Rebecca Renfro
Rebecca Renfro, DMA
Full Professor of Voice,
Director of Opera Workshop
School of Music, 325 | 936.294.2314 | rrg012@shsu.edu
Division | Voice
Rebecca L. Renfro is a Full Professor and the Director of Opera Workshop at Sam Houston State University. She currently holds degrees in music from Sam Houston State University (B.M.), The New England Conservatory of Music (M.M.), and The University of Connecticut (D.M.A.). As an undergraduate at Sam Houston State University, Dr. Renfro also earned a degree in Accounting (B.B.A.) and worked five years in the oil and gas industry as an accountant and auditor before returning to music full time.
Dr. Renfro possesses a versatile artistry that spans from teaching to directing to performing. Her directing credits include productions with Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Lone Star Lyric Opera, Greater Worcester Opera, Lone Star College Cy Fair, Opera del West, University of Connecticut Opera Theater, and Sam Houston State University. Under Dr. Renfro’s leadership, SHSU Opera has become a nationally recognized program, having been selected as a National Opera Association Opera Scenes Competition finalist each year from 2011 to 2022, with numerous wins over the years in the Graduate, Undergraduate and Musical Theatre divisions. The ensemble was awarded a 2012 Production Competition prize from the National Opera Association, and has been honored with numerous American Prize Awards in Collegiate Opera Production. In addition, Dr. Renfro was awarded the American Prize in Opera Stage Direction in 2023. In 2018, Renfro accompanied the ensemble to Japan, where she co-produced Dido and Aeneas at Kobe College with a team of faculty and staff from both universities. This production made national headlines in Japan and was presented to sold-out audiences.
Critically acclaimed as a singer possessing "clear-toned elegance and dignity," Dr. Renfro’s stage credits include leading roles in Die Fledermaus, Le nozze di Figaro, Impressario, Dido and Aeneas, Don Giovanni, Trial by Jury, Gianni Schicchi, L'enfant et les sortileges, A Game of Chance, L'Europe Galante and La Vera Costanza. As a sought-after oratorio soloist, Dr. Renfro has been featured in such works as Mendelssohn's St. Paul, Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem, Bach's Cantata 51, Gasparini's L'oraculo del Fato, Handel's Laudate Pueri, Faure's Requiem and Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb.
Dr. Renfro’s scholarship focus is early music opera pedagogy, undergraduate opera pedagogy, and the dynamics of opera collaboration among artistic organizations, having presented numerous sessions for the National Opera Association and TEXOMA Regional NATS conventions. She has also published various articles in the Opera Journal. Recent projects include creating an English adaptation of Eva Dell’Acqua’s operetta Une Ruse de Pierrette, producing its American premiere at SHSU in 2024.
The parent of a special needs child, Dr. Renfro has become a sought-after speaker on neurodiversity and teaching in the arts, having presented at TMEA, NATS, and NOA in recent years.
Dr. Renfro serves on the Executive Board for the National Opera Association as its Treasurer, as well as serving as an Endowment Trustee. She is the co-founder of Opera del West, a regional opera company based in the Boston area, and an executive board member of Greater Worcester Opera, also in the Boston area.