CURRENT: Wendi Dicken is the artistic director of Midwest Center for Creative Arts in addition to teaching in her private studio. YOUNGEST AGE: 5 Wendi Dicken began her performance career at the age of four in the role of Michael Darling in Peter Pan, solidifying what has become a lifelong love of musical theater and opera. At 13, Wendi founded the Heritage Community Theater Program , an outreach to teens in the Cincinnati area. A graduate of Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) with master’s studies in opera, she worked with Joan Moynagh and Russell Hosler to restore the Miami University Opera Ensemble, which has gone on to win international acclaim. She performed with Goldovsky’s Young Artists Opera Theatre, coached with Stanley Sontag, and Philon Ktsanis, and was featured in concerts in seven European countries. At 24, she developed the vocal music program for Flathead Valley Community College, producing the first opera ever performed in that region. Wendi directed a season of the renowned Flathead Valley Children’s Theater, and served as rehearsal conductor for the Glacier Orchestra and Chorale before moving to Chicago to continue her education.She studied piano with Margaret Styling, was accepted to study flute at the Cincinnati Conservatory (age 11) with Maestro Robert Cavally, and began vocal coaching in opera (age 13) with Mr. Bard Suverkrop. She studied Music Theory and Composition with Winfred Cummings. Among her compositions are a piano concerto, several small piano works, six patriotic works, and several works for children’s choir.Wendi counts 84 dramatic and musical roles on her resume, along with more than 20 operatic roles, concerts and recitals.She has inspired more than 30 students to pursue successful careers in music and theater, written curriculum for repertory theatre, served as director and artistic director of the St. Charles County Concert Arts Association, and accepted concert engagements at the 90th anniversary of the Hawaiian State Library, Carnegie Hall, and Kennedy Center. Conducting/directing credits include Chichester Psalms (Bernstein), Amahl and the Night Visitors (Mennotti), and Into the Woods (Sondheim). She is founder of the Concert Arts Youth Choir, jazz ensemble, kinderchor, Concert Arts Conservatory (2005), and co-founder of Mozingo Center for Creative Arts (2013). In 2007, she developed Kidz Muzik® (introducing young children to the fundamentals of music), and Music and Me®, a multi faceted arts program for students with autism spectrum disorders and their parents, for which she was inducted into the Continental Who’s Who of business Entrepreneurs for leadership in music education.
TEACHING STYLE
I believe that a teacher needs to bring out the strengths of each student, tailoring the lessons to create overall success with technique, theory and repertoire. I teach to the best of my ability so that my students achieve to the best of theirs.