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Briefly in the arts
10:32 AM CDT on Sunday, May 4, 2008
UNT soprano takes top honor in opera contest
University of North Texas student Amber Wellborn won first place in the Dallas Opera Guild’s 20th annual vocal competition and an $8,000 prize.
“It felt wonderful,” she said about winning the top prize. “I’m still just a little bit stunned.”
Wellborn is a 22-year-old soprano from Waco studying vocal performance at the UNT College of Music. She performed in the finals round performance consisting of selections from Lehar’s The Merry Widow and Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, accompanied by her coach, Dr. Stephen Dubberly, musical director with the UNT Opera Theatre.
She studies under Dr. Linda Di Fiore, regents professor of voice at UNT.
Wellborn recently took first place in the Texoma National Association of Teachers of Singing regionals and was a regional finalist at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Awards (Southwest Region). She has starred in several productions with UNT Opera.
Book awards announced
Several writers took home awards at the North Texas Book Festival last month.
The North Texas Book Awards recognize outstanding work in a range of categories as well as up-and-coming literary talent.
Awards were given in the following categories:
Children’s book — Grandpa for Sale, by Dotti Enderle and Vicki Sansum, illustrated by T. Kyle Gentry (Flashlight Press)
Poetry — Down to Earth Poetry, by Jim Wilson (Mariposa Press)
Adult nonfiction — Which End of a Buffalo Gets Up First? by Krum resident George U. Hubbard (AWOC.com Publishing)
Adult fiction — The Boys in Blue White Dress, by William F. Lee (Authorhouse Publishing)
The North Texas Book Festival brings authors and readers together, and raises money for public and school libraries and literacy programs.
Argyle author publishes sixth children’s title
Argyle resident and children’s author Lynn Sheffield Simmons has had her sixth book published by Pelican.
The book, Bo and the Roaring Pines, is the fourth in a series about an incorrigible but clever black Labrador retriever.
Simmons will do a reading and book signing at 7 p.m. May 24 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 2201 S. Interstate 35E in Denton.
Her books are on the accelerated reader list for Texas public schools. She has also adapted the stories for use as textbooks. Teacher’s guides and activity sheets are available at her Web site, www.argylebooks.com.
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