ALUMNI AWARD RECIPIENT JUDITH FARRIS PERFORMS

Judith Farris expects this to be a Southeast Missouri State University Homecoming she will never forget.

The Cape Girardeau native and 1970 graduate of the university will return this weekend to be honored with the 1992 Alumni Merit Award.

"I guess it's a big deal," she said from New York. "It's definitely a big deal to me."

The first recipient from the College of Liberal Arts, Farris has had successful dual careers in New York as an opera singer and voice coach.

Early in her career she was awarded an apprenticeship with the Metropolitan Opera, and subsequently has sung solos with the Sante Fe Opera, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, the Tulsa Opera, the Fort Worth Opera and the Virginia Opera.

A contralto, Farris has won numerous professional awards in New York but said this one is special to her. "To get one where you started ... it's almost like getting an award from the whole town," she said.

Among those who will be present Friday when she receives the award is Mary Lou Henry, the former university music professor Farris said "is really responsible that I am a singer."

Farris intended to teach music in the public schools after graduating from the university. Henry recognized Farris' vocal talent and encouraged her to pursue a professional career.

Farris said her first reaction was resistance. "I couldn't believe that was a possibility for me."

But she honed her skills and made her own way in a very difficult profession.

"The biggest thing any school can do for a person is give (her) a dream," Farris said.

Farris will ride in the Homecoming Parade Saturday and will sing the university alma mater and the "Star Spangled Banner" at the Homecoming football game.

She hasn't sung the National Anthem at a public event since she was a student at the university.

Accompanying Farris to Cape Girardeau will be her 15-year-old son, Matthew Piazzi. "I'm bringing my son along to see me honored and so people can see I've done something else worthwhile, which is to raise him," she said.

Raising a son has curtailed some of the traveling required of a concert singer, but Farris has compensated by developing another career as a private voice teacher.

She said some of her best students aren't well known, but Tyne Daly, Matthew Broderick, the late Peter Allen, James Taylor and Brooke Shields are.

Her teaching approach, she said, "tries to make singing as simple as possible. The idea is that you sing as you speak."

Farris will appear in concert at 7 p.m. Saturday in Academic Auditorium. She will sing Johannes Brahms' "Alto Rhapsody," a piece she first performed in Academic Auditorium as a student.

Joining her on the program of works by Brahms and Aaron Copland arrangements of traditional American songs will be members of the university music faculty. They include pianist John Shelton, cellist Sara Edgerton and violinist Heidi Bergman.

Farris also will be accompanied by pianist James Sifferman, flautist Paul Thompson, and a male chorus composed of members of the University Choir.

Tickets are $3 for adults; $1.50 for seniors and other-than-university students. Admission is free for those with a University ID card.

The concert will last 45 minutes. Farris hopes the brevity will leave the audience plenty of time to enjoy their Halloween in more traditional ways.