Classic opera selections from Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner kick off the Texarkana College fall music series in grand style on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Appearing in the Great Room on the TC campus, sopranos Janice Yoes and Brenda Frye, baritone Howard Goode and pianist Mary Scott Goode perform excerpts from three great operas: Verdi’s “Aida” and “Il Trovatore,” and Wagner’s “Lohengrin.”

“They’re both from the middle to the late Romantic Era,” said Mary Scott Goode, associate professor of music, about the two famed composers on tap for the afternoon. “They both wrote for large orchestras. They both are what we’d call grand opera.”

Goode said such grand opera featured dramatic stories of real-life characters and situations. “It’s a very emotional type of opera,” she said.

And she said for opera singers performing back when they were originally presented, their voices would have to be strong to carry above the orchestra because there was no amplification at the time.

“You just have to have a voice that’s so big to carry over that size of an orchestra,” Goode said.

Yoes teaches voice at the University of Arkansas and is noted for her performances of both Wagner and Verdi. She has sung with the Metropolitan Opera. Frye, a Tennessee native, performed the character Leonora in “Trovatore” last year at Opera Memphis.

Yoes will conduct a voice class Monday at 11 a.m. It’s open to the public, and she’ll teach breathing fundamentals.

On Thursday, Nathan Knutson, pianist and National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist winner, will perform a piano recital at 7:30 p.m. in the TC Music Hall.

Julie Robinson, soprano, and Mary Scott Goode on piano will perform a voice recital in the TC Music Hall on Friday, Sept. 26, at 11 a.m.

That will be followed by a “Great Music for the Violin” performance on Thursday, Oct. 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the TC Great Room. Jason Ashley, violin, Zach McClung, bassoon, and Marc-André Bougie and Mary Scott Goode on piano will perform.

The “TC Student Recital” in the TC Music Hall is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m.

And then on Monday, Nov. 10, is a “Dynamic Duos” performance at 7:30 p.m. in the TC Great Room. Slated to perform that night are Bougie and Mary Scott Goode on piano, soprano Candace Taylor, flutist Laura Bennett, tenor Ryan McDonald and baritone Howard Goode.

Jeongwon Ham, pianist, performs at the James Herrin Piano Festival at 7:30 p.m. in the TC Great Room on Thursday, Nov. 20. This event is sponsored by Judy Morgan.

TC students will perform a second recital on Monday, Nov. 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the TC Music Hall.

And then the fall series concludes with “Yulefeste” in the TC Great Room on Friday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m. This features the TC Singers, The Riffs, and area high school choirs performing under conductor Celia Richardson.

All of the TC fall series events are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Mary Scott Goode at 903-832-5565, ext. 3371, or Sharon Skinner at 903-832-5565, ext. 3360.