On Thursday, September 17, the University of Arkansas at Monticello Division of Music, in collaboration with the SEARK Concert Association, National Federation of Music Club (NFMC) and Pine Bluff Musical Coterie, will host a concert featuring mezzo-soprano Claire McCahan, the 2026 NFMC Young Artist Winner, accompanied by pianist Mary Scott Smith. The concert will begin at 7 p.m. in the Harris Recital Hall in the Music Building at UAM and will last approximately one hour. The event is free and open to the public.
Claire McCahan is regarded as a musician of sincerity and versatility, delivering compelling and honest performances across Baroque, recital, opera and contemporary repertoire. Winner of the 2022 Joy in Singing International Art Song Competition, the 2022 National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards, the 2025 NFMC Young Artist Competition and the 2025 Federation of the Art Song Fellowship, McCahan is an accomplished recitalist, devising programs revealing thematic connection across time and language. Along with collaborative pianist Barbara Noyes, she co-founded Horizon Duo, dedicated to creative programming of contemporary and classic repertoire. The duo made their New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall in 2023. Praised for her interpretations of J.S. Bach, she is the winner of the 2025 American National Oratorio Competition, an alumna of the American Bach Soloists Academy and a featured soloist on the Boulder Bach Festival’s first commercial album.
She performed in concert with the COmpass REsonance Ensemble, the New England Conservatory Baroque Orchestra, the New Hampshire Music Festival, the Colorado Bach Ensemble and the Silesian Philharmonic. Recent stage credits include Yvonne/Betty in “Sunday in the Park with George” at the Glimmerglass Festival; “Arias Aloft” with Boston Lyric Opera and Opera on Tap Boston; the American premiere of “Lessons in Love and Violence” at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music; Sibella in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” with Opera Saratoga; and covering Cherubino in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” with the Handel and Haydn Society and Orfeo in an adaptation of Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice” with Renegade Opera. She is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and the University of Colorado Boulder. She is represented by Gloria Parker at Insignia Artists.
McCahan will perform a five-city tour throughout the state of Arkansas in September. She will be accompanied by Mary Scott Smith, a pianist who recently retired as professor of music at Texarkana College (TC) but remains on staff as the piano teacher and accompanist for the Texarkana Regional Chorale. Smith was a founder and principal keyboard player with the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra and has been a featured concerto soloist. She is a frequent Texas Two-Year College All-State Choir accompanist and has also accompanied ACDA choirs and various All-State and All-Region choirs.
For more information about the concert, contact Alexia Meeks atMeeksA@uamont.eduor 870-460-1060.
Academics,College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences,Campus Events
Article courtesy of the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
