Karen Messina

Education

Biography

Originally from Laurel, Maryland, Dr. Karen Messina has surely lived in North Carolina long enough now to be considered a native. A collector of degrees that reflect her diverse interests in music, she holds graduate degrees in vocal performance, music theory, and musicology, though she is a theorist at heart. Dr. Messina’s research examines the presence of Classical forms within Giacomo Puccini’s late Romantic idiom as a marker of fictionally composed or diegetic music. In addition to opera, her research interests include film music, pedagogy, and just about everything pertaining to Western music theory…but especially form. Fascinated by the space between the two disciplines, Dr. Messina has presented at regional and national conferences of the Society for Music Theory and the American Musicological Society. As a performer, she has had the distinct pleasure of appearing on stage as Donna Anna (Mozart, Don Giovanni), Countess Almaviva (Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro), Lady Billows (Britten, Albert Herring), and the Mother (Menotti, Amahl and the Night Visitors) and various choral ensembles. These days, though, she limits her performance activities to the chancel and bell choirs of First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro. 

Beyond music, Dr. Messina is an avid rabbit and cat person (though family allergies mean she must borrow others’ cats to adore) and enjoys knitting, construction crafts (check out her office!), logic puzzles, and story-based video games (always on super-duper easy mode). She also collects crystal trees (office again!) and roses made of various materials, including gold, silver, bronze, steel, pewter, glass, porcelain, paper, wood, yarn, leather, duct tape, feathers, tie-dye T-shirts, soda cans, and money. 

Courses Taught

• Music Theory 
• Aural Skills 
• Tonal Counterpoint 
• Music and Fairy Tales