WILMA FRANKOVICH
Sunday Opera, Sundays from 9:00am-Noon. (Wilma hosts weeks 2 and 4 in the
month.)
Wilma was born and raised in Pullman, Washington during World War II.
While her father was serving in the Army Air Corps, Wilma and her two older
sisters formed a trio called the “Three Little Sisters” with their mother as coach
and accompanist. They entertained Navy inductees, who were stationed at the
University of Idaho in Moscow utilizing Lake Pend O’Reille to the north for their
training, and also at Washington State College in Pullman where Army infantry
inductees were being trained to enter the “War to End All Wars.” All three sisters
took piano and voice lessons. Their mother encouraged them in classical music
and took them to community concerts, which were popular musical events to see
and hear famous musicians in recital before the advent of television.
Wilma’s first opera experience, which was die Fledermaus, opened her eyes to
what she wanted to be - an opera singer. Years later, when she was the choral
teacher at Moscow High School, she sang the role of Adelle in a concert version of
die Fledermaus at the University of Idaho. All the other leads were university level
voice professors attending summer school or were members of the UI music
faculty.
Wilma attended WSU on a music scholarship, graduating with a BA degree in
music. She was active in the opera theatre and received the alumni award at its
annual banquet as the outstanding music graduate in 1958. Two years after
graduation, having taught at a small town near Spokane, she moved to Tucson,
Arizona where she taught music at a junior high school and attended graduate
school at the University of Arizona. While she was there, she sang the leads in
four operas, two of which were Southwest premieres, and was twice in the
Metropolitan opera semi-finals. She could not afford the time or the money to fly
to New York and had an infant son, so another was chosen in her stead and was
never heard from again. Who knows what might have been!
With her master’s degree in her hand, she moved back to the Northwest and
opened a voice studio in Pullman right after the birth of her second child. WSU had
just built a new music building and needed more money for furnishings, and
someone came up with the bright idea that students who had been successful
could be asked to give honorarium concerts, with the moneys collected from them
going toward that goal. Wilma was honored to be one of them and did so. Among
some of the others included were Frances Yeend of the Metropolitan Opera and
Louis Wersen who was Supervisor of School music in Philadelphia. This same
year, Wilma entered an international musicological research contest sponsored by
Mu Phi Epsilon, the international music fraternity of which she is a member and
former president of both her undergraduate and alumni organizations. She won
with a paper entitled Liturgical Drama, which she had written for a music history
class she had taken at the University of Arizona. She was presented with a cash
award and a year’s subscription to the Journal of Musicological Research.
In 1966, Wilma and her family moved to Moscow, Idaho where she became
involved as the Treasurer for the Washington-Idaho Symphony, chairman of the
Community Concert association, choir director of the First Presbyterian Church,
guest lecturing at both UI and WSU in ethnomusicology of the American Indian,
and returning to the classroom at the junior and high school levels. She was also
a popular adjudicator and clinician for vocal competitions in the states of
Washington, Idaho, and Montana. In 1986, she was honored by her peers as
Idaho Music Educator of the Year.
Wilma and her husband, Bob, who is a classical music announcer at KMUN,
retired to Ocean Park, Washington and love this area of the world! Wilma taught
for over 46 years and since being retired substitute teaches on the Peninsula.
Sunday Opera, Sundays from 9:00am-Noon. (Wilma hosts weeks 2 and 4 in the
month.)
Wilma was born and raised in Pullman, Washington during World War II.
While her father was serving in the Army Air Corps, Wilma and her two older
sisters formed a trio called the “Three Little Sisters” with their mother as coach
and accompanist. They entertained Navy inductees, who were stationed at the
University of Idaho in Moscow utilizing Lake Pend O’Reille to the north for their
training, and also at Washington State College in Pullman where Army infantry
inductees were being trained to enter the “War to End All Wars.” All three sisters
took piano and voice lessons. Their mother encouraged them in classical music
and took them to community concerts, which were popular musical events to see
and hear famous musicians in recital before the advent of television.
Wilma’s first opera experience, which was die Fledermaus, opened her eyes to
what she wanted to be - an opera singer. Years later, when she was the choral
teacher at Moscow High School, she sang the role of Adelle in a concert version of
die Fledermaus at the University of Idaho. All the other leads were university level
voice professors attending summer school or were members of the UI music
faculty.
Wilma attended WSU on a music scholarship, graduating with a BA degree in
music. She was active in the opera theatre and received the alumni award at its
annual banquet as the outstanding music graduate in 1958. Two years after
graduation, having taught at a small town near Spokane, she moved to Tucson,
Arizona where she taught music at a junior high school and attended graduate
school at the University of Arizona. While she was there, she sang the leads in
four operas, two of which were Southwest premieres, and was twice in the
Metropolitan opera semi-finals. She could not afford the time or the money to fly
to New York and had an infant son, so another was chosen in her stead and was
never heard from again. Who knows what might have been!
With her master’s degree in her hand, she moved back to the Northwest and
opened a voice studio in Pullman right after the birth of her second child. WSU had
just built a new music building and needed more money for furnishings, and
someone came up with the bright idea that students who had been successful
could be asked to give honorarium concerts, with the moneys collected from them
going toward that goal. Wilma was honored to be one of them and did so. Among
some of the others included were Frances Yeend of the Metropolitan Opera and
Louis Wersen who was Supervisor of School music in Philadelphia. This same
year, Wilma entered an international musicological research contest sponsored by
Mu Phi Epsilon, the international music fraternity of which she is a member and
former president of both her undergraduate and alumni organizations. She won
with a paper entitled Liturgical Drama, which she had written for a music history
class she had taken at the University of Arizona. She was presented with a cash
award and a year’s subscription to the Journal of Musicological Research.
In 1966, Wilma and her family moved to Moscow, Idaho where she became
involved as the Treasurer for the Washington-Idaho Symphony, chairman of the
Community Concert association, choir director of the First Presbyterian Church,
guest lecturing at both UI and WSU in ethnomusicology of the American Indian,
and returning to the classroom at the junior and high school levels. She was also
a popular adjudicator and clinician for vocal competitions in the states of
Washington, Idaho, and Montana. In 1986, she was honored by her peers as
Idaho Music Educator of the Year.
Wilma and her husband, Bob, who is a classical music announcer at KMUN,
retired to Ocean Park, Washington and love this area of the world! Wilma taught
for over 46 years and since being retired substitute teaches on the Peninsula.
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photo provided by Wilma Frankovich