Shigami Matsumoto and Martin Stark

The Matsumoto Opera Scholarship is named for opera singer and CSULB voice faculty, Shigemi Matsumoto. Ms. Matsumoto has had a worldwide professional singing career, where she has performed with over 50 national and international opera companies and with more than 60 national and international symphony orchestras. She has given more than 300 solo recitals in such major cities as New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Tokyo, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Seattle, Houston and Dallas. She has recorded two CDs with Luciano Pavarotti and has sung with countless luminary singers and conductors of our generation.

Aside from her teaching at CSULB, Ms. Matsumoto is a longtime member of the voice faculty at the University of Southern California (USC). Many of her students have performed with major opera companies including the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Houston Opera, San Diego Opera and Opera Pacific. Others have performed with international opera companies in Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Brazil, Chile and Austria.

Ms. Matsumoto is the founder and President of the Classical Singers Association. This member supported, non-profit association of singers is dedicated towards developing the performance and professional singing skills of its members. In 2016, Ms. Matsumoto was honored to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from her alma mater, California State University, Northridge. Martin Stark is Ms. Matsumoto’s husband.