Music, Theatre, and Dance

Professor of Music (Voice and Musical Theatre)

BA, St. Joseph College; MM, Eastman School of Music; DMA, University of Maryland
Email: karecchi@plymouth.edu
Homepage: http://www.plymouth.edu/psc/music/Arecchi.shtml

Kathleen H. Arecchi, D.M.A, Professor: Voice, Vice-Chair for Music, and Coordinator of Voice Performance Studies at Plymouth State University.

Kathleen Arecchi joined the faculty in 1980, teaching and mentoring countless students in classical and musical theatre singing techniques and repertory. Many of her former students have gone on to successful careers as professional singers and musical theatre professionals, and four of her recent Plymouth State students are currently enrolled in Master of Music degree programs  in premier opera training institutions.  Arecchi holds a Bachelor of Arts in French and Music from the University of Saint Joseph (CT), a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Maryland.  An active soprano soloist for many years, she performed with the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra in opera, oratorio, cantata, and chamber music.  For Opera North, the Northeast’s premier summer opera festival, she performed the title role in The Merry Widow, Adele in Die Fledermaus, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, among others.  Arecchi has also appeared in numerous musical theatre, operetta, and opera productions throughout the country.  At Plymouth State, she has served as either music director or stage director for many productions in the Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance, among them Iolanthe, City of Angels, Carousel, Trouble in Tahiti, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, The Drowsy Chaperon, a program of opera scenes called Sinners, Saints and Sirens, and in Spring 2013, the Offenbach operetta Orpheus in the Underworld. From 2001 to 2003, she was a member of the voice faculty at Opera Festival di Roma, where she also staged a program of American musical theatre for Italian audiences. She is active as an adjudicator for singing competitions throughout the region, and she is frequently called upon to conduct singing master classes in both public high schools and community music schools as well as at professional conferences.  For the past twenty years, she has been a casting consultant for the Papermill Theatre.

Arecchi was a founding member and first president of the New Hampshire Chapter of National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and served also as the NATS New Hampshire District Governor prior to her term as the New England Regional Governor from 2006 to 2010. She has recently been elected to a two-year term as NATS Vice-President for Workshops and a member of the national executive board.