Opera singer Karen Parks returns to her alma mater to teach

By Ann Hicks • Arts writer • August 16, 2009

Tall, elegant and charming, the singer who has performed in 15 countries, lived in several of them and sings in 12 languages, says early on in life she wanted to be a corporate attorney.

What?

Oh, yes. Reared with the caveat that she must learn to always take care of herself, Parks considered two professions – doctor and lawyer – that would insure self-reliance. She chose law because she couldn't deal with blood and all that entailed, she laughs.

On her march to become another Portia, she took advanced academic courses in “everything” at Berea High School and also enrolled in beginners' chorus, which required no audition. Little did she know that fate would interfere so soon in her budding teen life.

Choral teacher Ethel Johnson, better known as “Mama J,” soon discovered that in an ensemble that ranged from the tone deaf to the musically inclined, she had a gem of a talent.

The minute she heard Parks sing at choral practice, Johnson grabbed her by the hand and said: “You've a beautiful voice, that voice should be trained, and you need to enroll at the Fine Arts Center at once,” Parks recalls. Despite the high school counselor's protestations that of all the students she had, Parks was among the few who had a clear career goal, Mama J shouted, “you can't squelch real talent,” and with that, sealed Park's fate.

From that day forward Parks divided her time between Berea and the Fine Arts Center, where Michael Rice guided her artistic development.

“At 13 or 14,” she says, “I thought I knew what I wanted, but nurtured by true artists at the Fine Arts Center, I learned to truly love the place and learned to embrace the career facing me,” Parks says.

In the same way, she later embraced Furman University, where she was awarded a full academic scholarship in vocal performance and where she encountered yet another stalwart guardian or, as Parks says, “angels-along-the-way,” in the person of Dr. Charlotte Smith. The Furman music theory professor arranged for Parks to continue her graduate vocal studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

Opera singer Karen Parks has returned to Greenville to teach at

the School District's Fine Arts Center. (HEIDI HEILBRUNN/Staff)

Opera singer Karen Parks has come full circle. The Greenville native and former vocal student of Michael Rice at the Greenville school district's Fine Arts Center has accepted the position Rice leaves behind as he retires this year.

Tall, elegant and charming, the singer who has performed in 15 countries, lived in several of them and sings in 12 languages, says early on in life she wanted to be a corporate attorney.

What?

Oh, yes. Reared with the caveat that she must learn to always take care of herself, Parks considered two professions – doctor and lawyer – that would insure self-reliance. She chose law because she couldn't deal with blood and all that entailed, she laughs.

On her march to become another Portia, she took advanced academic courses in “everything” at Berea High School and also enrolled in beginners' chorus, which required no audition. Little did she know that fate would interfere so soon in her budding teen life.

Choral teacher Ethel Johnson, better known as “Mama J,” soon discovered that in an ensemble that ranged from the tone deaf to the musically inclined, she had a gem of a talent.

The minute she heard Parks sing at choral practice, Johnson grabbed her by the hand and said: “You've a beautiful voice, that voice should be trained, and you need to enroll at the Fine Arts Center at once,” Parks recalls. Despite the high school counselor's protestations that of all the students she had, Parks was among the few who had a clear career goal, Mama J shouted, “you can't squelch real talent,” and with that, sealed Park's fate.

From that day forward Parks divided her time between Berea and the Fine Arts Center, where Michael Rice guided her artistic development.

“At 13 or 14,” she says, “I thought I knew what I wanted, but nurtured by true artists at the Fine Arts Center, I learned to truly love the place and learned to embrace the career facing me,” Parks says.

In the same way, she later embraced Furman University, where she was awarded a full academic scholarship in vocal performance and where she encountered yet another stalwart guardian or, as Parks says, “angels-along-the-way,” in the person of Dr. Charlotte Smith. The Furman music theory professor arranged for Parks to continue her graduate vocal studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Later, while pursuing her doctorate in vocal performance and pedagogy at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Parks was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for Voice to study in Italy. Bent on developing her craft to the fullest, Parks contacted Gabriele Pisani at Milan's famed opera house La Scala, requesting lessons with maestro.

Pisani, who initially doubted Parks' singing ability, became one of her champions once Parks nailed the last movement of Verdi's Requiem for him.

The years in-between have been filled with performances, solo recitals and recordings, all part of a highly successful career. This year, during a January and February concert tour of Italian cities, the mayor of Vanzago declared “Karen Parks Day,” and at her February concert in Milan, her old teacher Pisani was in a front row seat to applaud her.

But Greenville is her home, Parks says. While offering a Master Class to students at the Fine Arts Center last year, she not only learned that Rice was retiring but was asked if she would become the new voice instructor at her alma mater. She says she didn't have to think twice to say yes.

Now, sinking roots in Greenville, Parks says she is grateful that her plans to deviate from singing were “thwarted by angels along the way.” And her message to her soon-to-be students: “The Fine Arts Center offered me so much. How could I not return?”

Arts writer Ann Hicks can be reached at

Later, while pursuing her doctorate in vocal performance and pedagogy at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Parks was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for Voice to study in Italy. Bent on developing her craft to the fullest, Parks contacted Gabriele Pisani at Milan's famed opera house La Scala, requesting lessons with maestro. Pisani, who initially doubted Parks' singing ability, became one of her champions once Parks nailed the last movement of Verdi's Requiem for him.

The years in-between have been filled with performances, solo recitals and recordings, all part of a highly successful career. This year, during a January and February concert tour of Italian cities, the mayor of Vanzago declared “Karen Parks Day,” and at her February concert in Milan, her old teacher Pisani was in a front row seat to applaud her.

But Greenville is her home, Parks says. While offering a Master Class to students at the Fine Arts Center last year, she not only learned that Rice was retiring but was asked if she would become the new voice instructor at her alma mater. She says she didn't have to think twice to say yes.

Now, sinking roots in Greenville, Parks says she is grateful that her plans to deviate from singing were “thwarted by angels along the way.” And her message to her soon-to-be students: “The Fine Arts Center offered me so much. How could I not return?”