PATRICIA AINSPAC: CELEBRATING A LIFE IN MUSIC

Saturday October 10, 2009
7:30 pm

$15 tickets are available at the Kenan Auditorium Box office: 910.962.3500.

Tickets will also be available the evening of the performance at 6:30 pm at the Cultural Arts Building Box Office.

Beckwith Recital Hall is located in the Cultural Arts building located on Randall Drive, UNCW Campus

Parking is convenient and free.

For more information, call the Department of Music at 910.962.3415.

The University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Music will mark the 80th birthday of beloved accompanist and vocal coach Patricia Ainspac with an evening of music performed by distinguished alumni. The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009, at Beckwith Recital Hall in the UNCW Cultural Arts building.

Featured alumni will perform a variety of numbers, including duets from The Pearl Fishers, Don Giovanni and Lakmé, arias from The Marriage of Figaro, La Traviata, La Rondine, Tales of Hoffman, The Elixir of Love and selections from the musicals Street Scene, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls and Candide. Proceeds from the recital benefit vocal scholarships at UNCW.

Ainspac has taught at UNCW for the past 11 years. Though music has always been a part of her life, it wasn't until she joined the university that she was able to realize her dream of becoming an accompanist and vocal coach, a dream she had nurtured since high school.

"I feel so grateful my life has turned out this way," Ainspac said. "One should never give up because it took me 50 years to get the life I always wanted."

Ainspac has affected the lives of untold numbers of individuals through music education, from elementary school through college, and receives high praise from UNCW faculty and students for her skill and dedication.

"I credit her with much of the success of our voice program and value her as the greatest mentor of my career," said Nancy King, UNCW associate professor of voice. "I would not be the teacher and singer I am today without the guidance, expertise and patience that is Pat Ainspac. I believe she is quite simply the best vocal coach and accompanist in the business."

UNCW music education and vocal performance major Chelsea Timmons echoed King's statements on Ainspac's contribution to the musical community. "Without Pat, there would be no music, no art behind the song."



ABOUT PATRICIA AINSPAC

PATRICIA AINSPAC is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music and the recipient of a Fulbright fellowship to study accompanying at the Academy of Music in Vienna, Austria. She is currently the vocal coach at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Ms. Ainspac taught at the Henry Street Music School in New York City and the Conservatory of Music in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She was the accompanist for the New York Concert Choir, directed by Margaret Hillis, and the American Opera Society of New York City. Ms. Ainspac has worked with such well-known singers as Eileen Farrell, Marilyn Horne, and Leontyne Price.