Mezzo-soprano Cynthia Lincoln and pianist Dennis Kratzer
January 14, 2005
Mezzo-soprano Cynthia Lincoln graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in voice performance and also studied at Ohio University and Bowling Green State University. She performs with several regional orchestras and in various venues. Her repertoire includes operatic, musical theatre, straight theatre, jazz and gospel including The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Marriage of Figaro, the Mikado, The Sound of Music, Anything Goes, Oliver, Uncle Vanya, and the world premiere of Dillinger and Stepping Stones. She is on the voice faculty of Ohio University in Ada, Ohio and lives in Lima with her husband and their two children.
Pianist Dennis Kratzer is Professor of Music, Director of Choral Activities, and Associate Director of the Opera Program at Ohio Northern University, a position he has held for 25 years. He received his public school education in Bowling Green, OH. He holds the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Bowling Green State University and did his Ph.D. work at The Ohio State University.
Professor Kratzer was also Director of Choral Activities at Otterbein College for four years in addition to being a Graduate Research Associate at Ohio State where he was instrumental in the completion of the Yamaha Corporation Project 2000.
Presently a resident of Lima, he has performed as a concert vocalist, oratorio soloist, and musical theater singer with several orchestras and theaters. He has accompanied on the piano such well-known composers as Roger Wagner, Ward Swindle, John Carter, Craig Courtney and the late Norman Luboff, Virgil Thomson, Jester Hairston and John Ness Beck. Mr. Kratzer is presently the Director of Music at the Market Street Presbyterian Church in Lima and has been conductor/musical director for the Findlay Light Opera Company. He is also a founding member of the recently formed Lima Opera Company.
In recent years his select choir at ONU, The University Singers have toured to New Orleans, LA; to New York City where they sang in the famed Riverside Church; to Cleveland, OH where they performed with the other Ohio Methodist choirs at Severance Hall under Robert Page's direction; and to Los Angeles, CA where they were featured at the renowned Crystal Cathedral.
Dennis Kratzer is in frequent demand as a guest choral-vocal clinician throughout the state. He has been a member and competition judge for the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Ohio Music Education Association and numerous show choir competitions. Mr. Kratzer was a founding member of Cantari, the professional choir in Columbus, OH. He was recently (2002) given an Ovation award from VARN (Vocal Arts Resource Network) for excellence in vocal and choral music.
Professor Kratzer has served as musical director/conductor for Kenley Players, professional summer stock based in Akron, OH. He has conducted "My Fair Lady" with Pam Dawber; "Cabaret" with Billy Crystal and Donna McKechnie; "Music Man" with Dick Gautier; "Unsinkable Molly Brown" with Connie Stevens; "Gigi" with Candace Early; and "The Wiz" with members of the original Broadway cast. He has also been guest conductor of the Lima, Perrysburg, and ONU Symphony Orchestras.
Dennis Kratzer has toured choirs to England, Switzerland, Holland, Germany and France. His choirs from Otterbein and Ohio Northern have toured extensively throughout the Midwest, East coast and southern states. Dennis sang with Cantari when they toured to Japan during the summer of 1985. He was featured soloist with the Cincinnati Touring Ensemble in 1991 performing with the Moscow and Leningrad Symphony Orchestras in Russia and Estonia. He was invited back in the fall of 1991 to sing with the Indiana Touring Choir in a series of Mozart concerts with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. During the summer of 2004 he took part in the "Berkshire Choral Festival" in Canterbury, England and in the "Rene Clausen Choral School" in Minnesota at Concordia College.
At Ohio Northern University, Professor Kratzer directs The University Singers, The ONU Men's Chorus, The Northernaires, and Opera Workshop. He also teaches private voice and conducting.
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