Lake Dallas Hosts Its Own `Diva-To-Be'; South Africa-Bound Lyric Soprano To Perform Free Recital at Lake Dallas High.

LAKE DALLAS, Texas--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--June 7, 1999--

Aspiring lyric soprano Melinda Maeckle, a 1995 graduate of Lake Dallas High School, will perform a free concert of opera and show tunes June 18 before traveling to South Africa later this summer as part of an elite group of the world's most promising voice students.

The concert starts at 7 p.m. at Lake Dallas High School auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public.

Maeckle, who will graduate from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in July, will demonstrate her command of both opera and show tunes as reflected in her recent roles as First Lady in Mozart's "Die Zauberflote" and Adelaide in Loesser's "Guys and Dolls."

In August, Maeckle will travel to South Africa as part of an elite group of the world's most promising voices under Wowza Opera Workshop 1999. The program involves only 15 students from Europe and 15 from the United States. In the South African recital, she will sing scenes from "Don Giovanni" and "Old Maid and the Thief."

Locally, Maeckle studied voice under U'Nita Rogers Sweatmon before entering the University of Montana in 1995. In 1997, she transferred to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Maeckle will appear with tenor Jimmy Kansau, a native of Merida, Venezuela, and will be accompanied by the pianist Michael Schneider, who recently won the Texas Steinway Society Career Development Award.