Soprano Soloist, Worship leader, Choral conductor, Stage
director, Psalmist, Lecturer, and Pianist
Paula received her Ph.D. in Humanities
from Coral Ridge Baptist Seminary, Florida; Master’s of Music in Vocal
Performance from Texas Technical University; and a Bachelor of Music from
California State University at Fullerton. Paula was born and raised in a
Ukranian Orthodox musical family in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. When she
entered high school, her family moved to Los Angeles, California.
While attending California State University, she was
accepted for three consecutive summers at the Music Academy of the West in
Santa Barbara and studied with the renowned Metropolitan Opera baritone,
Martial Singher. Completing her Masters, she directed the opera program
at Grinnell College in Iowa while attending the American Institute of Musical
Studies in Graz, Austria for two summers which opened the door for a permanent
position in Vienna, Austria for five years. She was given the opportunity
to tour Europe with the Mozart Salzburg Opera Company as well as sing concerts
in southern Austria.
In 1982, she returned from Europe and met her husband-to-be,
Darryl, in Los Angeles after she gave her life to the Lord. Upon
receiving her call into full time ministry, she gave her final performance in
the opera world as “Mashenka” in The Bartered Bride at the Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion in Los Angeles and married Darryl.
From that time on, they moved to Virginia where she founded
Performing Arts Ministries; excelled as the music director for Joe Gibbs
Charities which included Presidential performances at the White House and
Kennedy Center; functioned as soloist and worship leader for Women’s Aglow and
various women’s ministries including International Women’s Conference in
Sophia, Bulgaria in 1991 and 1992 under the leadership of Dee Jepson.
She also sang a premier song for an international call to
prayer on Trinity Broadcasting Network in 1991 in Los Angeles.
In 1996,
she led her first team to Israel for an international conference on Mount of
Olives. In 1998, she and Darryl were called to London to lead a worship
conference for the International Pentecostal Cathedral. She has been called several times to assist Christine and Peter Darg, founders of
Exploits Ministries and news correspondents for Christian Broadcasting Network
in Europe and the Middle East.
Paula also enjoy seeing the Lord work in the
lives of her five children and six grandchildren who all reside in Virginia.