Biography
Mezzo Soprano DiDi Turley has been commanding the stage for years, tackling operas, musicals, and everything in between. Her most recent roles include Apollonia in Haydn’s La Canterina, The Evil Stepmother in Sondheim’s Into the Woods, and The Abbess in Puccini’s Suor Angelica. She has also recently performed with the New England Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, in addition to performing as a soloist for Puccini’s Credo in G with the Western Kentucky University (WKU) Symphony.
She is active on the competition circuit, most recently taking second place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing State Auditions. She was also selected to compete as one of twenty semifinalists in the student division of the Orpheus National Competition for Vocalists, sponsored by the Middle Tennessee Choral Society.
DiDi also sings in the award-winning WKU Chorale, recently performing with them at the American Choral Directors Association conference in Louisville, Kentucky. She spent this past summer touring with them throughout Costa Rica, performing in Teatro Municipal of Alajuela, the Catedral Metropolitana in San Jose, among other venues. This summer, she will travel with them back to Costa Rica to perform as the headlining choir at the first international conference for the American Choral Director’s Association. She also holds a music internship with the chancel choir at the Presbyterian Church of Bowling Green, where she acts as a section leader and soloist, and is a part of their collegiate quartet.
When she isn’t singing, she’s still on stage, but dancing instead. DiDi has been training as a dancer since the age of two, and studied everything from ballet to hip hop at Arts in Motion in Knoxville, Tennessee and the Cumberland County Playhouse in Crossville, Tennessee. She has appeared as a featured dancer in a number of productions, including 9 to 5: The Musical and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and has choreographed a number of musicals, including Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. This coming spring she will take the stage dancing in Western Kentucky University’s Dep. of Theatre and Dance’s production of The Drowsy Chaperone. She is also a former member of the Southern Kentucky Dance Ensemble and Dance Arts of Bowling Green Performance Troupe.
DiDi is currently in her senior year of college, studying opera performance at Western Kentucky University and training under Dr. Wayne Pope. She has also spent time studying under Dr. Yvonne Douthat-Hartinger of the Orff Institut at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, in Austria. During her time in Salzburg, she was also given the opportunity to work with the renowned Dr. Josef Wallnig.
She is a two-time recipient of the Edward J. Pease award, and a recipient of the Nelle Gooch Travelstead award, along with the Potter College Creative Arts Award. DiDi is also a recipient of a WKU Department of Music scholarship. An actively involved student, she is the vice president and social media chair of the student chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, serves as the Music Department Ambassador for the Potter College of Arts and Letters Dean’s Council of Students, and is a member of the American Choral Directors Association. She has also maintained a place on the President’s list for the duration of her college career, and is an alumna of the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts.
When she isn’t in rehearsal or class, she spends her time maintaining a private voice studio, cooking, taking care of her jungle of house plants, and playing with her roommate’s cat, Pablo.
Link to resume
Link to C.V.
