Biography
A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, Priscilla Kay Wittman made her musical singing debut on her grandfather’s radio programme when she was just a child. At age five, her grandfather, Sawdust Trail Evangelist Karl F. Wittman (1893-1982) gave her an accordion as a present, which sparked her interest in music. She began to study piano at the age of six. Her childhood years were spent with her parents and grandparents in full-time evangelistic ministry traveling around the USA and Mexico conducting and participating in various church services and tent-revivals with many denominations. At this young age, she was exposed to and influenced by various musical styles, ranging from the Nashville quartet sound of the Blackwood Brothers to the gospel solos of Mahalia Jackson and Ethyl Waters. She later studied piano and voice at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, and then majored in music at the University of Texas at Dallas, where she studied composition with the American classical composer, Robert Xavier Rodriguez. She also holds an award for Theological Studies from Spurgeon’s College in London as well as a MA in Intercultural Communication from the University of London, Birkbeck.
Early on in her career, she taught music at the Hispanic Baptist Theological Seminary in San Antonio, Texas. After one year of teaching, she left to briefly serve in a Baptist Partnership Missions programme in Mexico City. Upon her return to the USA, she continued to teach piano, sing and play for weddings, work as a church pianist, and actively began composing and performing her original compositions. During the 1990’s, she had the opportunity to study voice with Barbara Chenault Law, (whose background included private study with Madame Paola Novikova, the teacher of Nicolai Gedda, George London and others).
After ministering in Cuba on a missions trip in 1998 in word and song, she began to compile a selection of her original compositions in the Spanish language, and on 13 June, 2009, her first CD Te Glorificare (I will Glorify your Name) was finally completed and released in Ulm, Germany. The CD's tracks were initially laid down in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico under the supervision of her late father-in-law, the world-renowned Latin composer, Luis Demetrio Sr. (Sway, La Puerta, Si Dios Me Quita la Vida) and arranged by his son, Luis Traconis (Demetrio) Jr., and completed for publication in Vienna, Austria.
Since 2001, she calls Europe home, and has resided in both Germany and England with her husband. Although a native English speaker, Priscilla often performs in her second and third languages, Spanish and German.
For information on concerts or bookings, or an original piece written for your special occasion, please contact Priscilla at musicbypriscilla@yahoo.com