Resume

Recent and Upcoming Engagements

  • October 2025 – SOUND LEGACIES
  • March 2025  – American Women Composers III
  • October 2024 – American Women Composers, Alabama
  • June 2024 – INBOUND – Music for the Nomad Soul – Houston New Arts Movement
  • March 2024 – American Women Composers II
  • February 2024 – World Premiere – Rhapsody de Profundis
  • March 2023 – American Women Composers with Kathleen Ruhleder and Adam Vincent Clay, piano
  • March 2022 – “Stravinsky, Stravinsky” with Mikhail Smigelski, Andrew Briggs and Adam Vincent Clay, piano
  • February 2020 -Compositions for Shakuhachi and Soprano with Shawn Renzoh Head, shakuhachi
  • World Premiere “Episodes of Renka” Stephen Yip, composer
  • F&J – All Broadway with Jimmy Vukovich, piano and Alan Johnson, Violin
  • Lyric America with Keith Weber, piano
  • Setting a Text to Music: A Composer’s Insight with Roger Keele, composer and faculty from the Greater Houston area
  • M.D. Anderson Benefit Concert, Featured Artist
  • Joint Voice Recital with Seong Shin Ra, Soprano, Jim Vukovich, Yoojin Lee, Collaborative Pianists, Houston, TX
  • The Music of Roger Keele – Roger Keele, Piano,Houston, TX
  • Performances at The Pearl Fincher Museum – “Songs of the Sea”, “Old World Operatic Portraits”
  • HCC Faculty Recital – Verdi Arias, Stafford, TX
  •  World Premiere – Seara Treista Song Cycle with Trio Oriens, Joseph LoCascio, Composer, Houston, TX
  • Cavalleria Rusticana – Kingwood Summer Opera Vocal Arts Series – Glück & Strauss Arias, Houston, TX
  • Vocal Arts Series – Opening Performance, Beethoven’s Folk Songs with & Mango Moon Piano Trio
  • Featured Performer, Texoma NATS Regional Conference, Denton, TX
  • “Romantic Composers of the 21st Century” -St. Cecilia Chamber Music Series
  • 100th Artist Concert, Artis and Artistic Director – Houston Tuesday Musical Club, Houston, TX
  • Die Winterreise – Filmed Performances  – Texas (3) and California

Representative Live/Televised Engagements

  • Strauss, Wagner and Gluck Arias and Ensembles -The Woodlands, TX
  • Old World Operatic Portraits – Pearl Fincher Museum, Spring TX
  • Frances Fenton in Recital – “Lyric America” – Dowling Music (Houston &amp; NYC – 2014)<br> Houston Museum of Fine Arts TX
  • Pearl Fincher Museum Gala – Americana – Spring, TX
  • World Premiere – Six Seasonal Songs by Roger Keele – Live/KUHF/Houston
  • Cultural Ambassador – U.S. State Department – Turkish State Department, David Ezra Okonsar, Piano, Bavaria, Germany, Live/Süddeutsche Rundfunk
  • McNeese State University Guest Artis – U.S.- China Friendship Association Gala Concert, Lake Charles, LA
  • Celestine, Die Operette mit Schlag – Lone Star Lyric Theater Festival
  • Die Winterreise – William Vendice, Piano, Orange County, CA
  • Die Winterreise– Roger Keele, Piano, Filmed Live/US
  • Suor Angelica, Suor Angelica – Lucy C. Hargi, Conductors, Houston Performing Arts Center
  • SAI: An American Musicale, American Arias – Live, KUHF
  • “The Ladies Wrote, Too” – European Women Composers – Frankfurt, Germany
  • “(Relatively) Unknown Verdi Arias” – Frances Fenton, Soprano, Mehmet Okonsar, Conductor, Ankara/Istanbul
  • Steinway Dedication Concert – Houston Community College
  • “Friends, Rivals, Siblings” – A Recital of Duets St. Stephens Church – Houston, TX
  • “The Dramatic Soprano – Best-Loved Arias” – Houston, TX
  • Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, scenes and arias – Opera Rediviva, Edgar Moore, Conductor – Houston, TX
  • Leonora(s) – Il Trovatore, La Forza del Destino, Edgar Moore, Conductor
  • Cultural Ambassador – U.S. State Department w/ New Israeli Opera – “A Celebration of American Music”, Lena Gershuni, Piano – Tel Aviv, Israel

Review Excerpts

  • “A voice of astonishing beauty” – The New York Times
  • “Stunning…Enchanted audience members” – El Diario, Mexico
  • “Completely won the audience with her dramatic soprano…. drama, intensity,…. …extraordinary musicality, and emotional depth. An international evening! Memminger Zeitung, Germany
  • “A superb young cast….including Frances Fenton” -www.The PeoplesCritic.com
  • “Elegant”&nbsp; “Exceptionally enjoyable” – Cumhuriyet, Turkey
  • “A great voice…a bloom of chamber music facility” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
  • “An impressive singer” – Frankfurter Neue Presse
  • “Effortless singing – Full of emotion…pleased all with her naturalness” – Main Echo, Germany

Current Roles

Vanessa; Lady Macbeth; Santuzza, Mamma Lucia; Lina (Stiffelio); Ariadne; Magda Sorel; Leonora (La Forza del Destino); Gräfin Mariza; Manon Lescaut; Suor Angelica; Cio-Cio San; Donna Anna, Donna Elvira; Marina (Die Vier Grobiane)

Representative Opera Companies

Frankfurt Opera, Zürich Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Classics of New Jersey, San Antonio Festival, Central City Opera Apprentice

Representative Orchestas

Akademisches Orchester Zürich;  Houston Symphony Orchestra; Runkfunk; Süddeutsche Runkfunk;  Südwest Rundfunk; Orquestra do Estado do São Paulo; Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra; Bay Area Symphony (Texas); Houston Chamber Orchestra; Pilsener Jugendorchester; Thalwil Kammerorchester

Performances

February 12, 2012

  • Work: 100 Years of Artists – Concert
  • Role: Elisabetta, Gioconda, Alceste
  • Composer: Verdi, Handel, Wagner, Giordano, others
  • Conductor: Dr. Roger Keele
  • Director: Frances Fenton
  • Organization: Houston Tuesday Musical Club
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

November 13, 2011

  • Work: Ludmilla & the Three Tenors
  • Role: Ludmilla
  • Composer: Dr. Allyson Applebaum Wells
  • Orchestra: Woodrow Witt Saxophone Ensemble
  • Conductor: Dr. Woodrow Witt
  • Organization: HCC Faculty Composers
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

March 20, 2011

  • Work: Centennial Gala Celebration/Concert
  • Role: Iphigenie; Amelia
  • Composer: Gluck; Verdi
  • Conductor: Dr. Roger Keele
  • Organization: Houston Tuesday Musical Club
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

March 01, 2011

  • Work: Excerpts from Macbeth
  • Role: Lady Macbeth
  • Composer: Verdi
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

October 28, 2010

  • Work: A Night at the Opera – Un Ballo in Maschera
  • Role: Amelia
  • Composer: Verdi
  • Conductor: Dr. Roger Keele
  • Organization: Pearl Fincher Museum
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

September 28, 2010

  • Work: Excerpts from Spoon River Epitaphs – Premiere
  • Role: Soloist
  • Composer: Roger Keele/Frances Fenton
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

November 2009

  • Work: Six Seasonal Songs – Premiere Performance
  • Composer: Dr. Roger Keele
  • Conductor: Dr. Roger Keele
  • Organization: St. Cecilia Society
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

April 29, 2009

  • Work: Spring Celebration
  • Role: Leonora, Turandot
  • Composer: Verdi, Puccini
  • Conductor: Dr. Roger Keele
  • Organization: Tuesday Musical Club
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

April 19, 2009

  • Work: SAI AMERICAN MUSICALE
  • Composer: Various
  • Conductor: Sue Olfield
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

March 2009

  • Work: American Songs & Arias
  • Composer: Various
  • Conductor: Mehmet Okonsar, Turkish National Artist
  • Organization: U.S. State Department/Bavaria, Germany
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

February 2009

  • Work: Recital, Master Class
  • Conductor: Maestro William Vendice
  • Organization: Church of the Messiah/Orange County High School for the Arts
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

October 19, 2008

  • Work: American Songs & Arias & Master Class
  • Composer: various
  • Conductor: Dr. Karen Ganz
  • Organization: McNeese State University
  • Sung/Cover: Cover

October 15, 2008

  • Work: Die Winterreise
  • Composer: Schubert
  • Conductor: Dr. Roger Keele
  • Organization: Lone Star College Kingwood
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

October 14, 2008

  • Work: The Torch: Frances Fenton Plus Her Students
  • Composer: Verdi, Ponchielli, Handel, Mozart
  • Conductor: Dr.Roger Keele
  • Organization: President’s Coffee – Houston Tuesday Musical Club
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

September 12, 2008

  • Work: Gershwin Plus
    Composer: Gershwin, Lara
  • Orchestra: “Strings Attached” String Quartet
  • Organization: Chinese-American Alliance
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

September 11, 2008

  • Work: Gershwin Plus
  • Composer: Gershwin, Lara
  • Orchestra: “Strings Attached” String Quartet
  • Organization: Art Institute of Houston
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

June 27, 2008

  • Work: Die Operette mit Schlag
  • Composer: Romberg, Herbert, J. Strauss
  • Conductor: Dr. Jeremy Wood
  • Organization: Lone Star Lyric Theatre Festival
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

February 02, 2008

  • Work: Die Winterreise
  • Composer: Franz Schubert
  • Conductor: Dr. Roger Keele
  • Director: Richard Boyd, Film Director
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

June 27, 2007

  • Role: Guest Appearance
  • Composer: Maury Yeston
  • Conductor: Roger Keele
  • Organization: Lone Star Lyric Theater Festival
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

April 22, 2007

  • Work: American Arias
  • Conductor: TBA
  • Organization: SAI AMERICAN MUSICALE
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

April 2007

  • Work: Arias & Duets from Porgy & Bess
  • Composer: George Gershwin
  • Conductor: Lucy Hargis
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

January 30, 2007

  • Work: Women Composers
  • Composer: J. Lang, F. Hensel, P. Viardot
  • Conductor: Suzanne Marion, Piano
  • Organization: Houston Tuesday Musical Club
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

2007

  • Work: Liederabend, plus Arias
  • Composer: Telemann, C. Schumann, Hindemith. Quilter, etc.
  • Conductor: Roland Boer
  • Organization: Frankfurt, Germany
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

March 26, 2006

  • Work: Rosa Parks: An Opera
  • Role: Jo An Robinson
  • Composer: A. Applebaum
  • Orchestra: Yes
  • Conductor: A. Applebaum
  • Organization: Composers Forum
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

March 25, 2006

  • Work: Friends, Rivals….Siblings! A Duet Recital
  • Role: Duet Recital
  • Composer: Various
  • Conductor: Roger Keele, Pianist
  • Organization: Third Millennium Voices/St. Stephens Episcopal Church
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

November 22, 2005

  • Work: Russian Duets w/ Joanna Gaines, Mezzo-Soprano
  • Organization: Tuesday Musical Club/Featured Artist
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

May 2005

  • Work: Arias Concert
  • Role: Lady Macbeth
  • Composer: Verdi
  • Orchestra: Yes
  • Conductor: Edgar Moore
  • Organization: Opera Rediviva
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

April 24, 2005

  • Work: Faculty Honors Recital
  • Composer: Various
  • Conductor: Christine Schaffer, Pianist
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

March 2005

  • Work: A Celebration of American Music
  • Role: Solo Recitals
  • Composer: Various
  • Conductor: Lena Gershuni, Pianist
  • Organization: U.S. State Department/Bar-Ilan University/New Israeli Opera
  • Sung/Cover: Sung

March 2005

  • Work: Master Class
  • Role: Master Clinician
  • Composer: Various
  • Organization: Ashdod Chamber Opera
  • Sung/Cover: Sung