College of Music

Paula Homer, professor, is Director of Opera and was recently designated the First Holder of the Margot and Bill Winspear Chair in Opera Studies. As such, she functions as both producer and stage director for the University of North Texas Opera productions and oversees the training program and curriculum. Since joining the faculty of the College of Music in 1992, she has produced and stage directed over 50 operas; three have been collaborative opera productions with the A. Steffani Conservatory of Music in Italy, and three others have won national first place awards for opera production from the National Opera Association. Ms. Homer holds music degrees from Indiana University and St. Mary's College at Notre Dame. In addition to her academic work, Ms. Homer was co-director of the Apprentice Artists Program and stage director for Des Moines Opera from 1990-2002. She was also founder and artistic director for OperaWorks, Inc., a traveling professional opera company from 1982-1992. Her teaching specialty is in the area of singing/acting. In this field she teaches courses at UNT and is a clinician for workshops in singing/acting at National Opera Association conventions, National Association of Teachers of Singing conferences, and for Texas Collegiate Opera Network. She has also led workshops at numerous universities, including University of Texas at San Antonio, Abilene Christian, Hardin-Simmons, Webster and Washington Universities, plus the Harrower Summer Opera Workshop, Minnesota Opera Workshop, Orlando Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera. Before joining the faculty at UNT, Ms. Homer was Director of Opera and Choral Activities at Angelo State University.