UNT Vocal Studies 

With acclaimed faculty and accomplished students, the UNT Division of Vocal Studies is a thriving educational setting. Opportunities to perform include opera, concert, and recital, both on campus and across the dynamic Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Current faculty includes nine voice studio teachers, three collaborative piano faculty who specialize in vocal coaching, three opera faculty, seven graduate teaching assistants and two opera graduate assistants. Over 85 students are pursing Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in vocal performance. To discover more, please visit the UNT Vocal Studies page.  

Recent productions include: 

2025-2026: Aleko, Gianni Schicchi, Alcina, That Hellbound Train (world premiere)  

2024: Cosi fan tutte, Die Fledermaus, Proving Up 

2023: Cendrillon, La rondine,Hänsel und Gretel  

2022: The Rape of Lucretia, Carmen, L'Elisir d'amore 

2021: The Bartered Bride, Later the Same Evening, Orfeo ed Euridice 

2020: Lucia di Lammermoor, Regina 

2019: Le testament de la tante Caroline, Gianni Schicchi; "IF I Loved you..." A New Rodgers and Hammerstein Revue, Don Giovanni 

2018: Street Scene, Faust, Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen 

2017: Dialogues des Carmélites, A Little Night Music,Die Zauberflöte 

2016: The Mother of Us All L’incoronazione di Poppea   

2015: Don Giovanni, Les Contes d'Hoffmann 

Special Projects 

Typically, we offer one to two additional productions each year, often concert operas featuring smaller orchestral forces, or interdepartmental collaborations. Examples of recent special projects include: 

  • Concert operas:  Bizet's Carmen (2020 - canceled due to COVID), Mozart's Così fan tutte (2019), The Complete Works of Tom Cipullo (2018), Verdi's La Traviata (2017), Puccini's Madama Butterfly (2017)  
  • Baroque operas: Handel's Alcina (2018), new edition premiere of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (2016), Cavalli’s L’Egisto (2007), and Rousseau's Le Devin du Village (2013) in conjunction with UNT’s award-winning early music program 
  • Chamber operas, using reduced or chamber orchestration: productions of Gounod's Faust (2018); Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges (2002); Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (2003); Britten’s Albert Herring (2005); Verdi’s La traviata (Concert for Hope—2009) 
  • Workshop productions, using piano accompaniment: Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (2002 and 2005); and Puccini’s Suor Angelica (2008) 
  • Musicals, in collaboration with the UNT Department of Dance and Theatre: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel (2002) and Sondheim’s A Little Night Music (2004) 
  • The world premiere of Hans Schaeuble’s Dorian Gray (2004) in collaboration with the department of Theory, History and Ethnomusicology in the College of Music 

UNT Opera Faculty

Jonathan Eaton
Jonathan Eaton
Professor of Music
Bill and Margot Winspear Chair in Opera Studies
Stephanie Rhodes Russell
Stephanie Rhodes Russell
Associate Professor and Music Director of Opera
Opera Music Director
Sharon Bjorndal Lavery
Sharon Lavery
Lecturer in Opera Coaching
Opera Coach