Dr. Lydia Bechtel-Edmonson (DMA, vocal performance, MM, musicology, 2020) received the 2021 Midwest Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award in the Humanities category. Her work during her time at UMKC (Beyond Prima Donna: Pauline Viardot's Collaboration on Meyerbeer's Le prophète, Gounod's Sapho, and Berlioz's Arrangement of Orphée) was selected from submissions among the best of the best across the midwestern graduate degree granting institutions, and stood out from the other submissions in its overall impact, clarity, methodology, and scholarship. It is also the first time since 2005 that a student from UMKC has won this award.
Congratulations Dr. Bechtel-Edmonson!