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ARTS & CULTURE
KANSAN.COM
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Music in Focus: Maria Kanyova brings her experience abroad as a professional opera singer to the classroom
▶ OMAR SANCHEZ
@OhMySanchez
Contributed Photo/KANSAN
n 2001, a soprano from Kirkwood, Mo., performed in a New York City Opera staging of "La Bohème" as the lead role of Mimi. It was a performance the New York Times called "smooth and sweet."
Maria Kanyova is the singer and actress behind the performance and an assistant professor of voice in the School of Music. Kanyova said the role was one of her most successful moments.
"It was an amazing and historical experience," Kanyova said.
Also broadcast on PBS, it was an experience that Kanyova said cemented her as a leading soprano in the arts. Ultimately, Kanyova said her run with "La Bohème" was because of her rigorous work ethic to maintain her voice.
Kanyova instills this aspect into her students today. Emily Meador, a freshman from Tulsa, Okla., said Kanyova takes time to build a specific path for each voice she works with, lessons that Meador said seem unusual to students at first, but they grow to understand.
"Her techniques for working with the voice are very different but also very effective," Meador said. "My voice has grown so much in just seven short months."
The passion behind Kanyova's teaching techniques
can be traced back to her time at the University. She is connected to the University as a current professor but also as an alumna.
After she graduated with an undergraduate degree in musical arts at the University of Missouri Kansas City. Kanyova continued her musical education at the University of Kansas and received a master's degree in 1991 and a doctoral degree in 1995.
Afterwards, Kanyova traveled all over the United States, Canada and Europe for her singing and acting abilities. Operas and symphonies alike, her University biography shows an extensive portfolio.
Kanyova said her inspirations for her art are pretty easy to point out.
"My inspirations growing up were very simple," Kanyova said. "I was inspired by my church choir director and piano teacher."
After growing up in a household with a father that could sing and a mother that listened to classical and opera music, it was natural for her to begin to study the aspects of music early on, Kanyova said. Her relationship with both of her sources of inspiration began when she was 5-years-old.
"My piano teacher started me off on playing Bach and sight-reading hymns. I don't even remember learning the names of notes on the piano," Kanyova said. "She was a very focused teacher, and I had at least two lessons a week at the age of 5."
She added: "The choir director often gave me solos to sing in church and started me on my love of singing at a very young age."
After working throughout her childhood and early adult life to pursue a career in music, Kanyova said she got her big break into the industry after her acceptance in the Chicago Lyric Opera
Center for American Artists, now known as the Ryan Opera Center, in 1998.
"It was there that I signed with my agent and started working with some of the best singers, conductors, directors in the business," Kanyova said.
She had the chance to work on her voice at the micro-level, something that Meador said she appreciates now that Kanyova is teaching her.
"I was inspired by my church choir director and piano teacher."
Maria Kanyova professor of voice
"She tells me why we do things with my voice; she is very knowledgeable about the biological aspects of singing after studying with an ear, nose and throat doctor while singing with Chicago Lyric Opera," Meador said.
Kanyova has been teaching at the University since 2013 and has touched the lives of aspiring musical talents such as Meador.
"I love her positivity and passion for the voice," Meador said. "I also admire the life she lives. She cares for her students, is a loving mother of four and still makes time to advance her career in the opera world by performing in operas in other cities."
In a new chapter in her journey, Kanyova said she will move on from the University to continue to teach in the fall at her other alma mater, UMKC.
"I'm glad I will be just down the road, but I will miss that cute Jayhawk," Kanyova said.
Edited by Cele Fryer
Contributed Photo/KANSAN Maria Kanyova, an assistant professor in the School of Music, uses her experiences as an opera singer to teach her students.