Viola Dacus Delivers Humanities Lecture

MC music professor Viola Dacus

With her gifted voice and keen observations, music professor Viola Dacus will deliver the 2021 Mississippi Humanities Council Lecture at Mississippi College.

Being selected to speak at the March 23 program is quite a tribute to the immensely talented singer and educator on the Clinton campus.

The event begins at 7:30 p.m. that Tuesday evening. The venue is the Jean Pittman Williams Recital Hall in the Aven Fine Arts Building. The program is free and open to the public.

Dacus says she feels honored to be selected for the annual Humanities Lecture. Her talk is titled “On Being an Instrument.”

In the Mississippi College Music Department, the professor also serves as its voice area coordinator.

Music Department Chair Angela Willoughby joins many in the MC community, applauding her skills as an outstanding professor and phenomenal vocalist.

“Viola Dacus is an intuitive and caring teacher, as well as an accomplished performer,” Willoughby said. “She gives all of herself to every endeavor.”

Audience members are in for a treat that spring evening in Clinton. “As she shares insights from her distinguished teaching career, I am absolutely sure that every listener will be able to connect the concepts to one’s own personal life,” Willoughby said.

Dr. Willoughby looks forward to her lecture and, as always, the opportunity to hear Viola sing.

Dacus joined the Mississippi College faculty in August 2001. She’s a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. The mezzo-soprano has appeared regionally as a recitalist as well as in opera productions and numerous concert venues.

Over the years, Viola has performed with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the Mississippi Opera, the Baton Rouge Opera, the Ohio Light Opera, and the Meridian Symphony Orchestra, to name a few.

The Mississippian has been featured numerous times on the Mississippi Public Radio program “Mississippi Concert Hall.”

In addition, Dacus took to the stage on several  occasions in New York,  including as a mezzo-soprano soloist in Verdi’s “Requiem.”