Dr. Louima Lilite

McGavern-Montgomery Professor of Music
Professor of Music
Tenor

Office Location Raley Chapel, 204 East
Phone (Office) 405.585.4322
OBU Mailbox # 61276
Email louima.lilite@okbu.edu

Biography

Haitian-American tenor/pianist Louima Lilite serves as the McGavern-Montgomery Professor of Vocal and Choral Studies in the Warren M. Angell School of Visual & Performing Arts of Oklahoma Baptist University where he was awarded the University’s Distinguished Teaching Award in May 2016. Under the tutelage of Ms. Carol Webber, he earned his doctorate in April 2008 at the prestigious Eastman School of Music where he was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Prize in 2007.
Prior to OBU, Dr. Lilite was a member of the voice faculty at Houghton College and Nazareth College, and a TA at the Eastman School of Music from 2004-2008. He has taught, lectured, and coached in the United States and overseas in private lessons, master classes, seminars, and summer workshops. He has also served as an adjudicator for the Phyllis Triolo Competition and for NATS regional and district auditions. His students have won various awards and have been invited and/or accepted at Houston Grand Opera, Sarasota Opera, Tulsa Opera, the Eastman School of Music, Juilliard, Peabody, Michigan State in Ann Arbor, Penn State University, the University of Illinois, and at various Young Artist and summer programs.
Critics have hailed his “warm tone and sensitive interpretation,” and “his clear voice [which] soars and carries.” A seasoned performer, he is known as a recitalist, soloist, pianist, and accompanist, performing in master classes conducted by Dawn Upshaw, Leonid Smetannikov, Douglas Yates, Earle Patriarco, Menahem Pressler, and Béla Siki. Among his honors at OBU are the 2013 Provost Award of Excellence, the2009-2010 Promising Teacher Award, and the Seven Who Care Award. Other honors include the 2007-2008 MTNA StAR Award, the Presser Award, Outstanding Musician of the year in both piano and voice, First Place Winner in the Advanced division of the NATS Eastern Region Conference Auditions, and Honorable Mention in the Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition.
An avid supporter of chamber music, some of his favorite performances include Poulenc’s Tel jour, telle nuit, Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses, Vaughan Williams’ Four Hymns, John Corigliano’s Three Irish Folksong Settings, and the six Heine settings from Schubert’s Schwanengesang.
He has sung several operatic roles including Count Belfiore in Mozart’s La finta Giardiniera, Prunier in Puccini’s La Rondine, Tapioca in L’étoile by Chabrier, Brother Paul in Trinkley’s York, Samuel in Rorem’s Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters, Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas, Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Léon in Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso, Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and The Counsel in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury.
Having a keen interest in the oratorio and symphonic repertoires, Lilite has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Eastman-Rochester Chorus and Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Consort in Handel’s Messiah, the Shawnee Community Orchestra, the Biola Conservatory Chorale and Orchestra in Orff’s Carmina Burana, the Sainte Trinité Symphony, maestro Gerardo Edelstein in Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio, and the Penn State University Chorus and Orchestra in Schubert’s Mass in G.
Equally at home in non-classical genres, he has pursued post-doctoral training under world-acclaimed and leading Contemporary Vocal pedagogue Mary Saunders-Barton and theory guru Marie Rolf. As a result, his students are cross-trained and equipped to sing/play CCM, pop, gospel, musical theatre, jazz, and bluegrass, among others. OBU chapels and church services often serve as opportunities for him to both perform and guide others in using music across genres.
Previous study with Jennie Wong (piano), William Lock, Jeanne Robison, Richard Kennedy, Susan Boardman, and Marylène Dosse (piano), granted him his MM in voice performance & pedagogy at Penn State University in 2002, and a BM degree in 1999 at Biola University in La Mirada, CA with a double emphasis in voice and piano performance.
 

Education

  •  B.M. Music Performance in Voice and Piano, Biola University Conservatory of Music
  •  M.M. Voice Performance and Pedagogy, Pennsylvania State University
  •  D.M.A. Voice Performance and Literature, Eastman School of Music
  • NCTM National Certification as a Teacher of Music, MTNA

Courses Taught

  • Applied Voice
  • Vocal Technique
  • Vocal Pedagogy
  • Lyric Diction
  • Movement
  • Music Theatre
  • Arts & Western Culture
  • Biblical Worldview

Selected Publications

  • Weeding Impatience: Growing in Patience. Winepress Publishing, 2013
  • When Music Meets Faith. Redemption Press, 2014.

Professional Memberships

  • Alpha Sigma Iota
  • Epsilon Kappa Epsilon Honor Society
  • Pi Kappa Lambda, Zeta Iota Chapter
  • National Association of Teachers of Singing
  • National Opera Association
  • Music Teachers National Association
  • Oklahoma Music Teachers Association
  • Shawnee Area Music Teachers Association

Awards and Honors

  • Distinguished Teaching Award, OBU, May 2016
  • Provost Excellence Award, OBU, August 2013
  • Promising Teacher Award, OBU, May 2010
  • Excellence in Teaching Prize, Eastman School of Music, April 2007