Larry Carpenter Karena Mendoza
Karena Mendoza
Karena Mendoza was born in South Africa where she studied piano with Hester Beukes and voice with Joyce Barker, the premier South African dramatic soprano. In the 1980s she taught music at FUBA (Federated Union of Black Artists) under renowned writer Sipho Sepambla. Among her students was South Africa's top-selling reggae artist Benjamin Lucky Dube. In Vienna she trained as an opera singer with KS (Dame) Hilda Zadek and well known Romanian Tenor Constantin Zaharia.
She has taught piano for nearly 30 years and has given vocal instruction in Vienna and Chicago for the past 17 years. Several students are featured on her award winning children's CD "On-the-Loose Dreams".
Karena is an award-winning vocalist and composer. In 2004 she won Best Song Writing at the New York International Fringe Festival for Africa Plumbridge (www.africaplumbridge.com). In 2007 she was commissioned to compose music for Dario's Archangels don't play Pinball at North Park University. Current projects include "Marcie the Marvelous Tree," in collaboration with Larry Carpenter, a children's musical, which had a reading in fall 2010 produced by Theatre-Hikes at the Morton Arboretum, for a large, attentive audience that showed much enthusiasm for this delightful piece. She is also working on "Brother Snake," a children's musical with Jeff award winner Margaret Lewis, a musical comedy "How to Marry an Englishman," which is being adapted for film, and a choral work "Requiem for a Refugee" with text by Peter W. Jenkins.
Several newer projects include "Hymn to the Earth," a piece in collaboration with Nancy Meyers and Carolyn Raffensperger (SEHN Science and Environmental Health Network); "Mrs. Magi," a modern retelling on the "Gift of the Magi" and "Verve," a musical about the developing friendships of five women at a weight-loss club.
In 2007 she released "Intimate Gershwin" with Bobby Schiff and a children's CD "On-The-Loose Dreams" (www.pomesinapail.com), which has won several awards including the Gold Parent's Choice Award. A musical showcasing the songs on the CD is currently seeking a production.
Karena is Artist in Residence at the Riverside Presbyterian Church.