (three years), All-State Choir (three years), AHS Student Council and the Lady Badgers soccer team. She has consistently placed highly in the state and regional NATS auditions and has performed in numerous OBU and AHS musical theatre productions.

Cindy Fuller, OBU instructor of voice and music education, holds degrees from Baylor University and Sam Houston State University. She has served on the faculty of Arkansas Baptist State Convention Music Camps and serves as church organist and children’s choir director at First Baptist Church in Arkadelphia.

Kristin Grant, OBU instructor of music, teaches music theory and applied flute lessons and directs the Ouachita Flute Choir. She performs often as a soloist and chamber musician and is a member of the Pine Bluff Symphony Orchestra. She has earned degrees from the University of Arizona and the University of North Texas and previously served on the music faculty at East Central University in Ada, Okla.

For more information please contact Jon Secrest at (870) 245-5134 or [email protected].

By Meg Gosser