Education: BA, Colgate University, 1994; MM, Texas Tech University, 1997; DMA, University of Oregon, 2005. At SPU since 2009.
Dr. Chérie Hughes’ diverse background includes professional engagements in opera, chamber music, oratorio, and as a violinist. Dr. Hughes received her DMA from the University of Oregon with a secondary area in musicology, where her research focused on Kurt Weill’s musical Love Life.
She is a frequent collaborator with guitarist Roberto Limón, and, as the Pacific Duo, they were recently selected as 2012 Artists in Residence with the Jack Straw Foundation, in Seattle, Washington. Building on their 2008 award from the foundation, they are completing a recording of Sephardic-inspired songs by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Catalonian composer Matilda Salvador. Past engagements for the duo include a concert tour sponsored by the Mexican government’s Coordinación Nacional de Música y Ópera to Mexico City, Guanajuato, and Salamanca; and appearances at the XI Festival de Guitarra Internacional del Noreste in Saltillo, Mexico. Their repertoire includes standard works for voice and guitar by de Falla, Schubert, and Argento; as well as premieres by Mexican and Latin American composers.
Also active as a soloist, Dr. Hughes operatic roles have included Musetta, Gretel, Susanna, Pamina, Rosina, and Manon. Her recent solo oratorio performances include “Gabriel” in Haydn’s Creation, Beethoven’s Symphony #9, and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, and J.S. Bach’s Magnificat with Helmuth Rilling.
At SPU, Dr. Hughes teaches courses on German and French diction, sacred vocal repertoire, vocal pedagogy, song literature, and opera, and gives private studio voice lessons. She is also the director of SPU’s Opera Workshop.
Selected publications
- ON MY PEOPLE, Music of the Sephardic diaspora by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Madilda Salvador, and Samuel Zyman. Origin Classical Label (33019), 2015.
- 2012 Jack Straw Foundation Artist in Residence. Recording with guitarist Roberto Limón of the Divan of Moses-Ibn-Ezra by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and the Endechas y Cantares de Sefarad by Matilde Salvador.
- Soprano Soloist “Gabriel,” Haydn Creation, Northwest Symphony Orchestra.
- Recital, Festival Hispanoamerican de Guitarra, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Tijuana, Mexico.
- Recital sponsored by the Mexican Government’s Coordinación Nacional de Música y Ópera; Teatro Juarez, Guanajuato, Mexico.
Please see Chérie Hughes’ CV (PDF) for additional publications.
Personal links
Chérie Hughes’ website