The University of Miami Dean of Libraries, Charles Eckman, and Dean of the Frost School of Music, Shelly Berg, will host the anniversary event. Performance students from Frost professor Karen Henson’s class “Singers and Opera Performances from Handel to ‘Live In HD’” will highlight the evening with works represented in the Roger Gross Opera Collection. Selections include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756-1791) concert aria “Alcandro, lo confesso…Non sò, d’onde viene” with bass-baritone Max Moreno and pianist Leo Thorpe; Giacomo Puccini’s (1858-1924) “Se como voi piccini” from the 1884 opera Le Villi with soprano Ana Collado and pianist Leo Thorp; and Cathy Berberian’s “Stripsody” (1966) with soprano Jennifer Voigt.
The 28,000 square foot Marta and Austin Weeks Music Library and Technology Center opened its doors on January 30, 2005 as the largest branch of the University of Miami libraries. Located in the Frost School of Music complex at the University of Miami, the $9.9 million facility houses the music school’s vast collection of sound recordings theatre archives, books, music scores, reference works, periodicals, and research publications. Today, it is considered a trusted go-to resource for the learning and research needs of students and scholars of the wider local, regional and international music communities. The library is also home to the Frost School of Music technology center, providing students access to high-tech electronic systems, computer workstations, and multimedia instruction.
In July 2014, the library announced its acquisition of the Roger Gross Opera Collection, a major research-level collection of books and other secondary literature relating to opera and opera singers from the late eighteenth century to present. The collection is from the personal library of New York’s Roger Gross, one of the world’s memorable connoisseurs of opera and singing. The collection runs to several thousand volumes, with 1,900 books catalogued to date. Once made accessible, the collection will provide a rich resource for researchers interested in singers, vocal performance, and opera and theater arts.
