April 25, 2003

VITERBO STUDENT NAMED LIBERACE SCHOLAR FOR SECOND YEAR

LA CROSSE, Wis.—The Liberace Foundation has awarded a $3,000 scholarship to Viterbo University’s Suzanne Flater for the 2003-04 academic year.

It is the second year in a row that Flater has received the prestigious honor of being named a Liberace Scholar. From Fort Dodge, Iowa, Flater will be a senior at Viterbo next year and is majoring in vocal performance and vocal pedagogy with a minor in music theatre.

An award-winning vocalist, Flater was awarded First Place in her divisions at the National Association of Teachers of Singing auditions in 1999 and in 2000. At the prestigious 2002 Schubert Club Auditions in St. Paul she received a Second Place award in her division.
She has performed featured solo work in Handel's Messiah, Vaughn Williams' Hodie, and Bach's Magnificat. She also holds a great passion for theatre and opera. Her roles have included "Dorabella" in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, "Little Red Riding Hood" in Sondheim's Into the Woods, and most recently "Rosalinda" in Viterbo's production of Die Fledermaus by Strauss.

In addition to her studies, Flater is a vocal instructor at the Viterbo University Preparatory School of Arts and leads the contemporary worship services at Olivet Lutheran Church on French Island.

Liberace Foundation scholarship recipients are promising and deserving juniors and seniors enrolled in a course of study leading to the career in arts. The Foundation was established in honor of the famous, late pianist Liberace.

Viterbo University is a four-year, co-educational, liberal arts college in La Crosse, Wis. Catholic and Franciscan, it was founded more than a century ago by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.