Join us back in the Trustmark Grand Hall for our first Music in the City of the fall series! Soloist Katrina Cox will perform with piano accompanist Derrick Meador. The event is free, but due to COVID-19, space is limited and advance registration is recommended. Masks are required.
About the Performers
Katrina L. Cox, a native of Laurel, MS, earned her B.M. degree at William Carey University in vocal performance, where she studied with Dr. Connie Roberts, sang with Chorale, traveled with Carpenter’s Wood to South Korea and played the Maid in The Boor and Cinderella’s Mother in Into the Woods. She was a state and regional finalist at NATS, and served as president of Delta Omicron. As a senior she won the coveted Jenkins-Chastain Award, the highest honor given to a WCU student. Katrina earned a Master of Music at the State University of New York-Binghamton. In New York she performed with Tri-Cities Opera and the Big Band Jazz Ensemble, Harpur Jazz. As a studio artist with Opera North in New Hampshire, she performed Frau Fluth in Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor, sang in a master class with Claudia Waite and appeared in Turandot and Falstaff. Continuing as a professional oratorio and recital singer, Katrina also started a jazz band named “The New Standard”, which performed in various venues throughout New York’s Southern Tier. In 2012, Katrina returned to her native town, Laurel, MS. She worked for Laurel School district as an elementary music teacher and the high school choral director from 2013-2018. In 2015, Katrina was a featured Artist at the Delta Omicron International Conference in Chicago, IL. Katrina recently played the role of Muzzy van Hossmere in WCU’s production of Thoroughly Modern Millie and Shug in The Color Purple with Meridian Community College. Katrina is a doctoral candidate in vocal performance and pedagogy at The University of Southern Mississippi where she studies under the tutelage of Dr. Kimberley Davis. She has performed with the Southern Opera and Music Theater as the title role Carmen and Octavian from Der Rosenkavalier in opera scenes and Dame Doleful in the English Comic Opera, Too Many Sopranos. Katrina is the director of William Carey University’s Carpenter’s contemporary gospel ensemble, Carpenter’s Wood and a voice instructor at the institution. She has been featured as a jazz vocalist for the Partners for the Arts Gala 2019-2020 and the Mississippi Opera Fundraising Gala 2021. Katrina is assistant choir director of the St. Cecilia choir and chorister at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Laurel. She has a thriving private studio where she enjoys teaching students of all ages and genres.
Derrick Meador is organist and choirmaster at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Shreveport, Louisiana. He has been heard in many leading recital venues across the United States and Europe including the Świnoujście International Music Festival (Poland), National City Christian Church (Washington, D.C.), St. James Cathedral (Toronto, Ontario), and recent performances in Houston, Seattle, and Syracuse, among others. A champion of living composers, Meador has commissioned many works by New York-based composer Buck McDaniel.
As an educator, Meador has presented workshops and recitals to several chapters of the American Guild of Organists, of which he served a 10-year term as Dean to the Southern Mississippi Chapter. Additionally, he serves on the faculty of the Mississippi Conference on Church Music & Liturgy.
Meador received his Master of Music degree from the University of Houston under Dr. Robert Bates, and the Bachelor of Music degree from William Carey University under Prof. Kathy Vail. He has also studied with Dr. Jeffrey R. McLelland, harpsichord with Dr. Matthew Dirst, and received private coaching from Dame Gillian Weir in London.
