Alumna Diana Farrell ’06 Brings Talent and Expertise to Westfield State Stage

The Westfield State University Department of Music welcomed its first alumni guest artist for the Spring semester for a benefit recital and a public masterclass for students.

American lyric spinto soprano and Westfield State Music alumni Diana Farrell has been hailed for her “golden voice.” Her most recent stage performances include the titular role of Puccini’s Tosca, Magda in Menotti’s The Consul, and Verdi’s Lady Macbeth, for which her “passionate intensity…” earned high praise as she “consistently sang with beauty and sensitivity.” 

She graduated from Westfield State in 2006 as a Vocal Performance, Music Composition, and Music History music major.  

Farrell recently had her Carnegie Hall debut not only as a singer in the new opera The Yellow Wallpaper but also as the librettist.  The Yellow Wallpaper is based on the haunting 1876 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and explores the impact of societal influences on the individual in the Victorian Gilded Age. It is also set to debut in California in October.  Farrell is currently Artistic Director of the Orange County Lyric Opera in Los Angeles.

Farrell’s benefit recital was held in support of her efforts to create a Westfield State University Foundation scholarship fund for a music student who is a soprano. She was joined on Dever Stage with faculty member Scott Bailey.