Education
BA, University of Maryland (voice)
MA, University of Iowa (musicology)
Courses Taught
MUSI 10053, Survey of Music
Areas of Focus
Music Appreciation, Norwegian composers, French Impressionism
Heidi I. Irgens earned an MA in musicology from the University of Iowa and a BA in voice from the University of Maryland. She has participated in early music workshops, including the Baroque Performance Institute (Oberlin, OH), the Ringve International Summer Academy (Trondheim, Norway), and the Historic Performance Academy (Montréal, Quebec), where she studied with Max van Egmond, Ian Partridge, and Kenneth Slowik.
Her performances include solo vocal recitals in the U.S and France, both early music and contemporary ensembles (vocal soloist, vielle, and treble viola da gamba), and choral works under Antal Doráti, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and Lorin Maazel. In 1981, Robert Ward selected her to premiere scenes of his opera, Abelard and Heloise, singing the title role. She was a violist in the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (MO,) and the Brevard Music Festival Orchestra and Brevard Music Center Orchestra, and occasionally accompanies herself on the vielle.
Ms. Irgens has taught private studio both in voice and viola/violin, and coached ensembles. She taught elementary school music, and continues to substitute for music teachers, attend elementary education workshops, and give Renaissance dance workshops for all ages. Ms. Irgens received visiting scholar funding from the University of Oslo for her research on the composer, Ludvig Irgens-Jensen, and has presented papers on Norwegian art music and the Hardanger fiddle. In her spare time, she plays a handful of Hardanger fiddle tunes. She is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Kappa Phi.
Scandinavian composers; influences of Norwegian folk elements on the music of Impressionism with a focus on Ravel; Norwegian Hardanger fiddle; Renaissance dance; subject matter expert for music textbooks; including music as a teaching tool in non-music disciplines.
University of Oslo visiting scholar funding
Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Kappa Lamda
Voice recitals to raise funds for charitable organizations
Demonstrations of opera and string instruments (including historical and indigenous) to elementary schools in Dallas/Fort Worth and Washington, D.C.