Wayne State College will be hosting Suna and Thomas Gunther in a guest recital in Ley Theatre Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. 

This semester’s guest recital is featuring husband-and-wife duo Thomas and Suna Gunther. Suna, a soprano, and Thomas, a baritone, will be joined on stage by WSC staff accompanist, Shelley Armstrong, on piano. The theme for the performance is “This is Us.” The music is relevant to Thomas and Suna’s life, featuring recordings of their parents and two daughters. 

Suna is an assistant professor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the music department. During the summer, she is the director of the Soo Theatre Opera Apprenticeship Program in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Suna earned her bachelor’s degree at Northwestern University, later completing her master’s and doctorate degrees at Jacobs School of Music.  

Thomas earned his degrees from UNL, Simpson College and the University of Cincinatti Conservatory of Music. He’s also completed coursework at the University of Kentucky. Thomas is a professor of voice at the Omaha Conservatory of Music and adjunct professor at Doane University in Crete, Nebraska. He recently did a performance at Soo Theatre, playing Scarpia in Tosca and Marcello in La Bohéme.  He is currently working with First Coast Opera and the Amelia Island Opera to perform pieces by Schaunard. 

The two stopped in to give a presentation to voice students on Sept. 18. “Rubbing elbows with students and hopefully inspiring them is the primary goal of bringing guest artists to WSC,” Matthew Armstrong, the director of chorus activities at WSC, said. 

Armstrong is excited for this performance. “This guest recital is special to me because Thomas is a former student of mine,” Armstrong said. “He graduated from Muscatine High School in 2002…Thomas was an incredible singer, and it has been fun to follow his career and see the incredible things that he is doing.” Armstrong said.