Formerly on the faculties of the North Carolina School of the Arts and
Northwestern University School of Music, Dr. Stedman¹s career has been both rich
and varied. With degrees in both voice and piano, she has enjoyed performing
extensively in Opera, Oratorio, in solo with Orchestra and as a Piano Four-Hand
duo. She has worked with such exciting colleagues/teachers as Sarah Caldwell,
Margaret Hillis and Georg Solti, Helmuth Rilling, Eleanor Steber, Anna Kaskas,
Soulima Stravinsky, Norman Dello Joio, Todd Duncan and Bea VandeMark Isaak,
among others.For nearly 20 years she sat on the Voice/Opera Faculty at Northwestern University, where she taught applied voice and classes in German, French and Italian Diction. As Consultant to the Clinic for Performing Artists at NU Medical School, Dr. Stedman enjoyed applying her diagnostic skills to the rehabilitation of damaged voices. Particularly dear to her heart is the topic of her book, Singing and Self: the Psychology of Performing, which explores the emergence of young singers¹ artistry and deals directly, through hundreds of personal interviews, with the psychological difficulties inherent in our craft.
In her everyday life, she has enjoyed a wide variety of unusual experiences: Training and showing grand prix horses, winning the talent scholarship trophy in the 1968 Miss America Pageant, becoming an ordained Civil Celebrant affiliated with the Celebrant USA Foundation and Institute, writing a monthly column for iVillage on the Love Council with no less than Dr. Ruth Westheimer as a panel colleague, recording a CD of Piano Four-Hand literature with proceeds donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundion, and most importantly, in retirement, devoting her energies to volunteer work counseling her fellow cancer survivors.
Dr. Stedman has recently moved to Marietta, rehearses and performs with 4-Hand piano partner Joe Meeks, is expanding her Celebrant practice and consults to the Marietta Master Chorale in vocal techniques and diction.
