Scholar Performance
Tessa was featured with her chamber group on the national radio program 'From the Top'.
Daniel R. Hinson
"I find great joy in sharing the gifts with which I have been blessed. Music is a powerful tool, and I am grateful to have the ability to bring happiness into the lives of other people."
- Alumni of: 2003 Graduate Scholarship Program
- Hometown: Spingfield, VA
- Four-year College or University: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Graduate School: University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Biography
As Daniel Hinson tells it, he "began his love affair with music at a strikingly young age." His parents recall that at his first Christmas, the only present he played with was a miniature "Cookie Monster" piano. At the age of three, he took to the stage to sing a Christmas song at a party.
Daniel's career began in earnest at 14, when he began to take private lessons with a classically trained teacher. After four years, he chose to attend UNC rather than a conservatory because he didn't want to limit himself academically. He is pleased with how this choice broadened his horizons, although some teachers suggested that becoming a singer would waste his intellect. Daniel's response? "I think music is both a meaningful and an intellectual pursuit."
At UNC, Daniel became a brother of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (a national men's music fraternity). He is proudest of the annual "Mills Music Mission," which brings music to children in hospitals and the elderly in nursing homes. Daniel directed and conducted three missions. He serves the community musically as a cantor at church services and as a frequent soloist.
Daniel has been cast in a number of roles in UNC Opera Workshop productions, was vocal soloist and played bass gamba for the UNC viola da gamba consort, was a member of the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center for the 2002 summer festival, and was the featured guest soloist for Department of Music master classes with two world-class tenors.
In addition to singing, Daniel has held several offices in the music fraternity and is active in the Lutheran Campus Ministry student group. Daniel is also a recording technician for the Department of Music.
Daniel's professional aspiration is to become an international opera singer and to perform lyric tenor roles. He also wants to research his personal interests in musicology. After what he hopes will be a long and productive performing career, Daniel plans to return to academia, either as a professor of voice or music history. He promises that no matter what the future brings, he "will not lose sight of the reason for my performances: to help enrich the spirits of audiences everywhere, great and small, with the joy that music can bring."
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