Todd Ranney and Misook Yun Recital
An Evening of Opera Duets and Arias
Todd Ranney, baritone
Misook Yun, soprano
Da Eun Choi, piano
Program
Overture & “Si può? Si può? Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919)
“Stridono lassu” & “Sei là?”
from Pagliacci
Tonio & Nedda
“Ora noi sedate qui…” & “Che tua madre” Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
from Madama Butterfly
Sharpless & Butterfly
“Mimi… speravo di trovarvi qui” Giacomo Puccini
from La Bohème
Marcello & Mimi
“Pura siccome un angelo…” Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
from La Traviata
Germont & Violetta
We Love the Opera Ben Moore
- 1960
Husband & Wife
Performers’ biographies
Todd E. Ranney, baritone, has performed over 100 productions throughout the Midwest with the Michigan Opera Theater, Cleveland Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Iowa, Ohio Light Opera, Lyric Opera Cleveland, and Dayton Opera. Some of his roles include Figaro, Don Giovanni, Guglielmo, Papageno, Marcello, Tonio, Germont, and Sharpless. He has been a featured soloist three times with the Cleveland Orchestra and has sung with the symphony orchestras of Dayton, Akron, Lakeside, Wooster, and the Cleveland Pops.
Dr. Ranney is a Professor of Voice and Opera at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania where he has directed and produced numerous operas including: The Marriage of Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Cosi fan Tutte, The Consul, Die Fledermaus, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Crucible, Albert Herring, The Gondoliers and others. He also is the music director/conductor for Mansfield University’s musical productions having just performed Kiss Me Kate and The Phantom of the Opera last year. He completed his DMA at The Ohio State University in voice with an emphasis in choral conducting and vocal pedagogy. He has additionally sung with the Akron Baroque Orchestra singing Bach Cantata #82 Ich habe genug.
Dr. Ranney performed 12 seasons with Cleveland Opera as an Associate Artist appearing in numerous productions at the State Theater in Playhouse Square. He is the founding Artistic Director of Akron Lyric Opera Theatre and is the Organist and Choir Director at Grace Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Hudson Ohio. No stranger to Youngstown OH, he staged a production of L’amico Fritz for Youngstown State University’ opera workshop two years ago. Additionally he has sung with Western Opera Reserve in productions of La Boheme and Pagliacci. He is a member of NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing), AGO (American Organist Guild), OMEA (Ohio Music Educators Association) and Phi Mu Alpha.
Misook Yun’
Praised as a singer of “exquisite clarity” and “virtuosity,” lyric soprano Misook Yun has performed in Italy, Austria, Hungary, South Korea, and the U.S. An accomplished operatic performer, Ms. Yun has appeared in the roles of Donna Anna, Mimi, Cio Cio San, Nedda, Tosca, Santuzza, Micaela, Adina High Priestess in Aida, and Violetta. As a concert soloist, Yun’s major performances include Chants d’Auvergne, Elijah, Faure’s Requiem, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, Schubert Mass in G, Mozart’s Requiem, Magnificat, Haydn’s The Creation, Four Last Songs (Strauss), Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and Messiah. She performed with companies including Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra, Greenville Symphony Orchestra, Cascadia Chamber Opera Festival, Opera Fort Collins, Rogue Opera, Opera Western Reserve, Bayshore Lyric Opera, Valley Lyric Opera, Opera Circle, Eugene Opera, and Youngstown Opera Guild. Yun won the audience choice award at the Classical Singer Convention in May 2010 in New York City. Her other competition winnings include the Northwest Regional finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition, the concerto competition at the University of Oregon, and first prize of the Paul & Lillian Petri Scholarship Competition which enabled her to study in Italy and Austria during the summer of 1997. She has also been a semi-finalist in the Vera Scammon International Vocal Competition, and the audience choice award at the Classical Singer Convention in May 2010 in New York City. Accomplished pedagogue, in the summer of 2004, she was one of the twelve National Association of Teachers of Singing interns chosen throughout the North America. Recently she participated OperaWorks’Artist Teacher Training program. Ms. Yun has been invited to be part of summer faculty at Summer Music Study in Hungary program in Szeged, ArsDocta International Music Festival, and adjudicator at 7th Singapore Performers’ Festival & Chamber Music Competition. Dr. Yun is a professor at the Dana School of Music, Youngstown State University.
A native of South Korea, Da Eun Choi is a pianist who enjoys performing in a variety of genres, including solo and ensemble music.
She has earned her Doctoral Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the University of Texas at Austin as a recipient of the Sidney M. Wright Endowed Presidential Scholarship under the tutelage of Gregory Allen. She also received both Master of Music degree and Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where she studied with Alexander Shtarkman and served as Music Theory Graduate Assistant for Dr. Vern C. Falby, and a Bachelor of Music degree with summa cum laude from Hanyang University, Seoul in Korea with Young In Lee and Min Sook Kim.
Currently, she is a staff pianist at Youngstown State University and principal pianist at Lima Symphony Orchestra. Before coming to Youngstown, she served as a staff pianist and adjunct instructor at Bluffton University from 2018 to 2023.
