PRESENTER BIOS

Read the biographies of the NATS 57th national conference presenters. Sorted by last name. To locate a specific presenter, select the individual letter of the presenter's last name.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

A

Corbin Abernathy

Corbin Abernathy has worked as a teaching artist in the fields of music, theatre, public speaking, dialects and accent reduction for the past 30 years in positions such as classroom educator, director, performer and clinician in both the United States and the UK. He is currently the owner and operator of The Vocal Actor w/Corbin Abernathy based out of Philadelphia as well as an adjunct instructor of voice at Penn State Abington. Abernathy is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association, NATS (currently vice-president of Greater Philadelphia Chapter), The Voice Foundation and the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA). He holds a master’s degree in performing arts – drama from Oklahoma City University and a bachelor’s degree in musical theatre from the University of Miami.

Ari Agha

Ari Agha (Ph.D., they/them) is a genderqueer singer, creator, researcher, and writer. Upon deciding to begin testosterone therapy, they started Key of T, the first rigorous study of transgender signing voice transition with exogenous (external) testosterone, with University of Calgary voice faculty, Laura Hynes (D.M.A). In addition to oral and written presentations of project findings, Key of T is an interdisciplinary vocal/music theatre performance and a documentary short film. Agha lives in Treaty 7 territory in Southern Alberta, also known as Calgary, Canada. Agha works for wages as a leader of Policy, Partnerships, and Research with Calgary Housing Company. They advocate feminism, anti-racism, decolonization, and trans rights. You may reach Ari Agha at ari.agha.arc@gmail.com.

Diana Allan

Diana Allan, soprano, has appeared in operatic and concert performances throughout the Mid- and Southwest United States, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, Mexico, and Brazil. Allan has more than 30 years of university-level teaching experience and recently retired after 26 years on the voice faculty of the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is currently a member of the voice faculty of Missouri Southern State University. Allan is the author of “The Mindful Musician: Physical and Mental Strategies for Optimal Performance,” (2022) published by Shanghai Conservatory of Music Press, Ltd., and she is co-author of “The Relaxed Musician: Mental Preparation for Confident Performances” (2011). Allan has enjoyed her over 33-year membership in the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and she has served as Texoma region governor, Texoma auditions chair, NATS national vice president for auditions, and, in June 2020, assumed her role as NATS national president-elect. She will become NATS national president in July 2022.

Nicole Asel

Mezzo-soprano Nicole Asel serves as an assistant professor of voice at Colorado State University where she teaches applied voice, vocal pedagogy, art song literature and freshman voice studio. Asel has a passion for new American opera and art song, and she has been active in creating and promoting new works. Her world premiere recording of Robert Livingston Aldridge’s LoveSongs with Robert Spillman at the piano was released under the Centaur label and can be found on all streaming platforms and widely for purchase. She holds a doctorate in voice performance and pedagogy from the University of Colorado at Boulder, an master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College. Previously, she was on faculty at Sam Houston State University and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley where she taught voice, diction and opera.

Clarice Assad

A powerful communicator renowned for her musical scope and versatility, Brazilian American Clarice Assad is a significant artistic voice in the classical, world music, pop and jazz genres, renowned for her evocative colors, rich textures, and diverse stylistic range. A prolific GRAMMY® Award-nominated composer with more than 70 works to her credit, her work has been commissioned by internationally renowned organizations, festivals and artists, and are published in France (Editions Lemoine), Germany (Trekel), Criadores do Brasil (Brazil) and in the United States by Virtual Artists Collective Publishing. A sought-after performer, she is a celebrated pianist and inventive vocalist. Assad has released seven solo albums and appeared on or had her works performed on another 30. Her music is represented on Cedille Records, SONY Masterworks, Nonesuch, Adventure Music, Edge, Telarc, NSS Music, GHA, and CHANDOS. As an innovator, her award-winning Voxploration Series on music education, creation, songwriting and improvisation has been presented throughout the United States, Brazil, Europe and the Middle East. With her talents sought-after by artists and organizations worldwide, the multi-talented musician continues to attract new audiences both onstage and off.

Orna Arania

Orna Arania performed extensively as a soloist with most of the leading orchestras in her native country of Israel, and she toured around the world with various Israeli ensembles. Since arriving in the United States, she has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, Distinguished Concerts International Orchestra New York, Elgin Symphony and many more. She sings with leading ensembles in Chicago, such as Bella Voce and is a singer and assistant conductor of the Lakeside Singers, with whom she performed in several productions at the Ravinia Festival and on several released recordings. Arania earned her master’s degree and doctorate in voice and opera performance from Northwestern University. She is a tenured associate professor of voice at Northern Illinois University. In addition to teaching and performing the traditional Western classical repertoire, she researches, performs and conducts Israeli and Jewish vocal and choral music.

Javier Arrebola

Javier Arrebola is a pianist, chamber musician, vocal coach, and scholar driven to enhance students' and audiences' understanding of music through the exploration of history, politics, literature, poetry, geography, artwork, and music theory. His professional activities have taken place throughout Europe, North America, and Latin America. Among engagements to lecture, teach, and give recitals at institutions such as the Juilliard School, University of Minnesota, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School of Music. Arrebola holds faculty positions at Tanglewood Music Center, SongFest, Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute, where he is the head of piano staff in the Program for Singers, and at Renée Fleming’s SongStudio at Carnegie Hall in New York City. As a scholar, Arrebola lectures on chamber music and song literature, including the Nordic and Spanish/Latin American repertoires, among the core German, French, and English traditions. Fluent in Spanish and English, as well as proficient in German, French, Italian, Finnish, and Swedish, he provides a unique, scholarly perspective on art song and chamber music. Arrebola has served on the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as visiting assistant professor in voice/collaborative piano, and of Boston University as acting chair of the collaborative piano department. In the fall of 2021, he returned to the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music as visiting lecturer in collaborative piano/voice.

Jazzy Ash

Ashli St. Armant is a celebrated vocalist, writer, arts educator, and founder of Leaping Lizards Music, a music and theater education program for students, preschool through 12th grade. She tours the United States with her band, Jazzy Ash and the Leaping Lizards, performing jazz for young audiences. Together they have performed at numerous venues including Lincoln Center and Sprout Network (NBC), produced six albums, and have been featured by NPR and LA Times. Her first full-length audiobook, “Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons,” has more than 10,000 reviews and sets the path for her new venture into children’s literature. Additionally, she continues to focus on education, regularly teaching performing arts to children and educators. Most recently, she has hosted workshops for the ELCA, National Association for the Education of Young Children, and MaxFunCon. She has 17 years of experience in education and 21 years experience in performing arts. She attended the highly acclaimed Orange County High School of the Arts. A professionally trained singer and actor, she holds a degree in child development from Saddleback College. She is raising her two sons, Ellington and Lincoln, with her wife, Pam, in sunny Southern California.

Patricia Au

Known for her vivacious energy, Patricia Au works versatilely as a collaborative pianist, music director, and teaching artist. She has held positions at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, New England Conservatory, and Boston University Tanglewood Institute, as well as conducted master classes at Bucknell University and New World School of the Arts. As music director, she has led productions at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, OperaHub, and Boston Opera Collaborative. A frequent interpreter of contemporary music, she has workshopped with living composers, including Sofia Gubaidulina and John Harbison. Au currently serves as resident teaching artist and education pianist with the Boston Lyric Opera where she has a passion for introducing young people to opera as a storytelling art. She received her doctorate in collaborative piano from New England Conservatory of Music in 2017. For more information, visit patriciaau.com

B

Sonya Baker

Sonya G. Baker made her Carnegie Hall debut with renowned conductor Michael Tilson Thomas in 2004, the same year she appeared as soloist on the Yale Alumni Chorus tour to Moscow singing at the Kremlin. Noted for her performances of American music, Baker’s debut recording, “SHE SAYS,” features art songs of American women composers. Her lecture recital on Marian Anderson’s historic 1939 Easter concert has been presented nationally. She has received numerous academic and vocal awards, and she is a frequent guest artist and teacher. She has taught at governor’s school programs in both Kentucky and Virginia. Baker’s past service includes Kentucky State governor for NATS, board member for the Kentucky Arts Council, and university administrative positions. Baker is currently professor of voice at James Madison University. Along with earning her doctorate from Florida State University, Baker holds degrees from Indiana and Yale universities.

Jessica Baldwin

Jessica Baldwin has a passion for working with underserved populations who sing and teach musical styles that are generally excluded from academia. She also loves helping people step into the spotlight of their own artistry. After getting her master’s degree in classical vocal performance and pedagogy, she dedicated herself to studying how the voice works in contemporary, commercial, and popular music styles. She became an assistant faculty member of the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah University in 2017 and created “Singing in Popular Musics” (formerly “Commercial Voice Resources”) for voice teachers in 2016. She is the head voice specialist and artistry coach at her company True Colors Voice and Artist Development. You can learn more about her own artistry at jessbaldwin.com.

Chadley Ballantyne

Bass-baritone Chadley Ballantyne is assistant professor of music, voice at Stetson University. Ballantyne is a frequent guest speaker on the topic of applying vocal acoustic pedagogy for both classical and CCM techniques. He has presented his work at the 2017 Pan-American Vocology Association (PAVA) Symposium in Toronto, Canada, the 2017 West Central and Central Region NATS Conferences, the 55th NATS National Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA) /PAVA 2018 Joint Conference in Seattle, Washington, the 2020 National Opera Association Southeastern Regional Conference, and at the 56th NATS National Virtual Conference. He is a co-instructor at the Acoustic Vocal Pedagogy Summer Workshop held at the New England Conservatory of Music. Chadley is a contributing author to “The Evolving Singing Voice: Changes Across the Lifespan” by Karen Brunssen.

Leah Bateman

Leah Bateman is in the 7th grade LEAP (Leading Exceptional Academic Producers) program at Perry Middle School (Carrollton, Texas) where she sings with the Bella Voce choir. Bateman sings with the Greater Dallas Children’s Choir in the top choir, Concert I, where she participates in many concerts with the Dallas Symphony. She also plays the piano and is a gifted artist. A huge fan of musical theatre, Bateman has been in many shows, including Annie Jr. with The Firehouse Theatre in Carrollton. Bateman is a big sister to Hannah and Noah, and she also enjoys her cats.

Mary Saunders Barton

Mary Saunders Barton is a Penn State professor emeritus, currently residing in New York City where she maintains a private voice studio. She is an adjunct professor in the musical theatre program at Montclair State University. At Penn State, Saunders Barton created an MFA in musical theatre voice pedagogy with colleague Norman Spivey with whom she co-authored the book “Cross-Training in the Voice Studio: A Balancing Act”. Current and former students have been seen on Broadway in Wicked, Book of Mormon, Beautiful, Chicago, Kinky Boots, Mamma Mia, School of Rock, Kinky Boots, Bandstand, Beetlejuice, Ain’t Too Proud, My Fair Lady, Paradise Square, Music Man, and Moulin Rouge, among others. She has produced two video tutorials available on her website at belcantocanbelto.com. Saunders Barton is a 2018 recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah University. She is chair of the American Academy of Teachers of Singing.

Jill Peláez Baumgaertner

Jill Peláez Baumgaertner is the author of six collections of poetry. She also has edited a collection of poetry, written a textbook/anthology, and published “Flannery O’Connor: A Proper Scaring.” An anthology of poetry from the Christian Century, where she has served as poetry editor for 25 years, is forthcoming. She was a Fulbright fellow to Spain, is the winner of the White Eagle Coffee Store Press’s poetry chapbook contest, the Goodman Award, an Illinois Arts Council Award, the Illinois Prize of the Rock River Poetry Contest, and the CCL Midwest Poetry Contest. She is also professor emerita of English and former dean of humanities and theological studies at Wheaton College. She has written song texts and libretti for composers Carl Schalk, Michael Costello, Richard Hillert, Daniel Kellogg, Shawn Okpebholo, and most recently for Michael Gandolfi. Their Cantata, based on Psalm 139, was performed by the Boston Symphony Chamber Orchestra.

Reverie Mott Berger

Reverie Berger, a native of the Los Angeles area, is associate professor of music and voice area coordinator at Reinhardt University in Waleska, Georgia. Berger holds degrees in vocal performance from the University of Michigan (doctorate and bachelor’s degree.) and Manhattan School of Music (master’s degree). Recent regional performances include the title role in Cinderella (La Cenerentola), Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Sister Berthe in The Sound of Music, soloist in Sophisticated Ladies, and performer in The Atlanta Opera’s 24-Hour Opera Project. Concert soloist engagements include Handel's Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat, Rutter’s Feel the Spirit, Mozart's Requiem, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater. Berger’s students have won awards at various competitions, including state, regional, and national NATS Student Auditions. Berger is also a former winner of the Southeastern Region NATS Artist Awards (NATSAA) competition herself. She currently holds the office of NATS Georgia District Governor.

Xavier Beteta

Born in Guatemala, Xavier Beteta studied piano at the National Conservatory and composition with Rodrigo Asturias. At age 18, he was awarded the first prize at the Augusto Ardenois National Piano Competition and third prize at the Rafael Alvarez Ovalle Composition Competition. In 2013, he won the silver medal at the fourth International Antonín Dvořák Composition Competition in Prague. He obtained his doctorate. in composition at the University of California San Diego where he studied with Roger Reynolds, Philippe Manoury, and Chinary Ung. His compositions have been performed at Festival Musica in Strasbourg, Darmstadt, June in Buffalo, Summer Institute of Contemporary Performance Practice in Boston, and by ensembles such as Accroche Note, Ensemble Signal, UCSD Palimpsest, Mitvos Quartet. Fifth House Ensemble, the Guatemalan National Symphony, and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players led by Steven Schick.

Neeki Bey

Grow what matters. That's always been the motto for Neeki Bey, both personally and creatively. Over the course of more than 15 years, Bey has been fortunate enough to grow the stories of artists and organizations from — nonprofits, universities and sacred communities to emerging and established musicians.

In Bey’s years as creative director for visuals and music, he has produced promotional storytelling videos, conferences, concerts and events virtually and in-person all while developing strong client relationships that deliver strategic and emotionally-resonant creative experiences.

Bey has worked with a wide range of delightful people and groups along the way including: the City of Dallas, Southern Methodist University, Episcopal Diocese of Dallas, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Houston Boychoir, Maddie and Tae, John Holiday and Music World Music (the home of Destiny’s Child) and more.

With an undergraduate degree in music from Morehouse College, studies at the Vienna Institute for European Studies/Vienna Conservatory of Music, and a graduate degree from Southern Methodist University, Bey is an artist at heart. When not making music or creating audio/visual spaces, he enjoys traveling (Africa, Asia, Europe), and gardening.

Bey is currently based in Texas as a creative director.

Elizabeth Blades

Elizabeth Blades holds both her doctorate and master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. She is currently a visiting professor of music at Alfred University in Alfred, New York. Her previous appointments were as adjunct associate professor of voice at Shenandoah University Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia; Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, where she served as associate professor of music, coordinator of vocal studies and director of opera and; as a visiting professor of music at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York.

She is the author of “A Spectrum of Voices: Prominent American Voice Teachers Discuss the Teaching of Singing” (2018) as well as coauthor (with Samuel Nelson) of “Singing With Your Whole Self: A singer’s guide to Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement” (2018), both published by Rowman & Littlefield. Blades presents national and international workshops to advance understanding of Feldenkrais Method and movement work in performance enhancement.

Blades is an active soprano experienced in many forms of voice performance — opera, oratorio, musical theatre, recital and folk/Celtic. She is the founder/director of Harmony House Online Music Studio, is a Certified CoreSinging Teacher, and she is a contributor to “Essentials of CoreSinging: A Joyful Approach to Singing and Voice Pedagogy” by Meribeth Dayme.

Carole Blankenship

Carole Choate Blankenship, soprano, is professor of music, and chair of the department of music at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Blankenship performs art song, chamber music, and oratorio. She has performed recitals and lecture recitals in Portugal, Germany, London, New York, NY, Morocco, Australia, and Sweden. Blakenship’s research is in American song, the Composers’ Forum-Laboratory 1935-1939, and the songs of Paul Frederic Bowles. Blankenship has served NATS as president of the Memphis Chapter (2002-2010), conference volunteer coordinator (2006, 2008), vice president for auditions (2012-2016), president-elect (2018-2020), and currently as NATS president (2020-2022).

Thaddaeus Bourne

Dr. Thaddaeus Bourne serves on the faculty of the University of Florida. His previous appointments have been at Troy University, the University of Connecticut, Butler University, and Earlham College teaching voice and directing opera. An active clinician and performer with a repertoire of over 40 roles his recent work includes Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus (Opera Project Columbus), Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Masterson Ensemble), Signor Naccarelli in The Light in the Piazza (Schwob Opera at CSU), baritone soloist in the Fauré Requiem (Baroque on Beaver Island), a digital performance of Traci Mendel’s Five Appalachian Songs, and master classes for the Hartt School of Music, Newberry College, Coker College, Butler University, and Florida Atlantic University. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees as a flutist, originally studying voice to learn breathing.

Nancy Bos

Nancy Bos is the author of multiple best-selling books on singing, a professional singer in a variety of genres, and a keynote speaker. She taught singing and voice for 24 years and is the founder of StudioBos (media, publishing, and events). Her work is guided by the philosophy that singing makes people happier, healthier, more peaceful, and more thoughtful. Singing brings people together, soothes aching hearts, and allows us to spiritually transcend. In addition to her independent studio, Bos taught as adjunct faculty at Cornish College, Seattle Pacific University, and Bellevue College. She served NATS as Vice President for Membership from 2018 to 2020 and in several other capacities prior to that. Bos is a member of the Recording Academy, Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA), Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA), the Voice Foundation, and is a Distinguished Voice Professional through New York Singing Teachers’ Association (NYSTA). She received her undergraduate degree from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. For more information, please visit nancybos.me.

Alejandra Valarino Boyer

Alejandra Valarino Boyer is director of the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, which is an international destination for young professional pianists and string players, classical singers, and jazz musicians who are enhancing their talents as collaborative artists. With more than 10 years of experience in arts administration, Valarino Boyer is a strategic leader with experience in community engagement, production management, and program development through her work at Seattle Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago.

She has experience in designing learning programs for youth and adults, building and growing authentic community partnerships, and producing theatrical productions. An advocate for racial equity, she founded BIPOC Arts, an online database that celebrates opera professionals of color. Valarino Boyer is a current participant in the 2021 Sphinx LEAD program and serves on the board of directors for Opera America.

Joanne Bozeman

A graduate of the University of Arizona, Joanne Bozeman has been a singing teacher for 47 years. She was a voice teacher at Lawrence University’s Conservatory of Music for 26 years and also taught voice-related courses. Her students have been winners at the NATS Auditions, and many have pursued degrees at fine graduate programs throughout the U.S. A number have established singing careers, winning competitions and engagements with a variety of arts organizations, including the Metropolitan Council Auditions, Washington National Opera, Chanticleer and the Chicago Symphony Chorus. Others are singing teachers, choral directors, music educators, and speech-language pathologists. For many years, Bozeman was a frequent performer as a soprano. She is co-author of "Singing Through Change: Women’s Voices in Midlife, Menopause, and Beyond," frequently presents on that topic, and maintains a private voice studio. Bozeman is a member of NATS, Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA) and Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA).

Dana Brown

American pianist Dana Brown is highly regarded for both his solo and collaborative performances. As a pianist, he has been heard many times on 98.7 WFMT Radio (Chicago) as a collaborator and soloist, in addition to performances at the Ravinia Festival, the Tanglewood Festival, Light Opera Works, the Chicago Cultural Center and the Chicago Humanities Festival. As a soloist, his concerto appearances have been in the works of Beethoven, Brahms, Gershwin, Grieg, Mendelssohn, and Ravel. As a vocal coach, he has coached at the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he also played lessons and masterclasses of Marilyn Horne, Renata Scotto, Sir Andrew Davis and Renée Fleming. He also has been a coach for the Support Our Singers program sponsored by the Wisconsin District Metropolitan Opera Association. He is the associate professor of opera and vocal coaching at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Learn more at danabrownmusic.com.

Karen Brunssen

Karen Brunssen is a professor of music at the Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University, co-chair of music performance, recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award, 2013 recipient of Luther College Weston Noble Award, NATS immediate past-president, director of 2021-22 NATS Intern Program, and a member of the American Academy of Teachers of Singing. Her teaching residencies include Cambridge University, Zürcher Sing-Akademie, International Institute of Vocal Arts, Castleton Music Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, and Brancaleoni Music Festival. She has given master classes and presentations in the United States, Canada, China, Europe, and Korea for NATS, American Choral Directors Association, European Voice Teachers Association, New York Singing Teachers' Association, Bundesverband Deutscher Gesangspädagogen, Choral Canada, the Association of Teachers of Singing (AOTOS), Music Teachers National Association, and International Congress of Voice Teachers. Her book, “The Evolving Singing Voice: Changes Across the Life Span,” chronicles change in respiration, vibration, and resonance and age-appropriate expectations for singing. Brunssen’s singing career spanned 40 years in the US and Europe. Her students have sung with the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, on Broadway, and are teaching voice.

Bob Bryan

Bob Bryan is a 20-year veteran nonprofit executive and fundraiser. His career includes service with the Alumni Association at North Carolina State University, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Dignity U Wear (Jacksonville, Florida), the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, We Care Jacksonville, and he served as vice president of chapter growth and development for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation prior to his appointment with NATS as the development director.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from North Carolina State University and a master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio University.

Sarah Bucher

Sarah Bucher, soprano, holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from Wright State University and a bachelor’s degree in music and business from Wittenberg University. She founded Bella Musica Lesson Studio in 2012, which employed more than 20 teachers and served more than 250 students. Adding twins to the family, necessitated selling the larger operation and transitioning back to a home-based studio business. Bucher is also an adjunct professor at the University of Dayton.

Bucher has been a vocal director with the Children’s Performing Arts of Miamisburg. Her voice and piano students have earned superior ratings in state solo and ensemble contests and the National Federation of Music Clubs Festivals.

OperaWorks Advanced Artist summer program chose Bucher to participate in their training program and production of an original opera. Bucher also created Vocal-Improvisation Night for undergraduate music majors at Wright State University. Bucher sings with the Dayton Opera Chorus and was heard as a principal with Opera Project Columbus.

Tim Burns

Pianist Timothy Burns is a versatile performer and collaborator with degrees in piano performance, music theory pedagogy, and collaborative piano from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, studying with Carol Schanely-Cahn, David Allen Wehr, and Jean Barr. Burns serves as supervisor of piano accompanying at Colorado State University. Burns has performed throughout the United States and Canada. As an avid supporter for new and current music, Burns has performed works by current composers such as Mari Esabel Valverde, Margaret Brouwer, Mathjis van Dijk, Baljinder Sekhon, and James M. David. Recent performances include concert tours with saxophonist Peter Sommer, with clarinetist Wesley Ferreira, and as trio member with violinist John Michael Vaida and cellist Theodore Buchholz. Dr. Burns currently resides in Broomfield, Colorado, with his wife and collaborative pianist, Suyeon Kim, and his three-year-old son, Stephen.

Darci Bultema

Praised for her “luscious legato line” and “sumptuous crescendos,” soprano Darci Bultema is recognized for her versatility in opera and art song. A frequent recitalist, she champions the performance of underserved art songs, particularly those from Scandinavian and Latin American countries. Under the auspices of the International Grieg Society, Bultema was selected to present art songs in Norway, as well as the Barcelona Festival of Song in Spain. A member of the Virinca Trio, Bultema regularly commissions chamber music for soprano, clarinet, and piano. Two of these commissions were chosen for the premieres at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest in 2021 and 2019. Dr. Bultema currently serves as professor of music at Northern State University.

C

Eden Casteel

Eden Casteel is a Rhode Island-based vocal coach/performer/songwriter/producer who mixes down-to-earth teaching with the latest in online music tech to keep her students creating and performing. A native of Dublin, Ohio, Casteel holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University Of Cincinnati College-Conservatory Of Music and a master’s degree in music from the University of Maryland. She is a past president of the Rhode Island chapter of NATS and a charter member of The Speakeasy Cooperative. Casteel has played diverse regional theatre roles, including The Proprietor in Assassins, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Yum-Yum in The Mikado, Mama Rose in Gypsy, Francesca Johnson in The Bridges of Madison County, Victoria Grant in Victor/Victoria, and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd. Casteel is a co-creator of The Benchwarmers, a musical improv trio with fellow improv pianists Mark Merritt and Keith Munslow.

Sarah Campbell

Sara Campbell holds a bachelor’s degree in jazz from St Francis Xavier University and a master’s degree in sacred music from Emmanuel College of Victoria University in University of Toronto, where she studied with fondly-remembered, long-time NATS Member, Lynn Blaser. Campbell holds post-graduate certification in adult education from the University of Prince Edward Island. Currently, Campbell is a full-time faculty member at Holland College School of Performing Arts; a Berklee Global Partner School in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and is devoted to finding creative and affirming teaching and assessment methodologies based primarily in Universal Design for Learning. She joined NATS in 2021 as the vice president of the newly-formed Canadian Atlantic Provinces (“CAP”) NATS Chapter. Campbell is also a member of Sirens, PEI’s award-winning women’s choral ensemble. Sirens took home Classical Achievement of the Year at the 2021 Music PEI Awards for their first album, “Boundless,” which has been featured on CBC’s Choral Concert radio program.

Amy Kathryn Canchola

Dr. Amy Canchola is originally from Indiana where she completed her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at Butler University. She has called Texas “home” since 2004 after moving to Dallas to attend Southern Methodist University. At the University of North Texas, Canchola centered her doctoral research on the life and work of Mexican-American composer Maria Grever. Aside from her advocacy of the music of Latin women, Canchola also recently completed the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, the Bach-Millennium Festival, and the Summer Voice Institute at Northwestern University with W. Stephen Smith. In addition to performing, Canchola is on the voice faculty at Highland Park High School and maintains an independent voice studio in Garland. She and her husband, Gil, have four wonderful children and operate Canchola Handyman Services. Professional memberships include the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Music Teachers National Association, National Opera Association, Mu Phi Epsilon, The Speakeasy Cooperative, and the Voice Foundation.

Doug Carpenter

Doug Carpenter, a native of Las Vegas, graduated from the Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts and received a bachelor’s degree in voice performance from University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He received a master’s degree in voice performance from University of California, Los Angeles. As a talented classical crossover performer, Carpenter has won both the American Traditions Competition (2011) and the Lotte Lenya Competition (2013). He has performed principal contracts on Equity National Tours, the Broadway Stage, and numerous regional equity theatres around the country. Currently, Carpeter teaches voice and musical theatre at UNLV, and has a cocktail jazz duo with his wife, Rachel. Learn more at www.slowburnfortwo.com. Carpenter continues work on his doctorate at UNLV. Selected credits: Broadway: Nick in Beautiful The Carol King Musical. National Tour: Billy in Dirty Dancing. Regional: Cable in South Pacific (Papermill Playhouse), Joey in Most Happy Fella (Goodspeed, Dallas Lyric), Lancelot in Camelot (Pasadena Playhouse), Curly in Oklahoma (Penn Shakes, FCLO), Tony in West Side Story (FCLO), Thief in See What I Wanna See (Blank), Prince in Cinderella (CLOSBC), Chris in Miss Saigon (Moonlight), Curtis in Summer of Love (MTW/Ogunquit), Gatsby in Baz (Venetian Hotel Casino), Billy in Carousel (Musical Theatre West).

Lauren Carr

Lauren Carr is from Kankakee, Illinois. She graduated from Elmhurst University located in Elmhurst, Illinois. She recently moved to the Big Apple to pursue her dream as a performer. Since the 2020 NATS National Musical Theatre Competition, due to the pandemic, she was able to work on personal and mental growth and was grateful for it! In March, she began her journey with The Mine Agency in New York. She is so excited to be here and share the gift God gave her!

Roland Carter

Roland Marvin Carter is professor emeritus of American music at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). He served UTC for 24 years and was director of choirs and department head at his undergraduate alma mater Hampton University for 25 years. Both appointments included stents as head and chair of the departments, respectively.

Carter’s accomplishments as a leading figure in the choral arts include lectures, workshops, master classes, and concerts with major choruses and orchestras in prestigious venues nationwide. Carter was music director of the acclaimed Chattanooga Choral Society for the Preservation of African American Song and served 20 seasons as music advisor and principal guest conductor for the Houston Ebony Opera (Texas) Gala Concerts. He was among three composers/arrangers named Masters of the Spiritual in 2020 by Conti Classics for a Lincoln Center Concert.

A past president of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Carter has a distinguished record of commitment and service having held seats on the on the boards of directors of the League of American Orchestras, the Sphinx Organization, Tennessee Arts Commission, National Association of State Arts Agencies, the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Association, ArtsBuild of Chattanooga, and CHORUS AMERICA. He is founder and CEO of Mar-Vel, Inc., a music publisher specializing in the music of African American composers and traditions, now published by Walton Music; and is founder and executive director of The Roland Carter Institute for Studies in American Music (RCISAM). Carter has conducted the Chancel Choir at the Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, for 18 years.

Swapna Chandran

Dr. Swapna K. Chandran currently serves as an associate professor and the Bumgardner Chair of Otolaryngology and program director of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery & Communicative Disorders at the University of Louisville as well as the medical director of the Louisville Center for Voice Care. Chandran has been fellowship-trained in both pediatric otolaryngology (Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, Delaware) and laryngology (Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). While her clinical skills are highly sought after for patients of all ages, her areas of special interest include adult and pediatric voice disorders, adult and pediatric upper aerodigestive disorders, intracapsular tonsillectomy and general pediatric ENT. A highly published and heavily decorated otolaryngologist, she has served as president of the Kentucky Society of Otolaryngology, and is a member of The Voice Foundation, the American Academy of Otolaryngology’s Head and Neck Surgery, and the American Laryngological Association.

Michael Ching

Michael Ching is a composer/librettist, conductor, and songwriter. His 2013 opera, Speed Dating Tonight!, was premiered by the Janiec Opera of the Brevard Music Center. It has been performed more than 100 times. Other recent projects include Dinner 4 3 for Fargo Moorhead Opera, Eight Woods and a Van for Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, and RSBE (Remove Shoes Before Entering) for the University of Alabama. Ching is composer-in-residence at the Savannah Voice Festival (SVF) and opera consultant with EC Schirmer Music Publishers. SVF has commissioned and premiered his one-act operas Alice Ryley, Anna Hunter, and Birthday Clown. In 2022, SVF will premiere his new opera, A Royal Feast, a sequel to Rossini's La Cenerentola. Ching has recently written songs for Suzanne Mentzer, Allison Charney, and Teresa Eickel. Ching was the artistic director of Opera Memphis from 1993-2010. Ching studied composition with Robert Ward at Duke University and Carlisle Floyd at the Houston Opera Studio.

Tom Cipullo

Hailed by the American Academy of Art & Letters for music of “inexhaustible imagination, wit, expressive range and originality,” composer Tom Cipullo is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Arts & Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize, and the 2016 Argento Chamber Opera Award. He has received commissions from dozens of performing ensembles, and he has received fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Liguria Center (Italy), and the Fundacion Valparaiso (Spain). The New York Times has called his music “intriguing and unconventional,” and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has called him “an expert in writing for the voice.” Cipullo’s music is recorded on the Naxos, Albany, CRI, PGM, MSR, Centaur, and Capstone labels, and is published by E.C. Schirmer, Oxford University Press, and Classical Vocal Reprints. Cipullo’s critically-acclaimed opera, Glory Denied, is one of the most frequently performed 21st-century operas.

Shannon Coates

Shannon Coates, a voice teacher and educator who works primarily with voice teachers to develop and maximize teaching skills, holds three vocal performance degrees from the University of Toronto, culminating in a doctorate with a specialization in voice pedagogy. Most recently the past-president of NATS Ontario, Coates’ contributions to NATS also include presentations at two International Congress of Voice Teachers, serving on executive boards in both student (University of Toronto) and local (Ontario) NATS chapters, and by giving presentations to many NATS and SNATS chapters throughout North America. In addition to mentoring voice teachers and developing training and educational resources specifically for independent teachers, Coates is especially passionate about making teaching best-practices explicit and applicable in the independent voice studio and working with teachers to create inclusive voice studios. Visit shannon-coates.com for more information and to learn more about The VoicePed UnDegree, coming September 2022.

Typhanie Monique Coller

Typhanie Monique Coller has been a force on the Chicago music scene for more than 20 years. Crossing genres with ease, along with her improvisatory abilities, place her in an elite class of vocalists. As a versatile vocalist and master technician, she confidently defies categorization. She is a storyteller, a phraseologist, and experiments with tone and grooves. Spontaneous compositions are revealed in every performance.

She is a fierce bandleader, known from her days at the Elbo Room with SUMO, Peking Turtle and Jive Council, lending her talent to Tributosaurus (EWF, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles), leading her improv funk outfit, The Booty Movement Coalition, and dropping House singles with Mr. Egg Germ.

Coller is a recognized recording and touring artist on the international jazz scene. She has graced jazz’s most distinguished venues in the U.S. and abroad from Chicago’s Jazz Showcase, City Winery and the Chicago Jazz Festival to The Kitano in New York City, The Dakota in Minneapolis, Dazzle in Denver and Vogue’s International Design Festival in Moscow, Russia. Coller has shared the stage and recorded with Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, The Manhattan Transfer, Mavis Staples, Joel Frahm, Ken Peplowski, Victor Goines, and Tony Monaco, to name a few. Her latest project, “CALL IT MAGIC,” released on Dot Time Records was produced by GRAMMYⓇ Award-winning producer, Jeff Levenson.

This is an album that’s been years, heck, decades in the making. It’s where the road has taken her, and it’s a beautiful spot to take in the view. It’s music made with great thought, even more care and, yes, a little magic. That’s the artistry of Typhanie Monique. -Frank Alkyer, Publisher, DownBeat

As a composer, she has written original material for all of her recording projects and co-wrote “Lemonade” for Disney's “Bizaardvark.”

Coller has educated and mentored vocalists in the academic world at Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University and Northwestern University. In August of 2020, she was appointed practitioner-in-residence and the coordinator of vocal studies at Columbia College Chicago where she leads one of the top contemporary vocal programs in the nation. Coller teaches and develops curriculum for vocal technique and contemporary style and artistry courses. She is the director of the Recording and Performance Ensemble where students collaborate, writing and recording original material in a variety of contemporary genres. She also teaches applied voice lessons focused in improvisatory and pop genres. Coller earned a bachelor’s degree in music business from Elmhurst University in Elmhurst, Illinois, and a master’s degree in vocal pedagogy from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. She is certified in Somatic Voicework Levels I and II, and she is currently working on her vocology certification with Ingo Titze at the Summer Vocology Institute at the University of Utah.

Lisanne Craven

Lisanne S. Craven received her master’s degree in speech-language pathology from University of Louisville. She has more than 15 years of experience performing videostroboscopy, voice evaluations, and providing voice therapy for a variety of voice disorders. Patients include both amateur and professional voice users and singers. She is the only speech-language pathologist in the region certified in both Lee Silverman Voice Therapy and Lessac-Masdon Resonant Voice Therapy for adults, children and performers. She has provided presentations on vocal cord dysfunction, vocal health, voice disorders and treatment to the local community and special interest groups. Craven works closely with many local ENTs, allergists and pulmonologists. She has equipment for the most up-to-date acoustic and aerodynamic voice analysis at the Louisville Center for Voice Care. Craven is a proud member of The Voice Foundation, American Speech and Hearing Association, and Kentucky Speech and Hearing Association.

Mark Crayton

Countertenor, Conductor and Director, Mark Crayton is hailed by critics and audiences for the pure beauty of his voice, his expressive and insightful interpretations, his natural musicality, and his crowd-pleasing productions! Winner of the Classical Singer International Vocal Competition, Mark performs on concert stages and in opera houses throughout the United States and Europe. Mark is currently touring several lectures and recitals. One is a survey of the music of Handel’s oratorios called “An Oratorio Odyssey.” Another lecture/recital tour is about Handel’s solo cantatas called “Cantante!” Another tour that was interrupted by the quarantine called “Friendly Enemies” (a concert exploring Handel’s colleagues and competitors), is also being rescheduled. The last one is a concert concentrates on underserved Classical Era composers and is called “Classical by Design.” He is also the Stage Director of Opera for the Atlantic Music Festival. At Roosevelt, Mark teaches voice, stage directs the Junior-Senior opera, stage and music directs the Freshman-Sophomore Showcase, and conducts the Conservatory Chorus. For a more detailed list of Mark’s operatic and concert career, please visit www.markcrayton.com.

Karen Crow

Karen Crow is a speech language pathologist at the Louisville Center for Voice Care in Louisville, Kentucky. She treats a variety of patients with voice, swallowing, and upper airway disorders. Special areas of interest include singing voice rehabilitation and gender affirming voice. Crow completed her graduate training at the University of Memphis where she conducted research in the Voice Emotion and Cognition Laboratory with Miriam van Mersbergen. She also completed additional specialized training at the Summer Vocology Institute through the University of Utah, under the direction of Ingo Titze. Crow's research interests include voice and self-identity, or vocal congruence, and its connections to interoceptive and exteroceptive experiences.

Scott Crowne

Enjoying a career that embraces performing, conducting, and teaching, Scott Crowne currently serves on the faculty of the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College as collaborative pianist and vocal coach. Much in demand as a coach and conductor for opera, he serves as music director for Opera Susquehanna and has served this position for numerous small companies in the United States. He also has worked as a vocal coach for summer programs across the U.S. and in Italy. As a pianist, he collaborates with vocal and instrumental artists from around the world. He received his doctorate and master’s degree from the University of Maryland and his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from the Catholic University of America.

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Patrick Dailey

Patrick Dailey has been described as possessing “a powerful and elegant countertenor voice” (Los Angeles Daily News) and a “VOCAL STANDOUT” (Boston Classical Review). He has appeared with the Grand Rapids Symphony, Opera Memphis, Pacific Opera Project, Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival (UK), Austin Baroque Orchestra, Shreveport Opera, Opera Louisiane, Woodhouse Opera Festival (UK), and Il Festival de Ópera Barroca de Belo Horizonte (Brazil), among many others. A versatile artist, Dailey made his Kennedy Center debut in a finale duet with Aretha Franklin at the annual Let Freedom Ring MLK Celebration on the eve of President Obama’s 2009 inauguration. In 2017, Dailey made his NYC cabaret debut at Subculture NYC at the invitation of Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown.

Additionally, he appears regularly with Cook, Dixon, and Young (formerly of Three Mo’ Tenors). Dailey appears in the documentary, “Fatherhood” (FUSE TV, 2019) directed by London based director, Ben Gregor and featured on recording projects from Louis York (American Griots, 2019), Adrian Dunn (Redemption Live in Chicago, 2020), and The Aeolians of Oakwood University (2020). Recent and upcoming engagements include debuts with the Chicago Philharmonic, Bourbon Baroque, Missouri Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Gotham Early Music Scene, and the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival. A graduate of both Morgan State University and Boston University, Dailey is a voice faculty member and director of the Big Blue Opera Initiatives at Tennessee State University, founding director of the W. Crimm Singers (aka Wakanda Chorale), and co-founder of Early Music City. For more information, visit PatrickDaileyCT.com.

Ollie Watts Davis

Ollie Watts Davis is the Suzanne and William Allen Distinguished Professor in Music; professor of voice; provost’s fellow; and conductor of the award-winning Black Chorus at Illinois, where she received the 2018 Outstanding Faculty Leadership Award and was named a University Scholar in 2008. Since her New York debut at Carnegie Hall, Davis has performed with the nation’s leading orchestras and internationally in the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia. She has released four CD recordings, has been featured on two PBS documentaries, and served as a master teacher for the 2020 NATS Intern Program. As author, composer, conductor, performer, and pedagogue, Davis transfers a little knowledge systematically through her compelling TALKS. Davis holds a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia Institute of Technology, where she was named Alumna of the Year; a master’s degree from West Virginia University, and a master’s degree and doctorate in music from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Alexis Davis-Hazell

American mezzo-soprano Alexis Davis-Hazell is a clinician, presenter and singing actor of opera, concert and musical theatre repertoire. Her performances have earned accolades for the size and quality of her instrument, and the dramatic intensity she brings to supporting characters. Davis-Hazell also has performed in more than 130 productions of the Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, throughout Europe and North America. Davis-Hazell’s experience teaching applied voice, musical theatre workshop and music humanities courses inspired her research interests in: the legacy of Blackface Minstrelsy in contemporary voice performance practice, the promotion of vocal repertoire by African American women opera composers, and advocacy for Russian art song studies through improvement of curricula for lyric diction pedagogy. Davis-Hazell is assistant professor of voice and lyric diction at the University of Alabama School of Music. She holds a bachelor’s degree (Hons.) in voice performance studies from Temple University and a master’s and doctorate in music from Arizona State University.

Michelle Markwart Deveaux

Michelle Markwart Deveaux is the CEO of FaithCultureKiss Studios and founder of The Speakeasy Cooperative. When she’s not teaching singers, actors, podcasters, and influencers to use their voice to change the world, Markwart Deveaux revels in the nitty-gritty of entrepreneurship, business shenanigans, and personal development. She’s been featured on podcasts such as “What Works,” “Rebel Therapist,” “The Women’s Advocate,” “Dr. Dan’s Voice Essentials,” “Vocal Fri,” “The Naked Vocalist,” and “The Full Voice.” A frequent speaker and workshop leader, Markwart Deveaux has led seminars for NATS, University of Utah, New England Conservatory, The What Works Network, and Expand Online. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music from Patten University and her master’s degree in worship, theology, and the arts from Fuller Theological Seminary. She cut her formal education teeth at University of Northern Colorado in musical theatre and vocal performance. Based in Rancho Cordova, California, Markwart Deveaux and her husband are raising their two amazing kiddos to be deep thinkers and strong leaders through careful study of The Fugees, Star Trek, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Chuck Dillard

Pianist Chuck Dillard is a multi-faceted and sought-after performer, educator, conductor, lecturer, producer, and arranger. Highlights from his 2020-2021 season include performing with Met Opera baritone Damien Geter, producing a virtual production of Menotti’s “The Old Maid and the Thief,” presenting a lecture “Beyond the Pants Role” for the College Music Society, and speaking at a Symposium on Transgender and Non-Binary Voice Pedagogy. In addition to maintaining a professional performance career, Dillard is passionate about sharing the stage with student artists. He is associate professor of collaborative piano at Portland State University, and he is founder and artistic director of Queer Opera — a program that uses identity-confirming casting to tell queer stories through opera. He holds a doctorate from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Katherine Calcamuggio Donner

Katherine Calcamuggio Donner is an award-winning mezzo-soprano who has been featured in role and company debuts across the United States, eliciting kudos for her “soaring, rich voice” (The Miami Herald), her “polished musical and dramatic characterizations” (Kurt Weill Newsletter) and her “fine coloratura technique” (Philadelphia Inquirer). Favorite operatic appearances include roles in HMS Pinafore as Buttercup (Union Avenue Opera), Bon Appetit as Julia Child (Opera on the James), Hansel and Gretl as Hansel (Syracuse Opera) and Giulio Cesare as Sesto (Florida Grand Opera). Calcamuggio has appeared as a mezzo-soprano soloist with orchestras in Handel’s Messiah, Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and the soloist in John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man. An active recitalist, she travels across the country with the Piatigorsky Foundation. She received her doctorate from the University of Michigan, her master’s degree from Northwestern, and her bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University. She is currently an assistant professor of voice at University of Louisville.

Sheila Dunn

Sheila Dunn, soprano, is a professor of voice and the director of the Dr. Grier Williams School of Music at the University of West Florida where she teaches applied voice, vocal literature, opera workshop and women in popular music. She maintains an active performing career in opera and as a concert artist and recitalist. She earned her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and both a master’s degree and doctorate in vocal performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Megan Durham

Megan Durham (she/her) is a singing voice specialist and trauma-informed voice care facilitator. She is a certified practitioner of Transcending Sexual Trauma Through Yoga (with Zabie Yamasaki), Movement For Trauma (with Jane Clapp), YogaVoice®, and LifeForce Yoga®. Durham is a member of the Voice and Trauma Research and Connection Group, founded by Elisa Monti. Durham holds a master’s degree in voice pedagogy and performance from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Richmond. Durham has served on the voice faculties of DeSales University, Lehigh University, Moravian College, and Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Voice Foundation, the Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Yoga Alliance, and the International Association of Yoga Therapists.

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Karin Redekopp Edwards

Karin Redekopp Edwards, professor of piano emerita, recently retired from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, where she was honored with the Wheaton College Senior Scholar Achievement Award for excellence in performance and teaching. Edwards performs frequently in Canada and the U.S. as soloist and collaborative artist, and as a member of the duo piano team, Redekopp and Edwards. She has appeared as guest artist with the symphonies of Milwaukee, Winnipeg, Waukesha, Waukegan, Kenosha, DuPage and Kishwaukee, with the New Philharmonic Orchestra and Fox Valley Orchestra and others. She has taught and performed concerts in China and Laos, including a concert for the American Ambassador to Laos. The Redekopp and Edwards duo has performed concerts in Canada, England, Japan, South Korea and the United States. As a collaborative performer, Edwards has toured South Africa, Israel, England, Wales, and Europe and has appeared as guest pianist at chamber music festivals, with broadcasts on National Public Radio.

Matt Edwards

Matt Edwards is an associate professor, coordinator of musical theatre voice and artistic director of the Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah Conservatory. Former and current students have performed on “American Idol,” Broadway, off-Broadway, on national and international tours, and in bands touring throughout the world. He has written numerous journal articles and contributed chapters to “A Dictionary for the Modern Singer,” “Vocal Athlete,” “Manual of Singing Voice Rehabilitation,” “Get the Callback,” “The Voice Teacher’s Cookbook,” and the CCM, sacred music, gospel, a cappella, and country editions of the “So You Want to Sing” book series. His book “So You Want to Sing Rock ‘N’ Roll?” is published by Rowman and Littlefield. He has been both a participant and master teacher for the NATS Intern Program, and he was a recipient of the Van L. Lawrence Fellowship in 2017. Learn more at CCMInstitute.com and EdwardsVoice.com.

Lynn Eustis

Lynn Eustis, soprano, is currently director of graduate studies in music and associate professor of voice at Boston University, where she joined the faculty in 2012. From 1999 to 2012, she held the same positions at the University of North Texas. She holds a doctorate from the Florida State University, a master’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, and a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University (Phi Beta Kappa). She appears frequently as a soloist with professional organizations, and she has sung more than 30 operatic roles. Eustis is the author of “The Singer’s Ego,” the “Finding Middle Ground” series, and “The Teacher’s Ego” (Chicago: GIA). Her most recent book, “A Singer’s Epiphany: Faith, Music, and Mortality,” was released by GIA in October 2020. A regular guest clinician at the Royal College of Music in London, Eustis is a native of Long Island, New York.

Philip Everingham

Philip Everingham has collaborated with instrumentalists, choral ensembles, and singers throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He has coached several operatic productions in a variety of repertoire ranging from Mozart’s Don Giovanni to Conrad Susa’s Dangerous Liaisons. His studies have been in collaborative piano where he holds a doctorate from the University of Minnesota and his master’s degree from Westminster Choir College. His major teachers in the art of collaborative piano have included Margo Garrett, Timothy Lovelace, Karl Paulnack, Dalton Baldwin, and Glenn Parker. He currently serves as pianist for the Lancaster Chorale, a professional chorus based in Lancaster, Ohio. He also has collaborated with the Denison Chamber Singers where he has performed the music of Jonathon Dove, John Corigliano and premiered several works through the university’s annual TUTTI Festival featuring some of today’s most promising young composers. He initiated the Amici Tonic Vocal Ensemble that commissions works for vocal quartet, piano and clarinet. Most recently, he has become a member of the Virinca Trio with Darci Bultema, soprano and Audrey Miller, clarinet. He serves as director of music at First Presbyterian Church in Granville, Ohio, where he conducts vocal and several handbell ensembles; supervises the Youth and Children’s Choir directors; and plays the 21-rank Johnson pipe organ.

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Gabriela Farias

Gabriela Farias is an honors graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Music’s Education degree specializing in classical voice. She obtained her master’s degree at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute of Studies in Education producing a thesis titled, “Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Music Education.” She has been a NATS member for several years, contributing to the Ontario Chapter by volunteering her time as an adjudicator at vocal showcases and submitting students to sing in vocal showcases. In addition to running a thriving independent voice studio, Farias is an Ontario Certified Classroom Teacher who is a specialist in music and who holds additional qualification certificates in English as a Second Language, Special Education, and Teaching Children with Communication Needs (ASD). She has dedicated her life to promoting and exemplifying inclusive, student-centered learning for children, both in the classroom and in the independent studio.

Tim Ferrin

Tim Ferrin is an independent filmmaker in Chicago specializing in documentaries, educational and arts programming, and non-profit video. Selected as an Emerging Filmmaker for the 2017 History Film Forum by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Ferrin has produced programs for National Geographic Channel, PBS, and cable television. He also has created programming for a diverse list of organizations including Lincoln Center, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Sustainability Consortium, Northwestern University, and Major League Baseball. He has spent the last several years on a documentary about the life and work of the first lady of children's music, “Ella Jenkins: We'll Sing a Song Together.”

Bronwen Forbay

Durban, South African-born Fulbrighter, Bronwen Forbay is a visiting associate professor of voice at Furman University. Hailed by Opera magazine as being “at once powerful, radiant, timbrally beautiful, and balanced throughout the range, her soprano is that of a singer at the top of her game,” Forbay is an avid recitalist, concert soloist, international conference presenter, highly sought-after adjudicator and master class clinician, whose operatic successes include critically acclaimed performances of Mozart’s Queen of the Night with the Wolf Trap Opera Company, and the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Cape Town Opera. Successful in numerous voice competitions, Forbay was awarded the 2007 Standard Bank National Award for Music (a prestigious national South African award whose recipients include Pretty Yende). A member of the NATS International Advisory Committee, Dr. Forbay holds degrees from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Manhattan School of Music, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Cincinnati, CCM.

Melissa Foster

Melissa Foster is an educator, voice specialist, theatre artist, researcher, and speaker. As a voice teacher, she specializes in musical theatre, pop styles, the history and performance of hip-hop, and opera/musical theatre crossover.

Foster is associate professor of instruction in the musical theatre area of the Department of Theatre at Northwestern University. She is on faculty for the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute with a focus on “Teaching Pop Styles,” she is a rap and R&B coach for Rock the Audition, and she is a resident vocal consultant for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She also has been guest faculty for ArtsBridge, Broadway Breakthru, IHSTA, Stagelighter, and the Cherubs Program. She serves as artist-in-residence for the ArtsLink Foundation, and she was recently the vocal consultant for an NPR Tiny Desk Series Concert.

Foster has taught countless master classes and workshops around the world. Highlights include a co-taught, live-streamed master class with world- renowned opera legend, Renée Fleming. Foster’s presentation of “Rocking the Singing Boat: Pop, Rock, Singer Songwriter Folk, Country and R&B Styles” has been seen in numerous venues nationwide — most recently in San Francisco, South Bend, New York, Chicago, Palo Alto, and Birmingham. Recent guest lectures included master classes at multiple universities including Temple, Goshen, Samford, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and Oakland.

Foster has had the pleasure of working with the casts of numerous professional productions in both Chicago and New York, the most recent being the current national tours of Miss Saigon, Fiddler on the Roof, and A Bronx Tale. She also has vocal coached for Broadway in Chicago’s 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, American Music Theatre Project’s reading of the Boublil and Schonberg musical, La Revolution Francaise, as well as the first national tours of Peter and The Starcatcher.

Internationally, Foster is a visiting artist and master technician for a coalition of institutions and universities in Xi’an, China, Guangzhou, China, and Hong Kong. She is the chair of voice for the Musical Theatre Educators Alliance, and she is on their executive committee.

Currently, Foster is writing a book entitled, “Hip-Hop: Rap and R&B~ A Performers Guide” (release date 2023 — Rowman and Littlefield Publishing). She lives in Chicago with her husband, Matt, and their 9-year-old daughter, Viva.

Liz Frazer

Dr. Liz Frazer, voice teacher and choir director, is fascinated with how our body movement patterns affect our voices and has studied the Alexander Technique and Body Mapping, and she recently began studying with the Postural Restoration Institute. Frazer collaborates with physical therapist, Dr. Abby Halpin, to bring healthy movement patterns to singers and voice teachers, and she has presented her work about these concepts at the Northwest Voice Conference, Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA), Seattle Opera’s Teen Vocal Studio, and various workshops on both coasts. Frazer believes that everyone can learn to move with more ease and less tension, and that these new habits serve our singing as well as our everyday lives. Currently, she runs her own studio in Seattle, Frazer Voice Studio, serves as the president of the Puget Sound Chapter of NATS, and is a teaching artist with Seattle Opera.

Cate Frazier-Neely

Cate Frazier-Neely has 43 years of experience as a visionary educator in practical vocal pedagogy, somatic education, women’s health, mind/body integration, collegial learning and team teaching. She is featured in Elizabeth Benson's "Training Contemporary and Commercial Music Singers," and co-authored "Singing Through Change.” While working with her, students have appeared on Broadway, Cirque du Soleil, the Washington and Virginia operas, as well as jazz, bluegrass, world music and pop tours in the U.S. and abroad. As a singing voice specialist, she is referred by Johns Hopkins Otolaryngology. Formerly Frazier-Neely held college and institutional positions where she developed and taught programs for junior high through adult singers as well as colleagues. She sang nationally to premiere 300 works in eight languages and locally in opera, oratorio and cabaret. Frazier-Neely holds a master’s degree in vocal pedagogy and performance, a bachelor’s degree in voice and a minor in piano. She also holds a certificate in “Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence” from Case Western Reserve.

Daniel Fung

Pianist Daniel Fung enjoys a multifaceted career as musician, collaborative artist, and coach. His performances have taken him around the world including his native Canada, United States, and Europe. As a soloist, he has given numerous recitals and performed with the Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton Symphony orchestras. He has collaborated with numerous instrumentalists including members of the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Notable vocal collaborations include appearances at Marilyn Horne’s festival at Carnegie Hall, The Song Continues and live-streamed master classes with Renée Fleming, Eric Owens, Elly Ameling, and Joyce DiDonato. An alumnus of the University of Calgary and the Juilliard School, Fung has worked as score consultant with the Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD team and is currently assistant teaching professor of vocal coaching and collaborative piano at University of Missouri-Kansas City. Fung delights in new culinary experiences, world travel, and the latest Dodo YouTube channel videos.

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Jeffrey Galbraith

Jeffrey Galbraith writes on the literature of controversy in the Enlightenment, with the goal of telling a more robust story about the relation between religion and literature. His research provides insight into the complexities of cultural engagement, along with a deeper understanding of the category of the secular. His research interests make him as apt to discuss Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” or the latest publication of The Onion, as the work of Jonathan Swift.

Galbraith has published on satire, print culture, the rhetoric of slavery, post-Restoration drama, Jonathan Swift, and John Dryden. His current project, which examines the phenomenon of “explosion,” shows how literary authors engaged with the new freedom to critique religion in the early Enlightenment. The phenomenon of explosion, which is based on the frequent critical claim “to explode” an opponent’s beliefs or arguments, provides a fascinating window onto the era. Whereas critics often framed particular beliefs as relics from an earlier, pre-modern age, Galbraith shows how literature served to sustain exploded beliefs, endowing them with a potentially powerful afterlife. By drawing attention to the conflicts among options or positions, explosion in this way registered the reflexive pluralism that recent scholars have associated with the predicament of the secular.

Galbraith’s scholarly work has appeared in Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture, Restoration, Christianity and Literature, The Games of War in British and American Literature, 1600-1830, and Invoking Slavery in the Eighteenth-Century British Imagination. He is also the author of a book of poetry, Painstaker: Poems. His book reviews and creative work have appeared in Yemassee, Rock & Sling, Southern Humanities Review, Religion in the Age of Enlightenment, RHINO, The Cresset, Eleven Eleven, Harvard Review, Indiana Review, Sensucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal, Relief: A Journal of Art & Faith, Florida Review, and AGNI.

Gjergji Gaqi

Equally at home in solo and collaborative music, pianist Gjergji Gaqi maintains an active performing career throughout North America and Europe. Together with his brother and accomplished pianist, Piro Gaqi, through the Gaqi Piano Duo, they have brought the varied, folk-inspired piano duo repertoire of Europe and North America to audiences of both continents. He studied piano and chamber music with Dario de Rosa and Alberto Miodini at the International School of Chamber Music "Trio di Trieste" in Duino, Italy, while completing the bilingual International Baccalaureate diploma. He graduated summa cum laude with a music major and economics minor from Colby College, where he also won the concerto competition, studying piano with Cheryl Tschanz and composition with Jonathan Hallstrom. As a Walgreen scholarship recipient, he pursued his graduate studies with Christopher Harding and John Ellis at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, while also assuming the role of graduate student instructor in piano. Gaqi is currently a professor of piano at Tyler Junior College, having previously taught at Siena Heights University, College of the Mainland and Brazosport College. He has served in many capacities with the East Texas Music Teachers Association, including previously as the association’s president and currently as chair of the Helen Elbert Chamber Music Festival. In addition to being a sought-after adjudicator of festivals and competitions, Gaqi is co-founder and artistic director of the Settenote Online Piano International Competition.

Kayla Gautereaux

Kayla Gautereaux, assistant vocal pedagogy director and vocal pedagogy lab manager at New England Conservatory, lectures on vocal pedagogy and the acoustics of the singing voice. She also advises students through their voice-related research projects. Additionally, Gautereaux serves on the faculty of the Acoustic Vocal Pedagogy Workshop at New England Conservatory. Her research interests include exploring the detailed time and pressure domains within a pitch period, which led her to investigate a novel approach to the spectral analysis of the singing voice using wavelet decomposition. Gautereaux serves as president of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Boston Chapter.

Joshua Glasner

Joshua Glasner is an assistant professor of music at Clarke University where he teaches voice lessons (CCM, musical theatre, and Western classical styles), music history, musical theatre repertoire, and voice pedagogy. He also serves on the summer faculty at Westminster Choir College’s Summer Voice Pedagogy Workshop. His multidisciplinary research involves topics ranging from historical voice pedagogy and digital signal processing to the perception of the singing voice and teaching efficacy. Glasner's scholarly work has been presented at various national and international conferences, and has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Voice. Glasner holds degrees in voice performance and voice pedagogy from the University of Delaware and Westminster Choir College, a certificate in vocology from the National Center for Voice and Speech, and a research doctorate from New York University. More information can be found on his website at http://joshuaglasner.com.

Qiao Zheng Goh

Qiao “Ciao” Zheng Goh is an active collaborative pianist and opera répétiteur performing in the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and Malaysia. She collaborated with the North Carolina Opera Chorus and served as the music director/opera répétiteur for UNC Opera at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill from 2015 to 2020. Their spring 2019 production of Kurt Weill's The One Who Says Yes (Der Jasager) was awarded first prize by the National Opera Association for the 2018-19 Opera Production Competition. She also collaborated with the Carolina Choir at the university and premiered Kenneth Frazelle’s Songs of War (text by Paul Green). As a vocal coach, her students have been accepted at major universities and music festivals, and they have won awards from the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). Since the summer of 2019, Goh tours internationally with Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Kirstin Chavez. For more information, visit CarmenInsideOut.com.

Jeanne Goffi-Fynn

Jeanne Goffi-Fynn is a senior lecturer and director of the doctoral cohort program at Columbia University, Teachers College. Her interests include performance across the lifespan, applied studio teaching and learning, voice development, collaborative mentoring, and pedagogy across styles. She is also a singing voice specialist, specifically in the retraining of singers with muscular tension dysphonia (MTD). Goffi-Fynn has presented often at workshops, master classes and pedagogical presentations and is a member of the Academy of Teachers of Singing (AATS) and Opera America. She is president of NATS_NYC and chair of the NATS National Committee of Mentoring Initiatives. She is the director of Singers’ Workshops, aiding in the development of young singers. Her singing career includes opera, legit music theatre, oratorio, choral, and recitals. Learn more at tc.columbia.edu/faculty/jcg21/ and singersworkshops.org.

Susan Gouthro

Susan Gouthro is the newly appointed assistant professor of voice at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. From 2003 to 2014, she was engaged as a soloist at the opera house in Kiel, Germany, where she performed more than 50 roles in the lyric soprano repertoire. Her favorite roles include Liu in Turandot, Marguerite in Faust, Violetta in La traviata, Mimi in La bohème, and Mozart roles Pamina, Donna Anna, Contessa and Fiordiligi. During the 2015/16 season, Gouthro was celebrated as the opera-diva Carlotta in The Phantom of the Opera, which she performed more than 300 times in German productions. Initial studies in Canada led to an opera studio program for one year in Marseilles France, followed by courses at the Banff Centre for the Arts and at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh, England. A prize-winner in several international competitions, Gouthro completed her doctoral studies at James Madison University in Virginia.

Red Grammer

Red Grammer is one of the premier entertainers of children and families in the world. Described by Parents magazine as “the best voice in children’s music,” Grammer has set the gold standard for writing and performing music that playfully reconnects us with the best in ourselves.

Grammer can be heard tickling and nourishing hearts and souls via his award-winning recordings; his numerous appearances on television (The Today Show, CBS This Morning, Nickelodeon, Showtime, PBS, The Disney Channel); his unforgettable live concerts; his award-winning DVD (“Hooray for the World”); his GRAMMY® Award-nominated album, “Bebop Your Best: Songs to Build Character By;” and as a featured artist on the 2005 GRAMMY® Award-winning “Best Musical Album for Children,” — “cEllabration: A Tribute To Ella Jenkins”. His latest release is “Circle of Light: Songs for Bucketfillers,” a vibrant collection of new songs created in collaboration with Carol McCloud, author of the bestselling children’s book, “Have You Filled A Bucket Today?” The book celebrates positivity, and the desire to make the world a better place.

Beloved by children and parents around the world, Grammer’s recordings are a treasured resource for teachers who use them to communicate the themes of caring, excellence, oneness, and diversity in a language kids instantly understand and eagerly embrace.

Combining one of the truly great voices in the business with an unerring sense of performance and play, Grammer’s live concerts delight audiences, young and old, in performing arts centers all across America and abroad. Grammer has performed throughout Europe, in China, Russia, the Ukraine, Israel, and The Gambia. He is also a frequent keynote speaker and performer at national and regional educational conferences throughout North America.

Elizabeth Gray

Liz Gray recently completed her first year with Michigan State University’s department of theatre as assistant professor of musical theatre. Prior teaching appointments include Interlochen Arts Academy, Saginaw Valley State University, Metropolitan State University of Denver and Falmouth University at DIME-Detroit and New York University. As both an actor and director, Gray has taken part in amplifying works of contemporary BIPOC playwrights, Nikki Brake-Sillá, Larissa Fasthorse, Ike Holter and Monet Hurst-Mendoza. Born and raised in Southfield, Michigan, Gray holds degrees from Wayne State University, the University of Michigan and is working on a doctorate in educational studies with a concentration in urban education at Eastern Michigan University — exploring intersections of classism/racism in musical theatre education/training and currently developing a course entitled, “Social Identity and Casting” for this fall at MSU. Gray is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association and NATS. Gray also participated in the NATS Intern Program, has served as the board member for NATS Michigan from 2019 to 2021, and began serving as governor elect in 2022.

CJ Greer

CJ Greer is a member of the voice faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno implementing a new musical theatre degree program. Greer found her passion in vocal performance and instruction. She holds a master’s degree in music as well as a master’s degree in fine arts in musical theatre vocal pedagogy from Penn State University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Illinois/Champaign-Urbana. Greer has performed and presented around the world as singer, actor, teacher, and conductor with an undying love for storytelling through music. She frequently presents on musical theatre vocal techniques. She is also on faculty for the “Bel Canto Can Belto” workshops and “‘The Broadway Artist Intensive.”’ Her research interests span from bringing movement and intimacy training practices into the voice studio, to interdisciplinary approaches to vocal performance, to working with post-intubation patients exploring where science and singing can heal. Greer has been featured in Classical Singer magazine, VASTA’s Voice and Speech Review, “The Visceral Voice” podcast, and is currently finishing her Open Source Forms (OSF) certification. Learn more at unr.edu/music/faculty/cj-greer.

David Grogan

David Grogan has performed extensively throughout the southwest. The Albuquerque Tribune, in reference to a performance of Messiah, wrote, “Grogan had all the range and power required of the part, sounding like the voice of doom in ‘The people that walked in darkness’ and the light of revelation in ‘The trumpet shall sound.’” A performance of Elijah had critics praising his ability to “move easily from stentorian declamation to lyrical aria.” The Dallas Morning News exclaimed that “His meaty bass shook the heavens and the earth and sounded the trumpet with imposing conviction.” Grogan has performed as a soloist with Dallas-Fort Worth area arts groups such as the Fort Worth Symphony, Dallas Bach Society, Plano Civic Chorus, Texas Baroque Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Singers, Texas Camerata, Fine Arts Chamber Players, and several Texas universities. Dr. Grogan also has a strong interest in teaching techniques and vocal pedagogy, and he teaches private voice and opera workshop at University of Texas at Arlington.

Nathan Gunn

Nathan Gunn has performed many of the greatest opera and musical theatre roles on the world’s most prestigious stages and through television, radio, video, and live simulcast performances, including the Met Opera’s first-ever “Live in HD” broadcast (The Magic Flute), in which he sang Papageno. In addition to Papageno, Gunn has reinterpreted classic roles such as Billy Budd, Figaro, and Don Giovanni, garnering many awards, including the GRAMMY® Award for “Best Opera Recording” (Billy Budd) and the Metropolitan Opera’s first-ever Beverly Sills Award. Additionally, Gunn has been widely acclaimed for his ability to crossover into musical theatre, including performances with the New York Philharmonic in Carousel and Camelot, as well as a televised celebration of Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday. Gunn is a professor and Swanlund chair at the University of Illinois where he is co-director of Lyric Theatre @ Illinois.

Martha Guth

Juno and Latin GRAMMY® Award-nominated soprano Martha Guth’s recital and concert highlights include Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, the National Cathedral, St. John Smith Square, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Philharmonic, and many more. Her longtime recital and touring partners include Graham Johnson and Erika Switzer. Her recitals have been recorded and broadcast for the CBC/Radio-Canada, the BBC, and the WDR, and she is proud to have worked with maestros such as Seiji Ozawa, Robert Spano, Helmut Rilling, John Nelson, Richard Bradshaw, and Alan Gilbert, among many others.

With Erika Switzer, she is co-founder/director of Sparks & Wiry Cries, a non-profit dedicated to art song spanning publication, live performance, and commission of new works. Sparks is the force behind the popular regional songSLAM’s that are presented in partnership with other song organizations and universities and presents its own songSLAM Festival every January in NYC.

Guth is assistant professor of voice at Ithaca College, and on faculty at SongFest and the Vocal Academy at the Collaborative Piano Institute. She has presented lectures, master classes and recitals at the University of Toronto, Indiana University, University of Manitoba, Notre Dame, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and many more.

Her upcoming engagements include a recital tour with Graham Johnson in 2023, a world premiere by Clarice Assad with the Lincoln Trio, and as a co-director of Sparks & Wiry Cries, a partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC to produce the world premiere of Freedom on the Move: Songs in Flight composed by Shawn Okpebholo with performers Rhiannon Giddens, Karen Slack, Will Liverman, Reggie Mobley and Howard Watkins.

H

Abby Halpin

Abby Halpin is a physical therapist and coach who works with performing artists and athletes. She is on a mission to remind singers that they have bodies, too! Dr. Halpin observes that performers love to work hard, but they often work at rules that don't apply to them. Her role is to help singers address movement patterns that limit their ability to move air and to feel free to focus on their artistry. Halpin has studied piano and voice recreationally for most of her life. Her virtual practice, Forte Performance & Physical Therapy, combines approaches such as Postural Restoration Institute, Movement Systems Impairments, and more to help singers improve their comfort and performance. Halpin has presented for the Puget Sound Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (PS-NATS), Northwest Chapter of the Voice Foundation (NWCVF), Northwest Voice Conference, and a number of individual voice studios.

Lucinda Halstead

Lucinda Halstead, M.D., is an associate professor in the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and the department of pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina. Halstead’s interests in laryngology, voice, performing arts medicine, swallowing and pediatric otolaryngology led her to found the MUSC Voice Center in 1987. In 2000, the Voice Center expanded and she became the medical director of the MUSC Evelyn Trammell Institute for Voice and Swallowing. She is president of the Performing Arts Medicine Association and the laryngologist for the internationally renowned Spoleto Festival USA. She lectures nationally and internationally on the topics of vocal health, disorders of the singing voice, laryngopharyngeal reflux disorders and pediatric voice and swallowing disorders. She is a member of The Voice Foundation, Collegium Medicorum Theatri, and the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology, amongst others.

Sam Handley

Bass-baritone Sam Handley’s performing credits include opera, oratorio, and recital throughout North American, Europe, and Asia, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, National Centre of Performing Arts (Beijing), Santa Fe Opera, the Chicago Symphony, Houston Symphony, National Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall and Carnegie Hall. Handley has long loved sharing his knowledge of the art of singing and was a teaching fellow during both his master’s and doctoral studies. He currently serves on the faculty of DePaul University in Chicago. He is vice-president of the Chicago Chapter of NATS as well as executive and artistic director of the Green Lake Festival of Music.Handley enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, especially while camping, hiking, sailing, cooking, fine dining, and keeping up with their Labrador, Finzi.

Mark Hartman

Mark Hartman (music director, he/him) is a New York-based pianist, coach, conductor, arranger and composer working in theater, cabaret, and concerts around the world. His Broadway credits include Sondheim On Sondheim! Avenue Q. Off-Broadway: The Streets Of New York, Pageant, Silence! The Musical, Ernest In Love, After The Ball, Finian’s Rainbow, and The Irish...and How They Got That Way (also a national tour), Avenue Q (Vineyard) and The Fantasticks (Sullivan St. and Orbach Theater). His regional credits include: A Christmas Carol, West Side Story and Sunday In The Park With George at the Guthrie Theater, Funny Girl with Shoshana Bean at North Shore Music Theater, Sweeney Todd with Annie Golden and Cabaret with Taylor Mac at PlayMakers Repertory Company, the new production of Working with new material by Lin-Manuel Miranda at the Asolo Rep, Old Globe, and Broadway in Chicago, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life at the Old Globe, The Baker’s Wife and Pippin (directed by Gabriel Barre, also a national tour) for Goodspeed Musicals. Hartman is the arranger and music supervisor of the Stephen Schwartz revue Magic To Do, developed with Gabriel Barre and Jennifer Paulson Lee in 2015 for Princess Entertainment. He is one of the music directors annually at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Cabaret Conference (John McDaniel, artistic director). Hartman is the recipient of three MAC Awards and the Backstage Bistro Award for Music Direction. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity and the American Federation of Musicians.

Madeline Jazz Harvey

Madeline Jazz Harvey is a dance educator, choreographer, and performer specializing in classical and contemporary ballet. She has attended Chautauqua Institution, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and the Juilliard School, and she was principal dancer for Carolina Ballet Theatre. Harvey has been teaching and choreographing since 2006 in a variety of community and collegiate settings. In 2007, she was the youngest recipient of the New York Choreographic Institute Fellowship Award. Human connection and vulnerability drive her choreographic process. She values collaboration and is honored to have co-created works with composers, musicians, visual artists, and members of the National Organization for Parents of Murdered Children (South Carolina Chapter). She is credited with the development of ShapeX, a program designed for children with Type II Diabetes. She was appointed as instructor of ballet at the University of South Carolina in 2015 and became assistant professor of dance at Colorado State University in 2017.

Ericsson Hatfield

Ericsson Hatfield (b.1995) is a composer, performer, and educator. His compositions integrate classical and modern techniques to create a fresh musical language. He received first prize for his work Constellations as the youngest applicant in his category to the Tribeca New Music Festival. In 2020, he won the Kristen Pankonin Award at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), resulting in a commission to compose his first song cycle — “God’s World” — for solo voice and piano. In 2022, Hatfield won first prize in the NATS 2022 Art Song Composition Award for “God’s World.”

His work as an educator includes the manual “Techniques of Canonic Counterpoint,” to be published in 2022 in addition to lecturing at several forums on compositional technique, such as the SFCM Counterpoint Club. He studied composition at the European American Musical Alliance (EAMA) in Paris with David Conte, with whom he is currently studying in the master’s degree program (2022) at SFCM .

As a violinist, Hatfield received his bachelor’s degree (2018) in music performance at New York University, where he studied under Cyrus Beroukhim, Stephanie Chase, Gregory Fulkerson and Radim Kresta. He also attended the Meadowmount School of Music for three summers where he studied violin with Sally Thomas, Ann Setzer and Steven Rochen. Hatfield remains an active teacher and chamber musician.

Liz Jackson Hearns

Singers, speakers, and fellow voice teachers from all different backgrounds seek out Liz Jackson Hearns’ (she/they) teaching to illuminate traditional voice science and pedagogy with transformative relationship-building in a compassionate and playful environment. In 2014, Jackson Hearns began working with transgender/non-binary individuals, helping clients to develop voice and communication patterns that align with and affirm their identity. Jackson Hearns also works with trans/non-binary singers, supporting a sustainable, healthy singing voice technique during medical transition (or not) and beyond. Jackson Hearns teaches fellow voice teachers who are eager to support their transgender and non-binary students through workshops, public speaking, training sessions, and online courses. Jackson Hearns is the co-founder and owner of The Voice Lab, Inc.; co-founder of ResonaTe, Chicago’s Trans Choir; author of “One Weird Trick: A User's Guide to Transgender Voice,” and co-author of “The Singing Teacher's Guide to Transgender Voices.”

Lynn Helding

Lynn Helding is professor of practice in vocal arts and opera, and coordinator of vocology and voice pedagogy at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. She is the author of “The Musician’s Mind: Teaching, Learning & Performance in the Age of Brain Science,” the chapter “Brain” in Scott McCoy's book “Your Voice: An Inside View” and an associate editor of the Journal of Singing. A devoted teacher, her clients sing with Los Angeles Opera, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and her students have been accepted with fellowships to the Aspen and Tanglewood Music festivals, among others. Pedagogy honors include the 2005 Van Lawrence Voice Fellowship, the master teacher designation by the 2019 NATS Intern Program, and recognition as “a legendary figure in the field of voice pedagogy” by the Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah University, receiving the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Allen Henderson

Allen Henderson holds a bachelor’s degree from Carson Newman College, a master’s degree in music from the University of Tennessee, and a doctorate in music from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where his minor was in arts administration, and he was winner of the Corbett-Treigle Opera Competition. Prior to his appointment as executive director of NATS in 2007, he served NATS as district and region governor and was elected national secretary/treasurer from 2006 to 2008. Henderson was a participant in the 1993 NATS Intern Program, hosted the program in 1998 and 2020 to 2022, and he was a master teacher in 2013. Henderson has held teaching positions at Oklahoma Baptist University, Austin Peay State University, and Georgia Southern University. In these positions he has taught voice, foreign language diction, opera, choral techniques, choral literature, song literature, and directed choirs. As baritone soloist, Henderson has appeared in concert, opera, and oratorio across the country. He created the “So You Want to Sing…” book series published by Rowman & Littlefield. He is a member of the American Academy of Teachers of Singing.

Michael Hendrick

Michael Hendrick earned a doctorate from Louisiana State University in 2021. Hendrick has appeared in a variety of opera roles, including Don José in Carmen (New York City Opera, La Coruña and Santander, Spain); Menelas in Die Ägyptische Helena (Metropolitan Opera); Parsifal (Lyric Opera of Chicago); Lohengrin (Moscow); Herodes in Salome (Wuppertal, Germany), and Paul in Die tote Stadt (Opéra national de Lorraine in France). Hendrick also has appeared several times as Lennie in Of Mice of Men (Washington National Opera, Manitoba Opera, Arizona Opera, Utah Opera, Kentucky Opera, and Sarasota Opera). He also has performed, Canio in Pagliacci, Florestan in Fidelio, Erik in Der fliegende Holländer (also Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and Croatian National Theater, Zagreb), Levko in May Night, Laca in Jenufa (also Malaga, Spain and ABAO Bilbao, Spain.) Also in Bilbao, he performed as Aroldo in Verdi’s Aroldo. Other roles have included Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos (Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Seattle Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Brazil’s Teatro Amazonas). At Teatro Amazonas, he also performed as Enée in Les Troyens and as Samson in Samson et Dalila. He also has sung the role of Tito in La Clemenza di Tito (National Symphony Orchestra, The Kennedy Center).

Rae-Myra Hilliard

Rae-Myra Hilliard is equally at home in operatic, solo concert, and choral singing. Some highlights of her performing career have been with the Greater Buffalo Opera Company, Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, and Chicago Symphony Chorus. As concert soloist, Hilliard has performed with Bach and Beyond, South Shore Community Chorus and the Music Institute of Chicago Chorale. Hilliard’s most recent operatic roles have been in world premieres by the Chicago composer Renee Baker — Singing Spirit in Sunyata, Emma Berdis Jones (mother of writer James Baldwin) and Tafara in The Baldwin Chronicles and The Baldwin Chronicles Part II, respectively. She is an active recitalist promoting works by Black-American composers. She is on faculty at the University of St. Francis, the Music Institute of Chicago, and works as an independent voice teacher at Evanston Township High School. In addition to teaching, she is the director of music at St. James Lutheran Church in Lake Forest, Illinois. She is a member in good standing of NATS, American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), and the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM).

Matthew Hoch

Matthew Hoch is professor of voice at Auburn University. Before coming to Auburn in 2012, Hoch served as assistant professor of voice at Shorter College/University from 2006 to 2012. Hoch’s published bibliography includes eight books as author, coauthor, or editor, and many peer-reviewed articles in more than a dozen professional and academic journals. He is the 2016 winner of the Van L. Lawrence Fellowship, awarded jointly by The Voice Foundation and NATS. He is the recipient of several other awards, including the 2019 Article of the Year award from American Music Teacher (Music Teachers National Association) and the 2020 Award of Merit from Mu Phi Epsilon. Hoch holds a bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College with a triple major in vocal performance, music education, and music theory. He earned a master’s degree from the Hartt School with a double major in vocal performance and music history, and a doctorate in vocal performance from the New England Conservatory.

Susan Hochmiller

Susan Hochmiller is assistant professor of voice at the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College and director of Orvieto Musica’s Art of Song summer vocal chamber music festival in Orvieto, Italy. She is an avid recitalist and has performed chamber music in Italy and across the United States. She holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Susquehanna University and a master’s degree and doctorate in voice performance and literature from the Eastman School of Music. An active NATS member since 2007, Hochmiller served as president of the Allegheny Mountain Chapter from 2016 to 2019, and she was one of 12 voice teachers from North America selected to participate in the prestigious 2012 NATS Intern Program. Hochmiller is the author of “So You Want to Sing Chamber Music: A Guide for Professionals” published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Timothy Hoekman

Timothy Hoekman has written in many genres, including songs for voice and keyboard, several vocal chamber works, orchestral songs, choral works, an opera, and an oratorio. His compositions have been published by Theodore Presser, Graphite Publishing, and Classical Vocal Reprints. He was named the 2002 MTNA-Shepherd Distinguished Composer of the Year, and his music has been recorded for Albany Records, Azica Records, and Mark Records. Hoekman is a professor of vocal coaching and collaborative piano at Florida State University. He is a highly experienced performer, teacher and coach, having performed as soloist and collaborative pianist in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Europe. He has served on the music staff of Glimmerglass Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Grand Rapids, and the Peter Harrower Summer Opera Workshop. He currently spends his summers as a lieder coach for AIMS in Graz, Austria.

John Holiday

Countertenor John Holiday has established himself as “one of the finest countertenors of his generation” (Los Angeles Times). His voice has been praised as “a thing of astonishing beauty” (New Yorker), “arrestingly powerful, secure and dramatically high” (Wall Street Journal), “exceptional [and] strong...even in its highest range” (The New York Times) and “timeless” (Washington Post). Holiday’s unique voice and powerful story have been the subject of profiles in The New Yorker, CNN’s Great Big Story, Los Angeles Times, and more.

The 2021-22 season provided exciting debuts for Holiday, beginning with his debut at the Hollywood Bowl under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel in an all-Gershwin program with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; followed by his anticipated Metropolitan Opera debut in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice as Orpheus’s Double under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin; as well as his debut with the New York Philharmonic in Handel’s Messiah under the baton of Jeannette Sorrell; and capping off the season with his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Barrie Kosky’s production of Agrippina in the role of Nerone. Holiday returned to The Barbican for a program of sacred and secular works by Vivaldi, and he also reprised his signature role of the Refugee in Jonathan Dove’s Flight with Utah Opera and the Dallas Opera.

An acclaimed concert singer, Holiday has performed at world-renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, London’s Barbican Center, and the Philharmonie de Paris. His career highlights have included a tour with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; the Sorceress in Barrie Kosky’s production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice as Orpheus’s Double at the Los Angeles Opera; the world premiere of Daniel Bernard Roumain’s We Shall Not Be Moved with Opera Philadelphia and the Dutch National Opera; title role in Xerxes at the Glimmerglass Festival; and Caesar in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto at Wolf Trap Opera. In addition to the traditional concert performances and recitals, Holiday has curated The John Holiday Experience (JHE) to showcase his affinity and talent for many different genres that includes classical, pop, jazz, and R&B. He has performed the program on a national scale with plans to continue the eclectic evening of song in his upcoming seasons.

Nathan Holman

Nathaniel Holman is a Chicago-based percussionist. As an active performer, his collaborations have ranged from Camerata Chicago, the Fox Valley Orchestra, and the Wheaton College Artist Series to the Chicago Brass Band. He has been a featured soloist multiple times, professionally premiered new solo and ensemble works, and is an active member and performer with the Heartland Marimba organization. Holman was also a finalist in the 2021 International Bamburg Marimba Competition and received second in the International Artist Competition. Outside of performance, Holman has a passion for pedagogy, teaching privately and in groups, as well as serving as a staff instructor at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois. He holds a bachelor’s degree in percussion performance from Wheaton College and a master’s degree in music from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Sarah Holman

Sarah Holman, mezzo-soprano, recently completed a recording of newly commissioned sacred art songs by Chicago composers and poets. She has enjoyed performances with the Rockford Symphony, Lake Forest Symphony, Chicago Master Singers, Fox Valley Orchestra, Chicago Brass Band, DuPage Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Southwest, Lyric Opera Cleveland and DePaul Community Chorus. Recital performances have taken her to numerous venues throughout the United States and England. Holman gave frequent performances and master classes with the Southern Young Artist Opera Project, the Asian Opera Festival, and Bel Canto Opera Workshop in China and Taiwan. A recipient of a Goldovsky Opera Directing Internship with Harrower Opera in Atlanta, Dr. Holman was previously director of opera at Wheaton College Conservatory. She was a featured presenter at the International Congress of Voice Teachers 2017 conference in Stockholm, Sweden, and she serves as the International Region Governor for the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Timothy Holman

Timothy Holman is a senior composition student at Wheaton College Conservatory where he studies with Shawn Okpebholo, Misook Kim, Xavier Beteta and Howard Whittaker. A versatile musician, Holman was the recent recipient of the B. Falkenberg Fogg Scholarship award for outstanding instrumentalist and the Lawrence Foster Memorial String Scholarship award for outstanding string player. He is equally comfortable as a soloist, conductor, and choral singer, as well as a composer. Homan currently studies viola with Rose Griffin.

Amanda Hopson

Amanda A. Hopson recently completed 24 years at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, as the senior staff accompanist and coordinator of keyboard studies. In August, she begins a new appointment as coordinator of collaborative piano at Butler University in Indianapolis. She has been an accompanist since the age of 10 and has performed and recorded with vocalists, instrumentalists, and choral groups for more than 40 years.

Called "a rare jewel" by esteemed choral conductor Jan Harrington, Hopson was one of the early accompanists for the GRAMMY Award-winning choir Conspirare and has performed under the baton of legendary conductor Joseph Flummerfelt. She has accompanied vocalists in master classes given by artists such as Frederica von Stade, Elly Ameling, Thomas Hampson, Nathan Gunn, Jake Heggie, Jason Robert Brown, Stephanie J. Block, Laura Benanti, and Alice Riple. She also has been heard in concert with former King's Singer baritone Gabriel Crouch and dramatic soprano Lise Lindstrom.

In 2013, she collaborated with tenor Kerry Jennings on a Centaur Records recording entitled, “In My Memory: American Songs and Song Cycles,” featuring works by Libby Larsen, Tom Cipullo, Lori Laitman, and Richard Pearson Thomas. The CD was favorably reviewed, with Hopson described as "an equally fine musician, finding the character of the various accompaniments to perfection," and the CD itself as "not to be missed." It is featured on Larsen’s website as the reference recording of her cycle, “My Antonía.”

Phyllis Horridge

Phyllis Horridge is the owner of a multi-teacher voice studio based in Louisiana. She holds a master’s degree in music from George Mason University and bachelor’s degree in music with a minor in theatre from Lynchburg College in Virginia. Horridge has worked for a variety of regional theatres across the country, was selected to sing with the Washington National Opera, and has performed Off-Broadway at the Drama Desk Award-winning York Theatre Company. In addition to her membership with NATS, she has been actively involved in the Speakeasy Cooperative for Independent Voice Teachers, Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), and Actors’ Equity Association. Horridge always has had a love for technology. She earned an associate degree in computer programming, which has assisted in her social media "addiction" — gaining more than 99,000 followers on TikTok in just a few months of joining, and more than 1 million monthly views on Pinterest.

Ian Howell

Ian Howell, DMA is a professor of voice and vocal pedagogy at NEC in Boston. He has sung in most major concert halls across America, Europe, Canada, and Japan as a soloist and with the GRAMMY® Award winning ensemble Chanticleer. He has presented original research at NATS, PAVA, the Voice Foundation, and the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. He is published in the Journal of Voice, the Journal of Singing, Classical Singer, and VOICEPrints. His research interests include the intersection of human perception and the singing voice. During the pandemic he helped to technically develop and generate educational materials for high quality, low latency audio and video transmission solutions.

Wei-En Hsu

A graduate of the Juilliard School in New York City, Wei-En Hsu is an accomplished pianist, organist, conductor, répétiteur and composer. A native of Taiwan, he received his bachelor’s degree in piano at Taipei National University of the Arts, and he was pleased to be the only candidate at Juilliard selected to the Royal Academy of Music in London as an exchange student. Hsu has completed additional training at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Rutgers University. Hsu is now an associate professor at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He was elected as the 2017 Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) for his contribution to the music profession and community. In 2018, he was named the 2018 National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH) Artist-in-Residence in Taiwan.

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Oswaldo Iraheta

Salvadoran American tenor Oswaldo Iraheta made his international debut at the Royal Opera House Muscat with Maestro Lorin Maazel. Recently, Oswaldo performed the role of Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and Alfred in Die Fledermaus with the Lyric Opera Studio Weimar in Germany, as well as the tenor solo in Handel’s Messiah in Berlin. Other roles he has performed include Alfredo (La traviata), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Count Belfiore (La finta giardiniera), Roderigo (Otello), and Rodolfo (La bohème). Iraheta has performed with various opera companies in the United States, South America and Europe including the St. Petersburg Opera, New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera, Queens Symphony Orchestra, Roman Borgman Opera Company, Aspen Music Festival, Assisi Music Festival, Ópera de El Salvador, Opera Circle of Cleveland, Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, the Trentino Lirica Opera, the Knoxville Opera, and the Royal Opera House Muscat.

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Ella Jenkins

Ella Jenkins, the “First Lady of Children’s Music,” is an iconic children’s performer. She has been one of the genre’s leading voices for more than 50 years. Nurtured by the rich musical culture of her Chicago neighborhood, Jenkins was immersed in song from her earliest days. She has spent the rest of her life helping other children find that same enjoyment in music.

Jenkins developed her immense talents working with children as a child psychology student at San Francisco State University and as a program director at the YWCA before hosting a public television program for children called “This is Rhythm.” Throughout her career, she contributed a great deal to the children’s music repertoire, including well-loved classics such as “You’ll Sing a Song and I’ll Sing a Song” and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” Her music incorporates languages and cultures from around the world, including the African-American blues and gospel music she heard during her own childhood. Jenkins is one of few artists to have recorded both for Smithsonian Folkways and for Moses Asch’s original Folkways label, and she has enjoyed a prolific career characterized by genuine love and appreciation for the minds and hearts of children. In 2004, she was honored by the Recording Academy with a GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ava Johnson

Ava Johnson will attend Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy next year where she will be pursing theater along with GT academics. Ava debuted with the Dallas Opera in the children’s chorus of Bizet’s Carmen and has also performed as Mother Abess-Sound of Music, Rapunzel-Into the Woods, and Aquatta-The Little Mermaid with North Texas Performing Arts. Other shows include Frozen Jr., Annie Jr., and Seussical. Ava excels in piano and the cello and also been involved in basketball and competitive swimming.

Daniel Johnson Wilmot

Daniel Johnson-Wilmot is a professor emeritus of music at Viterbo University starting his 50th year in the music department. He received his bachelor’s degree in music from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and a master’s degree in voice from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the founder of the La Crosse BoyChoir and the Three Rivers Girls Chorus. He chaired the National Association of Teachers of Singing Wisconsin Student Auditions for more than 30 years. He was a region governor of the North Central Region of NATS and has served on the national conference and the National Student Auditions committees of NATS. He was elected vice-president of membership on the national board of NATS in 2014 and was appointed National Student Auditions coordinator at the 2014 national conference and continues to serve NATS in this capacity.

He has appeared as a soloist with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pro Arte Quartet, Fox Valley Symphony, Waukesha Symphony, La Crosse Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. With the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, he sang the bass and baritone solos in Orff’s Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Haydn’s Creation, Verdi’s Requiem, and Handel’s Messiah. His students sing in major opera houses and on Broadway. His students have won over 400 awards in the National Association of Teacher of Singing state, regional and national auditions, and they are frequent award winners in the district and regional Metropolitan Opera Auditions, as well as first and second place winners in Schubert Club Bruce Carlson Scholarship Competition.

Erik Raymond Johnson

Erik Raymond Johnson teaches acting, movement, martial arts and stage combat at Penn State University. He plays multiple roles in the School of Theatre production season including director, fight choreographer, movement coach and intimacy coach. Johnson holds a master’s degree in acting from Penn State University, a degree in secondary education with teacher licensure in theatre and English from Middle Tennessee State University, training from the Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory, and a bachelor’s degree in theatre from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

As a movement coach, fight choreographer, and intimacy coach, Johnson has choreographed more than 65 shows for professional, university, and community productions. A lifelong practitioner of multiple forms of martial arts, he also has specific movement training in impulse work, Lecoq, and Laban. He is certified in stage combat by the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD), a certified martial arts instructor, certified in Mental Health First Aid program through the National Council for Mental Well Being, a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association, a member of SAFD, and a member of Association of Theatre Movement Educators.

Julie Liston Johnson

Julie Liston Johnson is on the faculty of the University of Texas, Arlington where she teaches studio voice and the online Chamber Choir. Liston Johnson earned a doctorate in voice performance from the University of North Texas and her master’s degree in voice performance from the Juilliard School. While at Juilliard, she held multiple teaching fellowships and was subsequently hired to teach ear training for the evening division. She has been a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Alice Tully Hall, Moody Performance Hall, Trinity Church Wall Street, and Durham Cathedral in northern England where she sang the solos in Verdi’s Requiem in 2019. A frequent soloist in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, highlights include Dallas Puccini Society recital, Handel's Messiah, Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem; John Rutter’s Requiem with the composer conducting; and the American premiere of Bob Chilcott’s St. John Passion.

Sam Johnson

Sam Johnson is a voice teacher originally from Salt Lake City, Utah. He is a full member of IVTOM (International Voice Teachers of Mix), and he has a degree in vocal performance from Westminster College where he studied with Marc Reynolds. He spent 18 months teaching voice in Hong Kong, working with both amateur and professional singers. Johnson now brings his international experience to clients worldwide through Skype and FaceTime. During his time as an IVTOM member, Johnson had the privilege of working privately with Dean Kaelin, John Henny, Mark Baxter and Teri Stock. Johnson aims to help his students become great musicians through great vocal technique. He has experience teaching a wide range of genres to students of all ages and backgrounds, including pop, musical theatre, R&B, and classical. He also makes videos for YouTube, where he has more than 680,000 followers.

Katherine Jolly

Katherine Jolly, associate professor of music (voice) at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, received doctorate from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. She has appeared with Opera Theatre Saint Louis, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Grand Opera, New York City Opera, and Virginia Opera, among others. Her album “Preach Sister, Preach” was released to rave reviews on PARMA records in 2019. A certified yoga teacher with a research background in music performance anxiety, she has presented workshops throughout the country, including The Voice Foundation, Performing Arts Medical Association, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She is a frequent guest clinician with the National Opera Association, Schmidt Foundation, NATS, and Arts Bridge. She has received awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council, the George London Foundation, and Opera Theatre Saint Louis. Previously, Jolly was on faculty at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and Saint Louis University, where she received a New Frontiers grant and a Mellon grant.

Evan Jones

Baritone Evan Jones has established a reputation of excellence in both performing and teaching. Jones enjoys a diverse performing career in concert, opera, and musical theatre. He has performed with the Tanglewood Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Opera Memphis, Opera Naples, Berkshire Opera Company, Compañía Lírica Nacional de Costa Rica, the Rochester and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Memphis and Helena symphonies. Currently on the voice faculty of Florida State University, he received his doctorate from the Eastman School of Music. During his time there, he was rewarded for excellence in both performing and teaching by winning first place in the Friends of Eastman Opera Competition and was the first recipient of the William McIver Memorial Award in teaching. His current and former students have won awards at competitions, and they have performed in major opera houses, on national equity tours and Broadway, and in television and film.

Kevin Jones

Kevin Jones began his formal musical training at the age of four. He attended Southern Methodist University and completed his undergraduate degree at Ashland College. Jones earned graduate degrees in collaborative piano and organ performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He also holds the Master of Science in Education degree in human services from the University of Dayton. From 1996 to 2004, Jones held the post of musical director/conductor of the New York City-based Gilbert & Sullivan ensemble, the Blue Hill Troupe, Ltd. From 2007 to 2012, he was canon precentor and director of music at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, Connecticut, where he also served on the vocal division faculty at the Hartt School. Since 2013, Jones has been minister of music at First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio, where he oversees a large music program of four choirs.

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Kayla Capone Kasper

Kayla Capone Kasper resides in central Pennsylvania where she works as a voice teacher and coach, vocal director, singer, actor, and creator. Capone Kasper has amassed more than 18,000 followers on TikTok where she creates educational content for musical theatre students. She created a series on Instagram called “In Conversation With…” where she partners with a different theatre industry professional each week to go live. They have conversations about their experiences in the industry, offer advice, answer questions, and learn. She maintains a full private studio from her home and is also an adjunct instructor in music at Lebanon Valley College where she received her bachelor’s degree in music with a concentration in voice.

Kathleen Kelly

Kathleen Kelly is a pianist, conductor, educator, and writer. She has appeared internationally as a recital pianist, including appearances at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Vienna’s Musikverein. She is a published poet and essayist, and has written several English adaptations of operas as well as several librettos. She has worked with many companies including the San Francisco, Metropolitan, Houston Grand, and Vienna State operas, and she is regularly invited to speak and write on womens’ issues in the opera industry.

Vindhya Khare

Vindhya Khare is the coordinator of vocal performance at Florida International University, Miami, and an associate teaching professor of voice. She received her doctorate in vocal pedagogy and performance from the University of Miami Frost School of Music where she researched the influence of sex hormones and the female singing voice. She has presented research at Endicott College in Madrid, Spain; the International Congress of Voice Teachers in Stockholm, Sweden; Carnegie-Mellon University, the Savannah Voice Festival; the American Guild of Organists (Miami), and Palm Beach Atlantic University. She also holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from Florida International University, as well as an bachelor’s degree in piano performance from California State University, Northridge.

Misook Kim

Misook Kim, received her bachelor’s degree from Seoul National University in Seoul, South Korea. She entered graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin where she completed her master’s degree and doctorate in composition, as well as a certificate of piano performance. Reviewer Mike Greenberg, writing in the San Antonio Express-News, called Kim “a bold and unrepentant modernist, her music was fearlessly Modern — spiky, protean, often highly compressed, proudly declining to participate in the fashion for ‘accessibility’ – but she was so sure-footed in her instincts and her craft that she earned her listeners’ trust to lead them safely and enjoyably through the strange realms she conjured.”

Most recently, Kim has won the 2018 Global Music Awards and Music Teachers National Association, ISMTA Commissioned Composer Competition for her composition for orchestra, The AWAKENING. In the fall of 2006, Kim joined the faculty at the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College, Illinois.

Ryu-Kyung Kim

Mezzo-soprano Ryu-Kyung Kim highlighted her recent seasons with the performances of Vera Boronel in Dayton Opera’s The Consul, alto solo in Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with Dayton Opera, and alto solo in Handel’s Messiah with Helena Symphony Orchestra. She has performed major roles in operas and concert works throughout the world with many prestigious opera companies and orchestras including Santa Fe Opera, Baltimore Opera, Cleveland Opera, El Paso Opera, Virginia Opera, Ash Lawn Opera Festival, Opera Orchestra of New York, Caramoor Music Festival, National Chorale, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, and Staatskapelle Halle in Germany. She received her doctorate from SUNY in Stony Brook, her artist diploma from the Academy of Vocal Arts, and her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Manhattan School of Music. She joined the voice faculty of the music department at the University of Dayton in 2013.

San-ky Kim

Following his debut with the Philadelphia Opera Company, Korean born tenor San-ky Kim’s career led to Europe, performing in Helsinki, Biel, Bern, Amsterdam, Brussels, Ghent, Lisbon, and Prague before settling in Germany. At the Czech National Opera in Prague, Kim essayed all of Mozart's lyric tenor heroes, as well as Italian bel canto roles of Rossini and Donizetti. Kim has performed more than 40 major tenor operatic roles throughout the world. He has taught at Texas Christian University since 2005 as professor of voice and opera, and his research focuses on modern art song and opera repertoire in various languages, especially of the newly emerging Eastern European and East Asian nations. Kim served as a Fulbright Scholar visiting professor at Vytautas Magnus University in Lithuania during the 2015-16 academic year, resulting in the publication of an anthology of 25 modern Lithuanian art songs with English translations and IPA transcriptions.

Juanita Marchand Knight

Juanita Marchand Knight (they/them) maintains a private studio in LaSalle, Québec (Canada) and is also a faculty member at The Voice Lab, Inc. in Chicago, currently working primarily with gender-nonconforming clients. Marchand Knight is a Frederick Lowy Fellow in the Laboratory for Hearing and Cognition at Concordia University, where they are studying voice dysphoria and cross-modal gender perception. They are also a member of the Music Perception and Cognition Lab at McGill University, where they are involved in a large-scale project on timbre perception, with researchers from a wide variety of sub-fields in music. Marchand Knight holds a bachelor’s degree in early music voice, a master’s degree and an artist’s diploma in opera performance — all from McGill University, a doctorate in vocal performance and pedagogy from the University of Miami, and an Attestation of Collegial Studies (AEC) in audio recording technology from Vanier College in Montreal.

Brian Kremer

Brian Kremer (he/him) is interim program coordinator and assistant professor of music theatre at Elon University, as well as a professional singer, actor, and voice instructor. Previously, he worked as the coordinator of voice for the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at the University of the Arts (Philadelphia) and was the assistant director of the American Musical Theatre Ensemble at Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He also maintains Kremer Voice Design, a private voice studio providing individualized, one-on-one vocal instruction. Beyond the classroom, he is co-author of “The Singing Teacher’s Guide to Transgender Voices,” which aids in the development of a successful vocal pedagogy and to help the academic community better understand the specific needs of transgender students as it pertains to vocal training. His current and former students can be seen performing on Broadway, off-Broadway, on national and international tours, and at various concert and commercial venues.

Tiffany Kriner

Tiffany Eberle Kriner is associate professor of English at Wheaton College where she teaches American literature and coordinates the Aequitas Cohort Fellowship Certificate in Public Humanities and Arts. She is the author of “The Future of the Word: An Eschatology of Reading” (Fortress, 2014) and a forthcoming volume braiding theology, literary criticism, and agricultural memoir (Eerdmans, 2023). She lives and co-farms at Root and Sky Farm, a pasture-raised meats farm in Northern Illinois.

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Lori Laitman

Composer Lori Laitman has been described as “one of the most talented and intriguing of living composers” by Fanfare Magazine. She has composed multiple operas, choral works, and more than 300 songs, setting texts by classical and contemporary poets, including those who perished in the Holocaust. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale College, earned her master’s degree in music from the Yale School of Music, and she received the Ian Mininberg Alumni Award for Distinguished Service in 2018. Commissions have come from the BBC and the Royal Philharmonic Society, Opera America, Opera Colorado, Seattle Opera, Grant Park Music Festival, Washington Master Chorale, Music of Remembrance, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Her music is performed worldwide including at Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, the Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center. Her works have been featured on Thomas Hampson’s Song of America radio, Internet series and website, and in “The Grove Dictionary of American Music.” Her discography is extensive, with releases on Naxos, Albany and Acis and other labels. Laitman is a frequent guest composer at universities across the country. The Journal of Singing wrote, “It is difficult to think of anyone before the public today who equals her exceptional gifts for embracing a poetic text and giving it new and deeper life through music.” For more information, please visit artsongs.com.

Albert Rudolph Lee

Tenor Albert Rudolph Lee’s performances have been described as “vocally sumptuous,” “musically distinctive” and even “acrobatically agile.” Having appeared with Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, the Collegiate Chorale of New York City, Caramoor International Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival, Lee’s operatic and oratorio roles include Don Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Almaviva in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore and Ferrando in Così fan tutte and the tenor solos in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Handel’s Judas Maccabeus, and the Rossini’s Stabat Mater.

Throughout his performing career he also has worked to preserve and expand the performance of Negro spirituals in domestic and international performances with the American Spiritual Ensemble. In addition, Lee performed a recital of art song settings of Langston Hughes poetry in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. He is a featured soloist on a recording of works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker on Albany Records singing musical settings of the Walt Whitman poem, “When lilacs last in dooryard bloomed,” a poem written as an elegy to Abraham Lincoln after his assassination.

Most recently, he appeared as tenor soloist in Adolphus Hailstork’s “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes” with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, joined the British-based classical crossover group Vox Fortura in domestic and international performances, and made appearances with the New Haven Symphony, the Keene Chorale of New Hampshire, and Opera Las Vegas. He completed his bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at the University of Connecticut, a master’s degree in music at the Juilliard School, and his doctorate in music at Florida State University with a doctoral treatise titled, “The Poetic Voice of Langston Hughes in American Art Song.” He serves as associate professor of music and the inaugural Director of Equity, Belonging, and Student Life at the Yale University School of Music.

Alexander Lee

Praised by Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times for his “bright tenor voice and vitality”, tenor Alexander Wook Lee is a dynamic and accomplished young performer, conductor, and music educator in the world of opera and classical music. His recent opera credits include the title role in Debussy’s L’enfant prodigue, Bizet’s Carmen, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Delibes’ Lakmé, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Bernstein’s Candide, and Handel’s Acis and Galatea. He has been music and stage director of the Opera Workshop since 2017 and held the same position with local theatres in Huntington, West Virginia. His recent directed works include Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck, Women’s Suffrage (Original Production), A Woman’s Love and Life (Original Production), Magic Flute by W. A. Mozart, Little Red Riding Hood by Seymour Barab, and Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell.

Dr. Lee has been an active recitalist in both the U.S. and South Korea. He has performed at the Opera America Center, Korean National Theatre, Turkish War Museum, Sesil Art Hall and continues to be in demand as an active recitalist across the continent. His passion for teaching is acknowledged nationally and internationally. He has been invited to present master classes at Butler University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Arizona, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Northern Caribbean University, Eastern Illinois University, West Virginia Governor's School for the Arts, and Myongji University.

He is the president of the Tri-State NATS Chapter and South Korea Chapter.

Karen An-hwei Lee

Karen An-hwei Lee serves as provost and professor of English at Wheaton College. Her new poetry collection, “Duress,” is forthcoming from Cascade Books. She is also the author of “Rose is a Verb: Neo-Georgics” (Slant), “Phyla of Joy,” (Tupelo), and “In Medias Res” (Sarabande). The recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, she currently lives in greater Chicago.

Jaron LeGrair

Jaron (he/him) is a singer, voice teacher, vocal coach, speech trainer, voice researcher, professor, music director, and entrepreneur who loves to help find and use their best voice. He is an internationally sought-after voice teacher who specializes in contemporary vocal styles including gospel, soul, R&B, jazz, and more. Through his niched research and insight, he has traveled the world (both in reality and virtually) sharing his knowledge about the voice through various workshops and presentations. LeGrair is the proud founder and owner of the Jaron M. LeGrair Studio, where he offers private sessions, workshops, and services for singers and occupational voice users. Through his studio, he has recently garnered nearly 200,000 followers and subscribers across social media platforms by providing pedagogical insight about various singers spanning many genres. Outside of his studio, he serves as a professor of voice and theatre at Point Park University, and he is a member of the voice faculty at Saint Mary’s College of California.

Karen Leigh-Post

Karen Leigh-Post is a professor of voice and voice science at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Wisconsin. She earned her doctorate under the tutelage of master teacher Shirlee Emmons who inspired her research in optimal performance. Internationally recognized as a pioneer in the application of cognitive neuroscience in the voice studio, Leigh-Post’s ground-breaking volume, “Mind-Body Awareness for Singers: Unleashing Optimal Performance” (Plural Publishing, 2014), is “highly recommended to scientists and singers” (Timothy Petersik) and is proclaimed to be a “significant contribution to the field — a must read for every singer and teacher of singing” (Constance Chase). Urged to “keep spreading the message,” publications include “The Brain, Music, and Optimal Performance” in “So You Want To Sing with Awareness” (2020), and “Perspectives on Perception for Optimal Performance,” Journal of Singing, Vol 78, Issue No. 2, as well as workshops and presentations at universities along with national and international conferences.

Dana Lentini

After cultivating techniques as a classical singer, voice teacher, and children's choir director, Dana Lentini combined her experiences to create Born 2 Sing Kids, a program designed to nurture the development of beginning singers. Through consulting and coaching, she helps teachers build their own successful studios and empowers young singers to explore healthy vocal techniques through a systematic approach. Her book “Teaching the Child Singer: Pediatric Pedagogy for Ages 5-13” is available from Hal Leonard Publishing. For more information, visit born2singkids.com.

Lori L'Italien

Lori L’Italien joined Boston Conservatory in 2017 as an assistant professor of voice. She works with students in the musical theatre program to develop a versatile, flexible, and healthy technique that allows for freedom of expression and storytelling throughout a broad range of musical styles. A versatile performer, L’Italien has been on both opera and musical theatre stages across Boston and New England. Favorite past roles include Magenta in Rocky Horror Show; Lisa in A New Brain; Acid Queen in Tommy; Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, for which she was nominated for both an ARTS IMPULSE Award (Best Actress in a Musical) and an IRNE Award (Best Supporting Actress in a Musical); Lucille Frank in Parade, for which she was nominated for an IRNE award; Gabby/Bobbi in City of Angels; Sally Bowles in Cabaret, and Betty Haynes in White Christmas.

Jill Lewis

Soprano Jill Terhaar Lewis is a professor at Charleston Southern University where she founded the Musician’s Health and Safety Seminar. A respected performer noted for her beautiful timbre and ability to adapt to different genres, she has performed with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Jazz Orchestra, and the Charlton Singleton Ensemble with Lowcountry Voices in the Duke Ellington Sacred Concerts as part of the MOJA Festival. She has presented American art song programs and has collaborated with composers, presenting programs domestically and abroad. She is also a co-founder of Contemporary Collaborations, a student group that commissions student works for vocal chamber ensembles. She is a member of The In-Between, a classical and jazz fusion ensemble. She has presented at the NATS conference in 2020 with lawyer Kevin Hackler on music and the law. She presented a poster on her Contemporary Collaborations project at the 2016 NATS conference with composer Yiorgos Vassilandonakis.

Marquita Lister

Marquita Lister has earned critical praise and awards for the past three decades. Her soprano repertoire includes the works of Verdi, Puccini, Gershwin, and Strauss, and she has performed in the world’s most prestigious opera houses. Her operatic and concert repertory is vast, but her signature roles are Aida, Salome, Tosca and Bess. She starred in the Emmy Award-nominated New York City Opera production of Porgy and Bess and has recorded this role for Telarc Records (GRAMMY® Award-nominated) and Decca. She has been featured on PBS, television and radio broadcasts. Lister holds a bachelor’s degree from New England Conservatory of Music and a master’s degree in music from Oklahoma City University. She has given master classes nationally and internationally. Lister is the coordinator of vocal studies at Morgan State University and director of opera.

Nikki Loney

Inspired by the youngest students in her private voice studio, Nikki Loney challenges teachers to redefine what a singing lesson looks like for a child. Founder and CEO of FULL VOICE Music, she works with music education specialists, children’s composers, and musicians to create vocal music education resources. The FULL VOICE Workbooks have been part of voice studios, classrooms, and choirs worldwide for more than 15 years. In addition, she is an active member of NATS, and “The FULL VOICE Podcast” (part of the NATSCast Network) serves the independent voice teacher and has a global audience.

Melanie Long

Widely recognized for her unique vocal prowess “easily switch-hitting from high coloratura to Broadway belt…” (New York Post), mezzo-soprano Melanie Long has fashioned a quintessentially modern operatic career. She premiered the title role of Anna Christie in the Encompass world premiere in October 2018. She made her New York City Opera debut with a power-house portrayal of Ava (Gardner) in Stewart Wallace’s Hopper’s Wife and returned to NYCO to portray Amore (Cupid) in Rameau’s Pygmalion. Long’s 2017-2018 season marked the very notable world premieres of Julian Wachner’s Rev 23 with White Snake Projects, and in 2020, she reprised her role in Rev 23 for the Prototype Festival. She also returned to Des Moines Metro Opera to play Petra in Isaac Mizrahi’s production of A Little Night Music. Long has performed throughout the regional United Kingdom. Her Edinburgh Festival Fringe appearances include the title role in Maria Stuarda, Rosina in The Barber of Seville and Dorabella in Così fan tutte.

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Nikki Maas

Nikki Maas is a vocal mentor and voice studio owner residing in San Diego, California. She specializes in cross-training for musical theatre, pop, and classical singers. Her education includes a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Aurora University, Shenandoah University’s CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute (all three sessions); and she is currently participating in continuing education classes through the Voice Study Centre as well as Meisner In Music’s Teacher Training. Maas began teaching at independent music schools in 2015, but in 2019, she moved to San Diego from Chicago where she started her own entirely online voice studio. Throughout late 2019 and early 2020, she built a roster with more than 25 students due to marketing her lessons on TikTok (@tiktokvocalcoach). Since then, her studio has been consistently full and has a waitlist. Maas also enjoys consulting on social media and business strategy for other voice teachers.

Melissa Malde

Mezzo-soprano Melissa Malde has performed with numerous orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and has sung abroad with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony, Vancouver Opera and Opera Classica Europa. Malde holds degrees from Oberlin College and Conservatory, Northwestern University, the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, where she studied under the auspices of a German Academic Exchange grant. While in Munich, she won first prize in the Kulturforum Competition. Other honors include winning Cincinnati Conservatory's Concerto Contest, first prize in Chicago's Sudler Oratorio Competition, a Farwell Award, and the Brice-Gooter Award from the NATS Artist Awards (NATSAA) competition. She recently joined the training team of the Association for Body Mapping Education and is a co-author of “What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body.” Malde teaches voice and vocal pedagogy at the University of Northern Colorado.

Samuel Martin

Pianist Samuel Martin is a dynamic artist in demand for recital, chamber, choral, orchestral, opera, and musical theatre performances. As an entrepreneur and administrator, he is the founding artistic director of the Cincinnati Song Initiative, an award-winning nonprofit concert series dedicated to the promotion and innovation of art song.

Recent performances have taken Martin to Germany, Mexico, and throughout the United States. He has served on the musical coaching staffs of Rice University, Houston Grand Opera’s HGOco, Opera in the Heights (Houston), the International Performing Arts Institute (Bavaria, Germany), the Opera Company of Middlebury, and the CCM Summer Opera Studio (Cincinnati).

A native of New York, Martin holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music and Ithaca College. He received further training as a fellow of the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, a weeklong study of contemporary American song led by Stephanie Blythe and Alan Louis Smith.

Sue Matsuki

Sue Matsuki is an award-winning, 35-year singing veteran who has played every club in New York from Birdland to Feinstein’s to the Iridium. She has even played Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera! She has performed from Provincetown to Las Vegas to Alaska! Matsuki has 200 shows ready to perform and over 400 songs in her repertoire, spanning jazz, blues, show tunes, country and the American Songbook.

Matsuki has an extensive background in management and producing. She brings a high level of professionalism and work ethic when she is hired to sing, produce or teach. Currently, Matsuki is the managing editor of CabaretHotspot.com, an on-line entertainment magazine, where she has a popular advice column for performers called, “Sue’s Views.”

Matsuki is the co-author of “So You Want to Sing Cabaret” (Rowman & LIttlefield, 2020). She can offer a teaching component with any appearance should the venue want to offer a cabaret class. Her book and two albums, “A New Take” (jazz) and “Sue & Edd’s FABULOUS Christmas,” are available on Amazon.

Valerie Maze

Valerie Maze is a music director, conductor, pianist, vocal coach and educator. Maze has played in theatres and opera houses across the country, including Drury Lane Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Theatre at the Center (“After Dark” Award for Cats), Writers Theatre (A Little Night Music, Jeff Award nomination for Music Direction), Marriott Theatre, Music Theater Works, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Peninsula Players. At Lyric Opera of Chicago, Maze has served as assistant conductor for Lyric’s Music Theatre Initiative on My Fair Lady, The King and I, Carousel, The Sound of Music, Oklahoma! and Showboat. Active as a recitalist, she has had the opportunity to perform on WFMT as part of the Dame Myra Hess Series and on WGN-TV, playing for artists such as Kate Baldwin, Paolo Montalban, Billy Zane, and Steven Pasqual. Maze has worked at Elon University, Northwestern University, DePaul University and Loyola University.

Claire McCahan

American mezzo-soprano Claire McCahan has been applauded for her rich tone and dedication to character and expression in operatic and concert performances. Her recent operatic credits include Orfeo in an adaptation of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (Renegade Opera), Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Boulder Opera), Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, the title role in Handel’s Ariodante, Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Prince Orlofsky in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (Eklund Opera), and Camille Claudel in a staged interpretation of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Camille Claudel: Into the Fire (Opera Steamboat). She has appeared as a concert soloist with the Boulder Bach Festival, the Colorado Bach Ensemble, the Longmont Symphony Orchestra, Cantabile Ensemble, St. John’s Cathedral in Denver, and the Rocky Mountain Chorale.

McCahan was recently awarded first place at the 2022 NATS Artists Awards in New York City and was a semifinalist in the 2022 Franz Schubert and Modern Music competition. She is the winner of the inaugural 2020 World of Bach Competition and the 2020 Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition. She received the 2019 Frances MacEachron Award from the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition in New York, and the 2018 Career Advancement Award from Opera of the Rockies.

An avid performer of contemporary works, she recently performed in the premiere of Ben Morris and Laura Fuentes’ new opera The Fall of Man: And Other Tales at the ATLAS Institute. She has workshopped other roles with the CU New Opera Workshop including Brittomara in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s If I Were You, and has premiered works with the Pendulum New Music series. She performed with Jónsi & Alex at their Denver performance of the “Riceboy Sleeps” 10th anniversary album tour, and contributed vocals to the soundtrack of Adam Sandler’s “Uncut Gems.” McCahan also contributed to “Mirror State,” an interdisciplinary virtual exhibit in collaboration with the NEST Studio for the Arts, and she has worked as teaching artist and composer with the Colorado Lullaby Project in conjunction with Carnegie Hall.

McCahan will spend summer 2022 as a vocal fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, where she will perform in George Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love and Violence as well as in the vocal fellows’ recitals. She has also been a fellow at SongFest and CoOperative programs. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire, and master’s degree and artist diploma from the University of Colorado Boulder as a student of Abigail Nims.

Learn more at clairemccahan.com.

Everett McCorvey

Dr. Everett McCorvey, tenor, is a native of Montgomery, Alabama. He received his degrees from the University of Alabama. He has given performances at the Metropolitan Opera, the Kennedy Center, Radio City Music Hall, Teatro Comunale in Florence, Italy, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, England, and in more than 23 countries. Vocal excellence is a hallmark of McCorvey’s work. He is the founder of the American Spiritual Ensemble, and he is the artistic director of the National Chorale in New York City. An advisory panelist and on-site reviewer for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C, McCorvey also has served on the faculties of the New York State Summer School of the Arts, the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, and the Bay View Music Festival where he currently serves as opera conductor and co-director of the American Negro Spirituals Intensive Program.

Corey McKern

Corey McKern, baritone, is an instructor of voice at the Dr. Grier Williams School of Music and the theatre department at the University of West Florida where he teaches applied voice, vocal pedagogy, opera workshop, musical theatre voice and class voice. He appears with opera companies and symphonies throughout the United States and on international stages. McKern is a former grant recipient from the Sullivan Foundation. He received a master’s degree in music from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a bachelor’s degree in music education from Mississippi State University. He is also a graduate of the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program.

Mark McQuade

Mark McQuade serves as associate professor of music and voice area chair at Valdosta State University, teaching private voice and vocal pedagogy. McQuade previously served as associate professor of music at Minot State University, assistant professor of music at Oklahoma Baptist University, and general director of the Western Plains Opera Company. Having appeared in opera, musical theatre, concert, and recitals throughout the United States and Canada, McQuade is also a published author and active clinician who holds degrees in vocal performance and pedagogy from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Mississippi. He has been deeply involved with the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). His voice students have been featured in principal and supporting roles with university, community, and professional opera and musical theatre companies, and they are regular winners, finalists, and semi-finalists at state, regional, and national voice competitions.

Karen Michaels

Karen Michaels has been singing, performing and playing piano since she was a small child. She auditioned and became a Young American, the internationally known performance group, and at the age of 13, the creative bug was cemented! She auditioned and became a Citrus Singer, known for both classical and popular music training and performances, and she was the first female in the history of Citrus College to hold the position of student conductor.

Michaels has performed all over the United States. She worked and lived in Nashville at Opryland and the Grand Ole Opry, lived in New York City, appeared in several off-Broadway shows, and traveled the United States to nearly every state in the national tour of “The Riverboat Ragtime Revue.” She performs regularly in Las Vegas as a solo artist, is a member of the All-Star Desert Angels Gospel Choir, is a singing pianist, and a founding member of Dangerous Curves, the premier vocal jazz trio of Las Vegas. Michaels has a thriving voice and piano home studio and is a Vocal Power Associate (Elisabeth Howard). She is the director of Vocal Power Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Voice Teacher.

As an executive board member of the Nevada Arts Council from 2018 to 2021, Michaels is proud to have awarded more than 1 million dollars in funding to artists of all genres. Michaels is a tech-chick and lover of all things social media. She founded The Social Butterfly Group and her new podcast, “Your Creative GPS,” to help voice teachers and creatives learn how to use social media to grow their businesses. She also has been a regular contributor on “The Full Voice” podcast.

Michaels is a social media strategist and digital marketing cheerleader. She is devoted to serving and educating motivated (yet frustrated!) creative business owners by providing one-on-one coaching, online training courses, and full social media management services to help them cultivate a strong, authentic audience and engage more effectively with both current and future clients/customers. Her favorite job, tho’? She is a wife to an incredible husband and mom of a man-child teenager and a big, fluffy chow chow named Mo.

Audrey Miller

Audrey Miller is the associate professor of clarinet at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. At NSU, Dr. Miller teaches applied clarinet, advanced music theory, music technology, and conducts the concert band. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Germany, Belgium, Tanzania, and around the United States. Miller is a D’Addario Woodwind Artist and a Conn-Selmer Artist/Clinician.

Kevin Miller

American pianist and collaborator Kevin J. Miller is acclaimed for his dynamically artful performances. Recent collaborations include recitals with international tenor Lawrence Brownlee at Carnegie Hall, countertenor John Holiday at the Kennedy Center, Joseph Calleja and Nadine Sierra at the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as an appearance with Calleja on NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concert” series. Miller prepared soprano Jessye Norman for performances of Laura Karpman’s production of Ask Your Mama, which was performed at Carnegie Hall. He also collaborated with the acclaimed countertenor, David Daniels, in a recital at the Glimmerglass Festival. He can be heard on piano on the recording “Been in da Storm So Long,” which features baritone Kenneth Overton.

This New York native has been on the fast track to success since his days as a student at the Boys Choir of Harlem. Beginning his musical studies at the age of 8, Miller was frequently a featured soprano soloist — most notably in Vivaldi’s Gloria and Lake George Opera Association’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While studying in the Boys Choir, he studied piano with the late conductor and pianist Warren Wilson. It was during these years that Miller also began his work as an accompanist, playing for the choir on its tours of Europe, Israel, Austria, and Japan.

Miller studied at the Mannes College of Music, where he received a bachelor’s degree in piano. He continued his studies at the University of Michigan School of Music where he received both a master’s degree and the artist diploma in collaborative piano under the tutelage of Martin Katz.

In addition to his formal studies, Miller has been a participant in some of the country’s most prestigious festivals and young artist apprenticeships, including the Tanglewood Institute of Music, Aspen Summer Music Festival, the Cleveland Art Song Festival, San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, and the Glimmerglass Festival. Upon completion of his apprenticeship at the Glimmerglass Festival, he was invited to join the music staff as a vocal coach. He currently serves on music staff at Houston Grand Opera.

Susan Yarnall Monks

Susan Yarnall Monks is a soprano, teacher and researcher. She currently teaches singing at the University of Chichester Conservatoire UK. Her doctorate examined the perceptions of the singing voice and her research has explored vocal timbre as well as the differences between internal and external auditory perception for singers. The psychology of singing continues to inform her teaching, but her time is very involved with the work of the European Voice Teachers Association of which she is president. She has presented at international conferences, ICVT, PeVoc, and published articles in peer-reviewed journals. She particularly loves English, French and American song, poetry and the visual arts.

Elisa Monti

Elisa Monti (she/her) is a voice-specialized experimental psychologist with a doctorate from the New School for Social Research. Her concentration is the relationship between psychological trauma and different measures of voice. Her mission is to contribute to further our understanding of this relationship. Monti collaborates with numerous scholars and scientists, including the Helou Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh and New York Speech Pathology. She is also the original founder of the Voice and Trauma Research and Connection Group. Monti is a certified Performance Wellness therapist trained in the Montello Method for Performance Wellness and in Vocal Psychotherapy (trained by Dr. Diane Austin).

Charles Moore

Declared a “skyscraping tenor” in a review by Arkansan music critic Eric Harrison, Charles Moore hails from Kingston, Jamaica, and had his early music beginnings in the Boys Choir of the St. Richard’s Catholic School under the baton of internationally renowned conductor and musician Lloyd Hall. Moore received his bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the University of Mississippi and his master’s degree and doctorate in performance and pedagogy from Louisiana State University. His area of focus in his terminal degree was on the works of H. Leslie Adams.

Recent theater appearances include Ferrando in Così fan tutte, The Prince in Rusalka, Vuval in William Grant Still’s Troubled Island; Pat in David T. Little’s Dog Days; Pirelli in Sweeney Todd. Additionally, Moore was a participant in the 2020 NATS Intern Program. He is currently voice co-area head at the University of Northern Colorado.

Barbara Hill Moore

Barbara Hill Moore, senior associate dean for faculty, is the Meadows Foundation Distinguished Professor of Voice and director of the Southern Methodist University study abroad program in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where she conducts musical theatre productions annually with 40 Nelson Mandela University students and faculty. Hill Moore also has enjoyed a distinguished career as artist/teacher, singing for more than 55 years in concert, oratorio and opera, throughout America, Asia and Europe. She is celebrated in Germany for her interpretation of Jenny in Kurt Weill’s Die Dreigroschenoper, which was performed more than 50 times in Berlin and Cologne. A NATS member since 1969 and a teacher for the NATS Intern Program, Hill Moore’s students are NATS winners and finalists. She is president and founder of the Foote Memorial Scholarship Foundation that supports minority students in voice. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Lincoln University and the University of Illinois, respectively.

Mutsumi Moteki

Mutsumi Moteki is professor of vocal coaching at the University of Colorado Boulder. As a collaborative pianist she has appeared in many voice recitals in the U.S., Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Mexico, Macedonia, Sweden, Brazil, and Germany. As a vocal coach Dr. Moteki combines 27 years of diction teaching experience with her love for poetry and her fervent goal to spread the beauty of legato singing. She has given many master classes for singers and pianists in the U.S., Egypt, Brazil, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, and she was one of the featured master class presenters at the NATS Summer Workshops in 2017 and 2021. A passionate promoter of art songs from Japan, as well as from other East-Asian countries, she often presents these songs in lecture-recitals and workshops. With Dr. Kumiko Shimizu, she co-created the Japanese Art Song Anthology, volumes 1 and 2, which are available from Classical Vocal Reprints.

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Stephen Ng

Heralded for his “powerfully expressive voice” (Washington Post), and “a superb singer … with a soaring voice in the extreme registers that could be simply described as amazing” (New York Concert Review), Stephen Ng is known as an opera, oratorio, recital, and new music performer. His portrayal of Evangelist in Bach’s Passions has received much acclaim, and he has performed as soloist with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, De Nederlandse Opera, Orchestra Iowa, Washington Bach Consort, and the Lucerne, Tanglewood and Aspen festivals, working with conductors such as James Levine, Nicolas McGegan and Pierre Boulez. His CD, “Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Vanished,” was released by Clear Note Publications. Of this, Journal of Singing writes, “Ng, a tenor with an impressively eclectic resume, is simply superb in every respect. His voice is gorgeous and distinctive.” His second CD, “A Soft Florida Rain: Ng sings Juusela,” was released in 2013. Ng graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1995 and subsequently received his master’s degree at New England Conservatory and his doctorate at Indiana University. He has served as associate professor at Florida’s Stetson University, and he is currently associate professor at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

John Nix

John Nix is Professor of Voice and Voice Pedagogy and chair of the voice area at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His mentors include Barbara Doscher (singing, pedagogy) and Ingo Titze (voice science). Current and former students have sung with the Santa Fe, Arizona, Chautauqua, St. Louis, Nevada, Omaha, and San Antonio opera companies, and two have served as NATS Intern Program Master Teachers. In addition to his active voice teaching studio, he performs research in voice pedagogy, literature, and acoustics, having produced 46 published articles and 8 book chapters; he also co-chairs the NATS Voice Science Advisory Committee, and serves on The Journal of Singing’s editorial board. Mr. Nix is editor and annotator of From Studio to Stage: Repertoire for the Voice (Scarecrow, 2002), vocal music editor for the Oxford Handbook of Music Education (Oxford University Press, 2012), and one of three general editors for the Oxford Handbook of Singing (Oxford University Press, 2019).

Miho Nonaka

Miho Nonaka is a bilingual poet from Tokyo. She is the author of “The Museum of Small Bones” (Ashland Poetry Press, 2020), which was the first finalist for the 2021 Poetry Society of Virginia North American Poetry Book Award, and the Japanese translator of Louise Glück’s “Wild Iris” (KADOKAWA, 2021). Her poems and essays have appeared in various journals and anthologies, including Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Southern Review, Tin House, American Odysseys: Writings by New Americans and Helen Burns Poetry Anthology: New Voices from the Academy of American Poets. She is an associate professor of English and creative writing at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

Barbie Noyes

Barbara (Barbie) Noyes of Golden, Colorado, is a collaborative pianist, vocal coach, and educator. A versatile performer, Noyes can be found collaborating with musicians in a wide variety of genres including, chamber music, opera, orchestral ensembles, new music ensembles, and choral music. In 2021, she served as music director for Southern Illinois University’s chamber opera performances as well as the Composer Fellows’ Initiative program as part of the CU New Opera Workshop (CU NOW) at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Noyes received fellowships to study at both Aspen Music Festival as well as Music Academy of the West where she studied with Jonathan Feldman. During her two summers in Santa Barbara, Noyes was a finalist in the Duo Competition, performing 20th- and 21st-century masterpieces with Colin Benton, tuba, and Chas Barnard, cello. In 2018, she made her Carnegie Hall debut with oboist Kristen Weber at Weill Recital Hall. An ardent lover of contemporary repertoire, her doctoral thesis project culminated in a recorded album of André Previn’s music for voice and piano duo, bringing to the concert hall Previn’s unheralded art song library.

Noyes received her doctorate and master’s degree in collaborative piano at the University of Colorado Boulder, studying with Margaret McDonald and Alexandra Nugyen. There she was a répétiteur for Eklund Opera, performing operas under the batons of Nicholas Carthy as well as Phillip Hesketh and Caleb Harris. She previously earned a bachelor’s degree in music composition from Willamette University where she studied composition with John Peel as well as piano and chamber music with Anita King. An avid language-learner, Noyes pursued French language and cinema studies in Paris at the Sorbonne Université and the Institut Catholique and later, innovation in music technology at IRCAM’s ManiFeste summer academy for composers. Noyes currently holds the position of collaborative pianist at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. This summer, Noyes is serving as staff collaborative pianist at the Meadowmount Festival in upstate New York.

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Sandra Oberoi

Sandra Oberoi founded Harmony - The Music School in Bangalore, India, in 2008, as an after-school music program that provides vocal and instrumental training to more than 400 children and young adults. She is also the artistic director of The Harmony Chorus, an award-winning youth show choir that has traveled nationally and internationally across Russia and the U.K. on concert tours. In 2018, the choir reached India’s Top 8 on a reality singing show, “Rising Star.” Oberoi has taught and performed in several countries, sharing her vision of music with excellence and purpose. Her students have won international competitions, sung at Carnegie hall, earned scholarships to prestigious vocal programs and topped India in their vocal examinations. Many have gone on to pursue music degrees internationally. Oberoi presently serves on the board of the International Society for Music Education, where she also chairs the advocacy committee.

Shawn Okpebholo

A widely sought-after and award-winning composer, Shawn E. Okpebholo has been described by Augusta Read Thomas as “a beautiful artist ...who has enormous grace in his music, and fantasy and color." Okpebholo comfortably composes in various styles and genres, intentional in creating music that is diverse, dynamic, and genuine. His artistry has resulted in many prizes and honors, including first place winner of the 2020 American Prize in Composition (professional/wind band division) and second place winner in the 2017 American Prize in Composition (professional/orchestral division), first prize winner in the Flute New Music Consortium Composition Competition, Sound of Late Composition Contest, International Composition Competition, and the Inaugural Awardee of the Leslie Adams-Robert Owens Composition Award.

Okpebholo maintains a dynamic career as a composer, including performances on five continents, over 40 states, almost every major U.S. city, at some of the nation's most prestigious performance spaces, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the National Cathedral. He was awarded a two-year residency with the Chicago Opera Theater (2021-2023 seasons) and has had performances by many celebrated artists and ensembles, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; Fifth House Ensemble; Ensemble Dal Niente's Tara Lynn Ramsey and Kyle Flens; United States Army Field Band; vocalists J'Nai Bridges, Will Lilverman, Ryan McKinney, Robert Sims, and Tamera Wilson; pianists Paul Tuntland Sánchez, Mark Markham, Craig Terry, and Robert Ainsley; euphonium virtuoso Steven Mead, flutists Jennie Oh Brown and Caen-Thomason-Redus; among others. Okpebholo regularly receives commissions from noted soloists, universities, and organizations, including the International Tuba and Euphonium Association, the United States Air Force, Astral Artists, the Ohio Music Education Association, The Meir Rimon Commissioning Program of the International Horn Society, to name a few. His music has been featured on numerous festivals, concert series, and radio broadcasts, including the EarTaxi Contemporary Music Festival; Washington National Opera: Monuments of Hope series, Lyric Opera of Chicago recital series, Monte Music Festival (Goa, India); MusicX Contemporary Music Festival; the Uncommon Music Festival (Alaska); Front Wave New Music Festival; national conferences of the National Flute Association, Society of Composers, Inc., College Band Directors National Association, and Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers; Chicago's WFMT 98.7 and Cincinnati's WGUC 90.9. His compositions have been featured on six commercially released albums, including his first album solely devoted to his music, “Steal Away,” a collection of re-imagined Negro spirituals.

As a pedagogue, Okpebholo has given master classes at many academic institutions worldwide, including two universities in Nigeria, and he has served on the faculty of summer music festivals. He is currently on the Fresh Ink Festival's composition faculty. His compositional and research interests have been a gateway for ethnomusicological fieldwork in both East and West Africa to study the music of the Esan people in southern Nigeria, the Akambe people in the Machakos region of Kenya, and South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda. His field research has resulted in two chamber works, two symphonic works, transcriptions, and academic lectures. Grants from the Illinois Arts Council, Tangemen Sacred Music Center, Wheaton College, and Pew Research Grant (Union University) have supported his work.

He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati, where he also studied music theory. He completed a bachelor's degree in composition and music history from Asbury College. He had additional studies in film scoring from New York University through the Buddy Baker Film Scoring Program. A significant part of his music education growing up was through the Salvation Army church, where he regularly received free music lessons. Inspired by that charity, Okpebholo is passionate about volunteering his musical talents to underserved communities. Currently, he is professor of music composition and theory at Wheaton College Conservatory of Music (Illinois), having also taught at Union University (Tennessee), Northern Kentucky University, and CCM.

He lives in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, with his wife, violist Dorthy, and his daughters, Eva and Corinne.

Victoria Ortiz

Victoria Ortiz is an experienced vocalist performing in production shows, bands, solos, and professional music videos for more than 50 music venues in the New York City area. She is involved with educational music videos and in-studio recordings. Her vocal genre specialities include classical, jazz, blues, rock, pop, Top 40, Motown, Latin jazz, and more. She has experience with on-camera acting, background work, and content creation. She is also a curve model and body-positive activist.

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Sooah Park

Sooah Park is associate professor of music at the University of Texas at Tyler. Park regularly contributes to scholarship through presentations and performances. She has presented at the National Opera Association, regional conferences at the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and International conferences of the College Music Society. Park has performed in Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Finland, and South Korea. In the 2015-16 season, Park performed as a soprano soloist in Bach’s Cantata 140 with the Tyler Civic Chorale and as a soprano soloist in Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem with East Texas Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, Park performed Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 with East Texas Symphony Orchestra. Park holds a doctorate and master’s degree in opera performance from the University of Texas at Austin as well as a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the Eastman School of Music.

Tony Payne

Dr. Tony Payne has served numerous roles at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music for nearly 40 years. He holds degrees in music composition from Wheaton, Bowling Green, and Northwestern University. Recent choral works include an anniversary anthem,Sing, All Creation for Salem United Church of Christ, I Thirst, for Holy Week. He has composed more than 100 hymns for worship. His historical song cycles include Departures: Four Songs on Texts by Malcolm Muggeridge, Lincoln’s Farewell: Four Songs and The Last Words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And There Was War in Heaven was commissioned for the rededication of St. Michael’s Catholic Church. Two Songs on Prayers by Father Alexander Men for baritone, was premiered in Novaya Derevnya, Russia. How Exalted Your Name for choir and instruments, was commissioned for the 150th anniversary of Wheaton, Illinois.

Meredith Pyle Pedley

Meredith Pyle Pedley is a Los Angeles-based professional singer, teacher, and actress. Originally from Houston, Texas, Pyle grew up singing from a young age. She received her bachelor’s degree in music from Baylor University and her master’s degree in music theatre from Oklahoma City University. While at OCU, she thrived as a standout performer in their nationally ranked program starring in several musicals and operas. She studied with legendary voice teacher Florence Birdwell and received praise and mentorship from Broadway stars Kristin Chenoweth and Kelli O’Hara. Pyle has performed all over the country on a variety of stages including musicals, live cabarets, and concert halls. After 10 years, she now calls LA home where she works primarily as a SAG-AFTRA session singer and can be seen and heard on film/TV projects such as “Doctor Strange,” “Minions,” “Frozen 2,” and “The Ellen Show,” just to name a few. Pyle has sung with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Los Angeles Master Chorale, and she currently is a roster member of Tonality using the art of choral music to promote social justice. On the teaching side, Pyle serves as adjunct voice faculty at Pepperdine University as well as Harvard-Westlake Schools where she focuses on artistry and function, allowing the voice to conquer a wide range of musical styles. She is a proud member of NATS, and in June 2021, she attended the prestigious NATS Intern Program where she presented on her shared philosophy, “Don’t sing it if you don’t mean it!"

Emily Perkins

Emily Perkins received her doctorate and master’s degrees in music education from Columbia University. She also received her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in voice performance from the University of Arizona and Temple University. She taught voice at American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates for six years and conducted research at Indiana University as a visiting scholar. Currently, she teaches at Marian University and for Boston University online. In addition, she is the founder and executive director for the non-profit organization, Voicing Futures. Perkins has presented, performed and taught in Austria, Azerbaijan, China, Cuba, England, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, and the United States. In 2021, her book entitled, “Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies in Music Education: Expanding Culturally Responsive Teaching to Sustain Diverse Musical Cultures and Identities” was published by Routledge.

Nicholas Perna

Nicholas Perna, D.M.A., is an associate professor of voice and voice pedagogy at Mississippi College, a Presser Music Foundation awardee, and a voice research associate at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He has presented research on laryngeal manipulation and singing voice acoustics at events such as the International Congress of Voice Teachers ( ICVT), The Voice Foundation symposium, and the NATS national conference. His work has been published in the Journal of Singing, Journal of Voice, and VOICEPrints. He has lectured at the Singing Voice Science Workshop as well as New England Conservatory’s Acoustic Vocal Pedagogy Workshop. Perna is the creator and co-host of the “VocalFri Podcast.” Learn more at vocalfri.com. A recent finalist for the American Prize for men in opera, he has appeared multiple times in recent seasons with Opera Mississippi. Twice he was a Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist singer, and he holds graduate degrees from the University of Miami and the University of Houston. With Mandy Spivak, they created “The Comprehensive Britten Song Database.” Learn more at brittensongdatabase.com and nicholasperna.com.

May Phang

Currently a professor of piano at DePauw University in Indiana, and formerly the John Rabb Emison professor of creative and performing arts at DePauw, May Phang enjoys discovering and performing a wide range of repertoire from past to present. Performances as a soloist and chamber musician have taken her to international venues across North America, Europe and Asia. Solo performances with orchestras have included the Banff Chamber Players, Lafayette Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Singapore Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Her debut CD, “Travels through Time,” featured works centered around Mark Twain’s satirical “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” Her recording of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations was released by Centaur Records in 2021. Equally committed as a music educator, Phang teaches at summer festivals, frequently adjudicates competitions, and presents masterclasses nationally and internationally.

Ellen Pieterse

Ellen Pieterse is an all-round singer with an expressive stage presence. Coming from a classical education, she has developed into a multi-faceted performer with a great love for combining the beauty of classical music with the many musical possibilities of today. She specializes in classical art song. Pieterse is professor of musical theatre and Pop&Jazz at ArtEZ university of the Arts in Arnhem (Netherlands). She teaches both classical singing as well as CCM. At ArtEZ university of the Arts in Zwolle (Netherland), she is the methodology teacher for the classical voice department. Currently, she is president of NVZ; the Dutch association of Voice Teachers. Her first project as president was organizing Eurovox 2018 in The Hague (Netherlands).

Sarah Pigott

Sarah Pigott studied voice performance and pedagogy at Mississippi College where she received both a master’s and bachelor’s degree in music. In addition to a love of teaching, she continues to perform both in classical and musical theatre venues. She collaborated on a laryngeal manipulation study and the singing warm-up that was presented at The Voice Foundation symposium in 2019 as well as the 2020 NATS national conference. She currently teaches voice through the Mount Pisgah Arts Academy in Johns Creek, Georgia. She also co-hosts the “VocalFri Podcast.”

Greta Pope

Greta Pope is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed entertainer, educator, author, podcaster and blogger, who has delighted audiences throughout Europe, the Far East, South America and the Caribbean, as well as the United States and Canada. Dr. Pope writes “The Music Business Expert” blog and her book, “Music, Money & You; Managing the Business” has been a selected text for the Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts) and for other educational programs for musicians of all ages. “The Business Savvy Singer Podcast” is a proud offering of the NATSCast Network. Pope is a board member of the Chicago chapter of NATS and currently serves as director of workshops for the chapter. Pope’s PrivateMusicStudio.net has produced several Chicago chapter NATS audition winners. Welcome to Chicago! Follow @gretapope #gretapope #greta and learn more at gretapope.com, TheBusinessSavvySinger.com, PrivateMusicStudio.net and TheMusicBusinessExpert.com

Marcía Porter

Award-winning soprano Marcía Porter made her New York solo recital debut in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. An engaging performer, she has sung with various national and international orchestras and maintains an active recital schedule. Porter received degrees from Northwestern University and the University of Michigan, where she studied with Shirley Verrett. Dr. Porter is a professor of voice at the Florida State University College of Music and teaches applied voice and graduate courses on contemporary American and British vocal literature. Porter, a Fulbright scholar, served as a visiting professor of voice at Universidade de São Paulo where she co-taught a course on African American spirituals and Brazilian art song literature. Porter, a past NATS Artist Award winner and NATS Intern participant, has served as Southeastern region governor and as a national board member (2018 to 2022). She is an editorial advisor for Emergence, a publication of the National Association of Negro Musicians.

Jessica Rosas Posada

Jessica Rosas Posada, a native of Puebla, Mexico, is a vibrant soprano, performer, voice pedagogue and Mexican art song specialist. A voice professor with more than eight years of experience, including three years at the collegiate level, Posada was recently appointed visiting assistant professor of voice as well as director of voice studies at Whitman College. Previously, she served as adjunct professor of voice at Grayson College. Her current research focuses on Mexican art song, especially on the vocal music of Manuel M. Ponce. In 2020, she presented a session for the Texas Music Educators Association titled, “Voice acoustics: Vowel modification. Sing that top!” In 2021, she was invited to present her lecture recital research, “Doce canciones mexicanas: A Singer’s Guide to Manuel M. Ponce’s (1882-1948) Mexican Romantic Art Song as Described in his Essay La canción mexicana,” at the 12th Hispanic Heritage Festival at Palm Beach Atlantic University. She holds a doctorate in vocal performance and vocal pedagogy from the University of North Texas, a master’s degree in vocal performance from Texas Tech University, and a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Texas at Brownsville.

Michael Preacely

Michael Preacely — an American baritone currently based out of Lexington, Kentucky — has proven himself a rising star on the operatic stage. Over the course of his burgeoning career, Preacely has worked with numerous major and regional opera houses and orchestras in the United States and abroad and has consistently garnered critical acclaim. Preacely’s international career has spanned the globe, having featured performances in Europe, Asia, Russia, and Canada. Domestically, the Cincinnati Opera, Opera Company Philadelphia, Opera Memphis, Kentucky Opera, and Cleveland Opera rank among the multitude of reputable opera companies with whom Preacely has been featured as a performer.

Likewise, he has performed alongside many of the nation’s top leading orchestras, including the Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Hilton-Head Symphony, Asheville Symphony, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Pops, the Cincinnati Pops, the American Spiritual Ensemble, and most recently the American Pops Orchestra. Alongside his noteworthy stage credits and history of critical acclaim, Preacely also has received a great many accolades, including his reception of awards in the Fritz and Jensen Vocal Competition and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Currently, Preacely is on faculty with the University of Kentucky as a lecturer in voice. Preacely’s upcoming engagements include a debut with Finger Lake Opera, featured soloist at the NATS national conference, and featured soloist with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir.

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Kari Ragan

Author, singer, and voice pedagogue, Kari Ragan holds a doctorate from the University of Washington, and her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Indiana University. Ragan was the recipient of the prestigious Van. L. Lawrence Award, the NATS Foundation Pedagogy Award, and was selected to be a master teacher for the NATS Intern Program in 2021. Ragan works in affiliation with the University of Washington laryngology program to help rehabilitate singers with injured voices. She has maintained a thriving independent voice studio for nearly 40 years and served on the voice faculty at the University of Washington teaching applied voice, voice pedagogy, and more. Ragan serves as the NATS advancement committee chair and the moderator of NATS Chats. She is also co-founder of the Northwest Voice: Art and Science of the Performing Voice Conference held annually in Seattle, Washington. Plural Publishing released her book, “A Systematic Approach to Voice: The Art of Studio Application,” in 2020. Other publications and information can be found at KariRagan.com

Frank Ragsdale

Frank Wayne Ragsdale has performed in opera, oratorio, musical theatre, and recitals throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, South Africa, the Middle East, and Central America where, for three consecutive years, he was invited by the U.S. Embassies of Costa Rica and Honduras to give recital tours and master classes. Ragsdale’s students have sung with Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Glimmerglass, Florida Grand Opera, to name a few. They have been seen at Lincoln Center (Broadway), Longacre Theater (Broadway) Goodspeed Opera House, Paper Mill Playhouse, Forestburgh Playhouse, among others. They have won competitions all across the country with NATS, Classical Singer, Lotte Lenya, Crescendo, Utah Festival International Opera Competition, and the districts and regions of the MET Council Auditions. Dr. Ragsdale is the chair of the department of vocal performance at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and the NATS National Musical Theatre Competition Coordinator. He is a sought after guest for master classes and competitions around the world and in 2021, he was a master teacher at the NATS Intern Program.

Yvonne Gonzales Redman

Yvonne Gonzales Redman is an associate professor of voice and voice pedagogy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She began her professional career as a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Award. A presence at the Metropolitan Opera for 18 consecutive seasons, she has performances that are still regularly broadcast over Sirius XM radio and Met Opera on Demand. Her experience rehearsing, performing, and teaching in multiple spaces influenced her interest in acoustics and noise levels of musical work environments and the impact on teachers. A publication is in press for Journal of Voice and was presented at The Voice Foundation, International Congress of Acoustics, and NATS national conference. She also has presented on cross-training voices at the International Congress of Voice Teachers, and on performance anxiety at the Florida and Texas Music Education Associations.

Kat Reinhert

Kat Reinhert is an accomplished songwriter, vocalist, musician, author and educator. As a solo artist, Reinhert has released five independent albums and sung on multiple projects and recordings for noted artists. She is the former director of contemporary voice at the University of Miami, Frost School of Music and is a sought-after clinician, speaker and researcher. Reinhert holds a bachelor’s degree in jazz/commercial voice, a master’s degree in jazz pedagogy, and a doctorate in music education, specializing in popular music performance and pedagogy. Reinhert has authored several book chapters and journal articles on contemporary voice and songwriting, and sh iis the current president of the Association for Popular Music Education. She is also the co-founder of Songwriting for Music Educators™, dedicated to helping music educators learn the craft of songwriting. Reinhert currently resides in New York City where she is working on several music, educational, business, consulting and writing projects.

Timothy Renner

Timothy Renner serves as director of opera and assistant professor of voice at Shorter University in Rome, Georgia. An active international performing artist, Renner is a graduate of the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His recent professional engagements include Escamillo in Carmen at the New National Theatre Tokyo (2018), Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles with Opera Tampa (2019), and Marcello in La Bohème with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City (2019). Concert repertoire includes Carmina Burana and Fauré’s Requiem with the Eastern Symphony Orchestra, Ein Deutsches Requiem and Messiah with the New Jersey Master Chorale, and St. Matthew Passion with Sinfonia da Camera. A native of Virginia, Renner earned his doctorate in voice performance and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has studied voice with Jean Greer, Stan Eby, Jerold Siena, and most recently, Bill Schuman.

Nancy Rhodes

Artistic Director Nancy Rhodes has championed American opera since founding Encompass New Opera Theatre with an award-winning production of the Virgil Thomson/Gertrude Stein opera The Mother of Us All. She staged the world premiere of Kirke Mechem’s Tartuffe for San Francisco Opera, Thomson’s Lord Byron at Alice Tully Hall, Ricky Ian Gordon’s Only Heaven, Evan Mack’s Angel of the Amazon, and The Astronaut’s Tale at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Her acclaimed New York premiere of Grigori Frid’s opera The Diary of Anne Frank toured Cleveland Opera and was nominated for an Artistic Achievement Award. Internationally, she staged Britten’s Death in Venice (Stockholm), Carmen (Oslo), and Eccentrics, Outcasts and Visionaries, A Century of American Opera for Amsterdam’s Holland Festival. She is the librettist for The Theory of Everything, a new opera with music by John David Earnest. For 12 years, Rhodes taught “Acting for Singers” at Manhattan School of Music.

Eric Rieger

Eric Rieger is assistant professor of voice at Florida State University, having taught previously at Western Washington University, Westminster Choir College, Texas Tech University, and Nazareth College. His international singing career has led him to the opera companies of Zürich, Luzern, Basel, Trier, Regensburg, Kaiserslautern, Bremerhaven, Osnabrück, Nordhausen, Konstanz, Novara, and Treviso, as well as Zomeropera Alden Biesen (Belgium), Citizens Theatre (Scotland), and Everyman Palace Theatre (Ireland). In concert, he has appeared with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Basel Sinfonietta, St. John’s Orchestra (London), Luxembourg “Les Musiciens” Orchestra, Trier Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Monteverdi Festival, Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Royal Concertgebouw, and Carnegie Hall. A passionate recitalist, Dr. Rieger has performed with the Boston Art Song Society, Lyric Fest (Philadelphia), Market Square Concerts (Harrisburg), St. John’s Smith Square (London), and more. His solo debut album, “Poet’s Journey: Song Cycles of Benjamin Britten,” is available on the Affetto/Naxos record label.

Blake Riley

Blake Riley is associate professor of collaborative piano at the Dr. Grier Williams School of Music at the University of West Florida where he teaches applied piano, class piano, collaborative piano and lyric diction. He has collaborated with many artists from the nation’s leading opera companies. He has enjoyed many collaborations with Pensacola Opera and continues to serve as principal keyboardist for the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra. He has studied at Mount Allison University, the University of Toronto, and holds a master’s degree in collaborative piano from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Tomasz Robak

Tomasz Robak currently works as the departmental accompanist at Davidson College in North Carolina where he supports the choral ensembles, opera workshop, singers, and instrumentalists, performing on piano and organ. Dr. Robak holds degrees from Rice University and Peabody Conservatory, and he was the recipient of a 2018-19 Fulbright grant to Poland. In 2021, he was very fortunate to have participated in the NATS Internship program. To find out more, visit tomaszrobak.com.

Casey Robards

Pianist Casey Robards has given vocal and instrumental recitals throughout the United States, Europe, Central and South America and Asia. The 2021-22 recital season included programs with Ollie Watts Davis, LaToya Lain, Henry Pleas and Karen Slack. Robards may be heard on CD recordings with Davis, Pleas, violinist Fangye Sun and oboists, Sara Fraker and Nancy Clauter. Currently, Robards is the clinical assistant professor in vocal accompanying and coaching at the University of Illinois and faculty pianist/conductor/coach at Bay View Music Festival, Dr. Robards also has been on the faculty of Indiana University, Oberlin Conservatory (postdoctoral) and Central Michigan University. She maintains professional memberships with IKCAS (International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society), NATS, Maestra, MUSE, and the National Opera Association (Sacred in Opera Initiative). She authored a chapter for the book, “So You Want to Sing Spirituals,” in the NATS series and participated in the professional NATS Intern Program in 2020.

Justin Roberts

Justin Roberts (acoustic guitar/vocals/songwriter) grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, where he would wander aimlessly collecting autumn leaves on his way to school, sometimes showing up very late for class. He was quickly dubbed the “absent-minded professor” by his kindergarten teacher. He was also a failed little league baseball player at Raccoon Valley where he was much more interested in the tickets you could exchange for snow cones than the actual rules of the game. Now he loves learning rules to games — especially board games and pinball machines. His first instrument was the piano, followed briefly by clarinet, and after singing the solo in a variety show at the Des Moines Civic Center, he was asked to join a rock band in 7th grade and learned to play the guitar. From there, music followed him everywhere he went, to college where he formed the post-folk band Pimentos for Gus with Mike Hallenbeck and Tracy Spuehler to preschool where he started writing songs for his students. The absent-minded professor almost became a professor after studying philosophy at Kenyon College and religious studies at the University of Chicago. But instead, he jumped in his old Volkswagen and started singing songs about the alphabet and whales wandering in the desert.

Trineice Robinson-Martin

A specialist in the pedagogy and performance for African American folk-based music styles, Trineice Robinson-Martin serves on faculty at Princeton University. In addition to Princeton, Dr. Robinson-Martin is an internationally recognized clinician and performer, the creator of Soul Ingredients® Methodology and Voice studio, and serves on the national faculty of Gospel Music Workshop of America and LoVetri Institute of Somatic Voicework™. She is the executive director of the African American Jazz Caucus, a board director for the Jazz Education Network, an editorial board member of the Journal of Singing, and a member of the American Academy of Teachers of Singing.

Kim Robson

Kim Robson earned a master’s degree in music from the New England Conservatory and a doctorate in music from Boston University. She has taught voice at Mercyhurst College, Allegheny College, Tabor Academy, Merion Mercy Academy, the University of the Sciences, Temple University, and in her home studio. Her performing highlights include Sarah in the world premier of Out of the Rain at OperaDelaware, Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring, and a national tour with American Family Theatre’s Beauty and the Beast. Locally, she is a soprano section leader and soloist at St. David’s Church in Wayne, Pennsylvania. She is the former president and board member of the Greater Philadelphia chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (GPNATS). Currently, she teaches voice and serves as the director of choirs at the Pennsylvania State University at Abington.

Katya Roemer

Katya Roemer, spinto soprano, has been a teaching and performing member of NATS for 35 years, and she has served on the board for the San Francisco Bay Area chapter. She enjoys singing a broad range of repertoire, styles and languages from opera, art song and oratorio to musical theatre, jazz, pop and standards, and she has performed a multitude of opera roles over her career. A particular new pleasure has been exploring the huge diversity and beauty of the classical and popular songs of composers from Mexico, including “Júrame,” a Latin standard by Maria Grever, and a super fun Mariachi huapango folk song, “El Pastor.” She looks forward to working on more repertoire by women. Roemer is enjoying introducing her students to this wonderful body of song. Her voice studio is located in San Jose, California.

Edward Rothmel

Edward Rothmel is a versatile vocal coach and collaborative pianist. He holds his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from Florida State University’s College of Music and received his doctorate in piano accompanying and chamber music, with a minor in vocal coaching from the Eastman School of Music. As a coach, Rothmel has worked at the Tanglewood Institute, Eastman Opera Theatre, Eastman Symphony Orchestra, Si Parla, Si Canta, and Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival. As a collaborative pianist, Rothmel has appeared at Weill Recital Hall and as a guest at institutions such as Pennsylvania State University, Oklahoma City University, University of North Texas, and Ithaca College, among others. His students have been selected for the Lindemann program and the Merola program, and they have won awards including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Auditions and Orpheus Vocal Competition. He currently teaches at the University of Northern Colorado.

Nirmalya Roy

Nirmalya Roy, a vibrant international vocal artist based in Kolkata, India, is the founding artistic director of Music Mantra Institute. In the United States, he has performed with the legendary pandit Ravi Shankar at the Hollywood Bowl, and Roy composed and performed the inauguration theme music for the 2014 USA Banga Sammelan Conference. A sought after playback artist for Bollywood movies, including “The Final Exit,” he recently sang five songs for “Durgeshgorer Guptodhon,” which won the most popular and profitable movie award in 2019. He also has performed by invitation for the Sultanate of Oman, Muscat, Embassy of India Chancery. He works as the music director for the Indian musical reality TV show, “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa,” and performs regularly for stations ZEE Bangla TV, E TV, Tara TV, Akash 8 and Ruposhi Bangla. He is a former faculty affiliate at the Center for World Music at the University of Illinois.

Jeffrey Ryan

Jeffrey Ryan grew up training his ear with Petula Clark, The Partridge Family and Captain and Tennille, playing saxophone and flute in high school bands, singing in two choirs, and writing his own songs for voice class. Now, as a freelance composer based in Vancouver, Canada, he finds inspiration in the world around him and creates music that runs the gamut from orchestral and chamber works to opera, art song, and choral music.

Praised for his “strong personal voice” (Globe and Mail) and recipient of SOCAN’s Jan V. Matejcek New Classical Music Award, Ryan’s music engages audiences in concerts and broadcasts around the world. Major recent projects include Miss Carr in Seven Scenes for mezzo and piano, and Scar Tissue, a collaboration with poet Michael Redhill for vocal sextet and piano trio.

Recordings of Ryan’s music have garnered multiple JUNO and Western Canadian Music Award nominations. His discography includes the portrait CDs Fugitive Colours (Vancouver Symphony/Gryphon Trio) and Quantum Mechanics, along with many individual works. Ryan was the Vancouver Symphony’s composer-in-residence (2002 to 2007) and composer laureate (2008/09). He was an affiliate composer with the Toronto Symphony (2000 to 2002), and is currently composer advisor for Music Toronto. He holds degrees from Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Toronto, and Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with acclaimed composer Donald Erb. Ryan won the first prize in the2021 NATS Art Song Composition Award for his work, “Everything Already Lost.” Read more at jeffreyryan.com.

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David Sabella

David Sabella’s performing credits include Chicago (Broadway) and Off-Broadway productions of Jules, Kiss and Make Up, Hexed, So Long, 174th Street, FOXY, and Watch Your Step. His voice-over work includes “Peter Pan and The Pirates” (FOX), “Teacher’s Pet,” and “Donald Von Drake” (Disney). He was the winner of the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition and has performed in Giulio Cesare, L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Die Fledermaus (Lincoln Center). His recordings include “Giulio Cesare,” (Koch International), “Chicago” (RCA Victor), “FOXY,” “Watch Your Step,” “Everybody’s Getting Into The Act,” and “A Special Place” (OCR). Sabella is currently on the voice faculty at Montclair State University and Fordham University. He was the director of music and voice at Broadway Theater Project and is a member of Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, NATS, and The Voice Foundation. He served as president of New York Singing Teachers’ Association from 2008 to 2014. He offers private instruction at Sabella Voice Studio. Visit sabellamills.com

Kyle Sackett

Kyle Sackett, baritone, is a doctoral student in voice with a minor in choral conducting. Before coming to Madison, Sackett worked extensively both teaching and performing in Chicago. He taught musical theatre voice within the Theatre Conservatory at Roosevelt University and voice at Carthage College. Sackett has performed operatically with Haymarket Opera Company, Chicago Opera Theatre, Opera Atelier, and Opera for the Young, and he is a frequent oratorio soloist around Chicagoland. A passionate choral singer, Sackett performs and records regularly with top-tier ensembles including the GRAMMY® Award-winning new music ensemble The Crossing (Philadelphia), Music of the Baroque (Chicago), Grant Park Symphony Chorus (Chicago), Chicago Symphony Chorus, Bella Voce (Chicago), Constellation Men’s Ensemble (Chicago), Vocális Chamber Choir (Buffalo), and Berkshire Choral International, where he is a faculty member. He holds the master’s degree in voice and opera performance from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in music education from SUNY Fredonia (Fredonia, New York).

Jeremiah Sanders

Jeremiah Sanders maintains an active schedule as a performer, educator, and conductor. Recently, they earned a Metropolitan Opera National Council District win in Kansas City, Missouri, were a finalist in the Jacobs School of Music Diversity Competition, National Arts and Letters Vocal Competition, and the Opera Mississippi John Alexander Vocal Competition. They have sung with the San Miguel Institute of Bel Canto (Guanajuato, Mexico), Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance, International Opera Performing Experience (Mercatello sul Metauro, Italy), Opera Saratoga, and Union Avenue Opera. Sanders is in the final year of doctoral studies under the tutelage of Jane Dutton at Indiana University where they have performed the Father in Hansel and Gretel, The Preacher/Street Singer in Berstein's Mass, Germont in La Traviata, Marcello in La Bohème, and the title role in Falstaff.

William Sauerland

Praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for “limpid tone and astonishing eloquence,” countertenor William Sauerland (he/they) is an assistant professor in the School of Music at Purdue University – Fort Wayne. As a soloist, his recent appearances include the American Bach Soloists, Echoing Air, Festival Opera Company, Folger Concert, Musical Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Oakland Symphony, and Pacific Chorale. A former member of the GRAMMY® Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, Sauerland has sung throughout the world, and recorded multiple albums for Warner Classics. Sauerland received a doctorate in music and music education from Teachers College, Columbia University. As a Marshall Scholar, Sauerland earned a master’s degree and post-graduate diploma from the Royal College of Music in London. Sauerland’s publications appear in the Journal of Singing, Journal of Music Teacher Education, VOICEPrints, and book chapters through GIA Publications and Pavane Publishing.

Caroline Schiller

An artist equally at home in concert, opera, and musical theatre repertoire, Caroline Schiller has participated in the creation and performance of works with companies throughout North America. Her most recent project is the chamber opera entitled, Your Daughter Fanny, by composer Alice Ho and writer Lisa Moore for Schiller and Duo Concertante. This work, drawn from letters of nurse Frances Cluett to her mother, is a tribute to all women who served in wartime and has had performances throughout Canada. Recordings include, “Great Britain Triumphant!,” 18th-century cantatas with the Hungarian ensemble Capella Savaria (Centaur) and “Voyage to Canada,” a recording of Canadian art song (Centrediscs). Schiller is professor of voice/director of opera at Memorial University of Newfoundland and director of Memorial’s touring program, Opera RoadShow/Opéra en tournée. For NATS, she has served as a district governor and as president of the Atlantic region. Additionally, she is chair of research for National Opera Association, and she is a frequent recitalist, adjudicator, and clinician in Canada and abroad.

Natalie Sherer

As a pianist and vocal coach, Natalie R. Sherer thrives in collaboration with singers and instrumentalists alike. Sherer is currently in her final year of the doctoral program in collaborative piano, studying with Martin Katz, at the University of Michigan. Sherer recently performed and coached at the 2020 NATS Intern Program and at Prague Summer Nights Young Artist Festival. She was a vocal chamber music fellow of the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago (CAIC). Pianist for the trio “Artful Song," Sherer brings 19th century salon-inspired performances to contemporary audiences. She also has performed with Hampsong Foundation, Pianoforte Foundation, Chicago College of Performing Arts OperaFest, Credo Music, the Schubertiade Festival, and as a guest soloist with orchestras, both as a pianist and soprano. Sherer completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance at Manhattan School of Music, Wheaton College, and Roosevelt University.

Loraine Sims

Loraine Sims is the Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick professor of voice at Louisiana State University. Recent performances include “Comedy in Song: Humorous Art Songs in English” at the 2017 International Congress of Voice Teachers and for the 2016 NATS national conference. Professional activities include “Voice Masculinization and Voice Feminization: Vocalises for Trans and Gender Expansive Singers” for the 2020 NATS virtual national conference and co-chairing the plenary session, “The Ethics of a Profession: Diversity and Inclusivity.” Previous activities include a pre-conference workshop, “Teaching Outside the Gender Binary: Working with Transgender and Non-Binary Singers” for the 2018 NATS national conference as well as two other sessions on this topic. Other presentations include “Honoring and Validating Transgender Singers in a Choral Context II: Healthy Vocal Pedagogy for Transgender Singers” at the 2019 American Choral Directors Association national conference, and “What the Fach? Voice Dysphoria in the Transgender and Genderqueer Singer” for The Voice Foundation’s 2018 annual symposium.

Steven Sims

Steven Sims (pronouns: he/him) is the director of the Chicago Institute for Voice Care at the UIC Medical Center in Chicago. He is a board-certified laryngologist who chose a career in professional voice care as an extension of his two passions, medicine and singing. A graduate of the Yale University School of Medicine, H. Steven Sims, M.D., completed a clinical fellowship at the Vanderbilt Voice Center and is a current appointee of the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders Advisory Council with the National Institutes of Health. He is also an accomplished musician who plays trombone, bassoon and piano. While an undergraduate at Yale University he was a member of choirs and he is an experienced vocalist as well. His personal experiences and education are employed to address the problems of singers, performing artists and other voice professionals. The Chicago Institute for Voice Care is dedicated to increasing the awareness and treatment of the unique issues faced by performing artists and providing comprehensive care. He has worked with opera soloists and cast members of Wicked, Hamilton, Jersey Boys, Book of Mormon and numerous other shows as well as Chicago's Academy Award-winning Dreamgirls.

Richard Dale Sjoerdsma

Richard Dale Sjoerdsma received his AB degree from Calvin College, an MM in voice from the University of South Dakota, and a PhD in musicology from The Ohio State University. His research and dissertation on the music of Franz Christoph Neubauer (1760–95) have rendered him an authority on this composer, resulting in contributions to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and The Grove Dictionary of Opera. Additionally, he has written articles for The NATS Journal, penned reviews for NOTES and The Piano Quarterly, and has authored a book on Neubauer published by A-R Editions.

He retired in 2007 from a 39-year career at Carthage College, Kenosha, WI, where he taught studio voice, opera, vocal literature and diction, voice pedagogy, and directed opera productions. During that time, he served almost three decades as Chair of the Department of Music and eight years as Chair of the Fine Arts Division. Dr. Sjoerdsma, a tenor, also has performed widely in opera, oratorio, concert, and recital, both in the US and in Western Europe, principally in Germany, but also in Sweden, Hungary, Austria, and France. Additionally, he has appeared frequently as guest clinician and adjudicator, has conducted symphony orchestras, and has led a number of voice master classes.

After having managed the "Bookshelf" column since 1972, begun under editor Harvey Ringel, Sjoerdsma was appointed Editor in Chief of Journal of Singing in 2001, a post that occupies a significant part of his retirement. He has been a member of NATS since 1971, and was invited into membership of the American Academy of Teachers of Singing (AATS) in 2002.

A multifaceted career as scholar, pedagogue, performer, and editor was instrumental in Sjoerdsma being honored by the OSU School of Music 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award. Further honors accrued as Carthage College dedicated his former voice studio and established an endowed scholarship in his name.

Ken Smith

Ken Smith has had an active life as pianist for the past 40 years. His performance credits include solo and ensemble appearances throughout the United States, in Europe, Japan and Central America. He is widely known as a vocal accompanist having collaborated with hundreds of singers through the years. Some highlights of his career include a long association with the Ashiya Chamber Society of Ashiya, Japan. Among the 32 diverse concerts with this group, there were appearances at Matsukata Hall in Kobe, Izumi Hall and the Gansenji Shrine in Osaka as well as performances at the Lichtental Church in Vienna, at the residence of the Japanese Ambassador to the Holy See in Rome, and at the Concert Hall in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. As an accompanist, he has enjoyed a long association with the Bel Canto Foundation of Chicago for whom he was principal coach at their seminars in Busseto and Siena, Italy. He was also one of the official accompanists for the Metropolitan Opera auditions in Chicago. In 1992, he joined the faculty of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University as a coach in the department of voice and opera. Although he retired from that position in 2014, he enjoys being a participant in the Naked Voice Institute held on campus each June. A native of Louisiana, Smith studied at Indiana University with the American pianist Sidney Foster who had a great influence on his playing and to whom he is deeply indebted.

Daniel Stein

Daniel Stein, is assistant professor of instruction in classical and musical theater voice as well as coordinator of opera theater at Ohio University (Athens, Ohio) and a board member of Ohio NATS. A 2020 NATS Intern alumnus, he earned his doctorate from the Ohio State University, his master’s degree from University of North Carolina Greensboro, and his bachelor’s degree from Wright State University. Stein has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Arizona MusicFest Festival Orchestra, Memphis Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, and Portland (ME) Symphony, among others. He has performed works Carmina Burana, Messiah, Glagolitic Mass (Janáček), and St. John Passion, to name a few. Stein has sung leading roles with companies such as Asheville Lyric Opera, Opera Carolina, Opera Columbus, and Greensboro Opera. His favorite roles include Conte Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Theodore Lawrence (Little Women), Alfredo (La Traviata), and creating the roles of Alan Seymour in Picnic (Libby Larsen) and William in The Flood (Korine Fujiwara).

Alexandra Plattos Sulack

Alexandra Plattos Sulack (she/her) is a performer, singer, teacher, and coach. She believes that everyone has a voice worth sharing. Her work centers around meeting voice users where they are and co-creating a plan steeped in science-based pedagogy and play, so that their free voice (singing or speaking) can emerge. She has been working with trans and non-binary singers and speech students since 2016. Plattos Sulack is also an adjunct faculty member at Morton College where she teaches private voice lessons and conducts the College Singers choir. She is the president of the board of directors for Orvieto Musica, a chamber music festival in central Italy. Plattos Sulack has had the pleasure of coaching regional works, such as “Cetology” by Nelia Miller, and she has worked with new shows in workshop, such as Stu for Silverton. Plattos Sulack’s performance takes her from the concert stage to the operatic stage to the improv stage. Currently, she can be seen performing with the Divas of Forte Chicago, an operatic sketch and improv troupe.

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Michael Tan

Michael Tan is an associate acquisitions editor for music books at Rowman & Littlefield, including the imprint Amadeus Press, and he is excited to grow the wide offerings of the music program. He has degrees in music from Temple University and New York University, and he enjoys discussing a wide variety of music-related topics with authors. Tan wants to connect with authors who are interested in writing general interest books and professional books in the area of music business, music technology, voice studies, and instrumental pedagogy. If you have a book idea, please feel free to email him at mtan@rowman.com.

Darryl Taylor

Darryl Taylor's performances have been noted for their compelling artistry and authority. His is an international career highlighted by performances of art song, opera and oratorio. His repertoire extends from Bach to Britten, and beyond. His recent performance highlights include singing the title role in Phillip Glass' Akhnaten for Long Beach Opera; L.A. Opera’s groundbreaking production of Dido and Aeneas; Pergolesi and Vivaldi Stabat Mater with Lyra Baroque Orchestra of St. Paul, Minnesota; performances with the Carmel Bach Festival; the Bach Collegium San Diego under Richard Egarr, and performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall. He also performed Solomon with the City Choir of Washington under Robert Shafer. Founder of the African American Art Song Alliance, his recordings on Naxos and Albany record labels have received lavish praise. “Love Rejoices: Songs of H. Leslie Adams” was a number one Critic's Choice for American Record Guide for 2001.

Minque Taylor

Minque Taylor is a celebrated Los Angeles and New York City-based vocalist, songwriter, educator, and vocal pedagogue. Taylor earned a master’s degree in vocal performance with a concentration in music theater and a post-master’s advanced certificate in vocal pedagogy from New York University. Additionally, she holds a master’s degree in music industry administration from California State University, Northridge. Taylor feels at home on the stage and in the studio. She has performed nationally and abroad, appearing in musical theatre roles and providing lead and background vocals for several corporate bands. As a studio singer, she has lent her vocals to numerous projects celebrating diversity and highlighting social justice. Taylor finds purpose and joy in the classroom, and she is dedicated to enriching and inspiring the next generation of gifted artists. She is currently adjunct faculty at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA).

Craig Terry

American pianist Craig Terry has an international performance career and recently won a GRAMMY® Award for “Best Classical Solo Vocal Album” for the recording he made with Joyce DiDonato, “Songplay.” He has served as the Jannotta Family Endowed Chair music director of Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center since 2013, after having previously spent 11 seasons with the company as an assistant conductor. Before coming to Lyric, he was an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera after joining its Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Terry has performed extensively with such esteemed artists such as Jamie Barton, Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Brian Jagde, Joseph Kaiser, Quinn Kelsey, Kate Lindsey, Ana María Martínez, Susanna Phillips, Luca Pisaroni, and Patricia Racette, among others. He has collaborated as a chamber musician with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Lyric Opera Orchestra, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchester, and the Pro Arte String Quartet. Terry is artistic director of Beyond the Aria, a recital series presented by the Harris Theater in collaboration with Lyric Opera of Chicago. His discography includes “Diva on Detour” with Patricia Racette, “As Long As There Are Songs” with Stephanie Blythe, and “Chanson d’Avril” with Nicole Cabell.

Richard Pearson Thomas

Richard Pearson Thomas is a composer and pianist who has had works performed by Boston Pops, Covent Garden Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Portland Opera, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, Banff Centre, Skylight Opera Theatre, Mirror Visions Ensemble, and Riverside Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. His songs have been sung in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, and before the U.S. Congress. He has concertized with singers worldwide. Encompass New Opera Theatre produced the New York premiere of his comic opera, A Wake or a Wedding, which was commissioned and premiered by the California State University at Fullerton. Encompass also has produced his musical, Ladies in a Maze, as well as staged readings of his opera, Blood of Angels, in their Page to Stage Series. His opera Parallel Lives was produced Off-off Broadway by the Riverside Opera Ensemble. He is currently on the faculty at Yale as well as Teachers College, Columbia University.

Bobbie Ticknor

Bobbie Ticknor is an associate professor in the department of sociology, anthropology, and criminal justice at Valdosta State University. Ticknor received her doctorate from the University of Cincinnati. She provides training and assistance to various criminal justice agencies and has written and delivered several cognitive-based programs used for either correctional rehabilitation or family guidance and social support. Prior to becoming a criminal justice faculty member, Ticknor was a professional software developer for nearly 15 years. Her interest in technology brought her to virtual reality. Ticknor was the principal researcher on the first pilot to use virtual reality to treat an offender population. She runs the VSU Virtual Reality lab in Odum Library. She also continues to develop various web-based software solutions for a variety of real-world problems. Ticknor’s other research interests include offender classification and assessment, offender reentry, sex offender policy and practices, and biosocial criminology.

Michael Tilley

Michael Tilley serves as musical administrator for Lyric Theatre @ Illinois, as well as teaching vocal coaching and accompanying majors. After receiving his master’s degree in collaborative piano from the University of Colorado-Boulder (also his bachelor’s degrees in piano and molecular biology), Tilley was hired as musical director for Franc D'Ambrosio's national tours. During the last decade, he has served as music director for concerts and shows in New York City and throughout the country. As a conductor, he has led ensembles from Central City Opera, Opera Colorado, Emerald City Opera and Boulder Opera. He has been a featured performer with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and other regional orchestras, as well as with the Martha Graham Dance Company at the Vail International Dance Festival. His orchestrations and arrangements, from solo piano to full symphony to rock opera, have been heard across the country and abroad. He also has composed music for the stage and a feature-length soundtrack. He plays, sings and writes for the Argentine tango groups Extasis and Orquesta Tipica di Natural Tango. He is currently the associate music director for The Four Phantoms In Concert.

Sahoko Sato Timpone

Sahoko Sato Timpone, mezzo-soprano, is a native of Tokyo who grew up in Japan, Germany and the U.S. She made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and has since performed in many operas and concerts throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. She is a graduate of New England Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music, and she received her doctorate in music from Rutgers University. She is assistant professor of voice at Florida State University and also has been invited as a guest artist and faculty member at the Alion Baltic International Music Festival in Estonia and at the Lunigiana International Music Festival in Italy. For more information, please visit sahokotimpone.com.

Valerie Trujillo

Valerie M. Trujillo has been associated with opera companies including Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Wexford Festival Opera (Ireland), Chautauqua Opera, Ohio Light Opera and Opera in the Ozarks. Trujillo served as artist faculty at the Tanglewood Music Center, Ars Vocalis México (Mexico), Taos Opera Institute, Si parla, si canta (Italy) as well as the academic faculty at the Mannes College and Yale University. She served as a master teacher for the 2020 and 2021 NATS Intern Programs. She can be heard on the GRAMMY® Award-nominated Chandos release of Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur. She can also be heard on the Mark Records, Albany and Azica labels. Trujillo received her training from Eastern New Mexico University and the University of Illinois. She teaches on the faculty at Florida State University where she is professor of vocal coaching and accompanying, and serves as the coordinator of the voice and opera programs.

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Juanita Ulloa

Juanita Ulloa discovered the Operachi style inadvertently after training and performing opera regionally for eight years. While training with Jane Randolph, she discovered more authenticity and rhythmic fun with mariachi huapangos and the bolero tradition, alongside many worldwide art song traditions. Ulloa was raised in Mexico City, Panama, and later in Madrid, Spain. She devotes her career to sharing the Hispanic world’s many rich vocal styles through recordings, concert performances, university master classes, mariachi voice workshops, private studio teaching, and publications with Mel Bay, Scholastic, MacMillan/McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Rowman & Littlefield (“So You Want to Sing World Music”), and the upcoming book on “The Mariachi Voice” with Oxford University Press. She has taught at Texas and California universities and currently teaches voice at Laney Community College. Her private voice studio is both virtual and based in Stockton, California. Ulloa has served on the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) board which oversees the GRAMMY® Awards, the board of NAJIT, and serves on the advisory board for the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of NATS. Dr. Ulloa holds music degrees from Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Northern Colorado.

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Cynthia Vaughn

Cynthia Vaughn is a respected singer, voice teacher, author, and clinician. She serves as the associate editor for “Independent Voices” articles in InterNos, the semiannual newsletter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). Vaughn and the late Meribeth Dayme coauthored three editions of “The Singing Book,” a leading college voice class textbook and song anthology published by W. W. Norton, which was one of many products of their 20-year collaboration and friendship. A certified CoreSinging® instructor, Vaughn has a decades-long association with Dayme. It was Dayme’s final wish that Vaughn would make the CoreSinging information widely available. Dayme’s sister Susanne Hill gave Vaughn all of Dayme’s papers, computer files, and resources related to CoreSinging. In April of 2022, Rowman & Littlefield published “The Essentials of CoreSinging: A Joyful Approach to Singing and Voice Pedagogy” by Dayme, edited by Vaughn and Matthew Hoch. The book also contains guest chapters, biographical information, and other unpublished or out-of-print writings to honor Dayme’s important legacy.

Rachel Velarde

Rachel Velarde, a contributor to "Essentials of CoreSinging: A Joyful Approach to Singing and Voice Pedagogy" by Meribeth Dayme, found a pedagogic framework in CoreSinging that encourages her to explore life through varying viewpoints and to integrate joy into every teaching interaction. Students respond by feeling safe — something sorely needed over the past two years of COVID teaching.

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Gwendolyn Walker

Gwendolyn Walker (she/her) is an assistant professor of voice in Penn State’s B.F.A. musical theatre program. She is also a graduate of the Contemporary Alexander School and is a certified Alexander Technique teacher. Her unique approach to training young artists from a somatic perspective as well as from a contemporary commercial vocal perspective has made her a sought-after guest artist and private teacher around the world. Prior to coming to Penn State, she was the coordinator of the voice department at the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. Walker’s areas of research all relate back to reducing mental and physical anxiety for today’s artists. A passionate antiracist and activist, her most recent articles and presentations have been about tools for educators to address the current mental health crisis on college campuses, training transgender and gender non-binary humans, and how to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the voice studio and in the greater theatre industry. She maintains an active voice and Alexander Technique studio in New York City, and her students can be seen in most shows on Broadway today.

Deonté Warren

Deonté Warren (he/they) helps voice users of all kinds find joy, freedom, and agency in their own voices with personalized, carefully constructed lessons. He teaches music theatre at Carthage College and Austin Peay State University, and he has taught out of a private studio since 2015. Warren is also a professional singer and actor, having spent three years in Aladdin on Broadway and released his debut live album, “Love, Essential (Live in New York)” in 2019. Warren works with singers, actors, and speakers, and gender-affirming voice care is a central tenet of his teaching.

Jimmy Webb

Jimmy Webb is an American songwriter, composer and singer known worldwide as a master of his trade. His timeless hits continue to be performed and recorded by the industry’s biggest names, and his new compositions span the musical spectrum from classical to pop. This past year saw his “Wichita Lineman” on the set list in three major artist tours – Guns N’ Roses, Little Big Town, and Toby Keith – and used prominently in an episode of the Netflix series “Ozark.” Not many artists can say they premiered a classical nocturne and had a rap hit with Kanye West (“Do What You Gotta Do” a central hook in “Famous”) in the same year, but Webb’s career is full of surprises. Since his first platinum record “The Worst That Could Happen,” Webb has had numerous hits including “Up, Up and Away,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman, “Galveston,” “Highwayman,” “All I Know” and “MacArthur Park,” and has also become a leader and mentor in the industry as a champion for songwriters.

Webb is the only artist ever to have received GRAMMY® Awards for music, lyrics and orchestration. His numerous accolades include the prestigious Ivor Novella International Award (2012) and the Academy of Country Music’s Poet Award (2016). In 2016, Rolling Stone magazine listed Webb as one of the top 50 songwriters of all time. Webb was the youngest member ever inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and served as its chair. He also has served proudly as the vice chair of ASCAP. Time and again Webb has paved the way for songwriters in an ever-changing media landscape, spearheading the ongoing effort to preserve the rights of songwriters and their intellectual property in the digital age.

Webb is an international touring artist, averaging 50 shows a year. Webb is also an author – his memoir “The Cake and the Rain” (2017) brings to life a 15-year span in Webb’s unique career, written with the same sense of poetry and story as his many hits. Webb’s first book, “Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting,” in addition to being a good read, is considered a “bible” among musicians.

Webb was trained in the sacred space of Motown and had his first commercial recordings there. Webb’s songs have been recorded by the greatest voices including Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Nina Simone, Isaac Hayes, Art Garfunkel, Linda Ronstadt, Tony Bennett, Michael Feinstein, Michael Ball and Josh Groban. Per BMI, his song “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” was the third most performed song between 1940 and 1990. Webb continues to write and record, and he has released 10 solo albums while also writing for other artists. In 2019, Webb released “SlipCover”, his piano interpretations of contemporary composers including friends Billy Joel and Randy Newman.

Webb is happily married to Laura Savini, a producer and host for PBS. He has five sons, the perfect daughter and is grandfather to the precious Josephine.

Edrie Means Weekly

Edrie Means Weekly is co-founder of the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute, 2021 Van Lawrence Fellowship Awardee, recognized expert in training singers in all vocal styles, and an active professional singer. In 2012, she served as a master teacher for the 2012 NATS Intern Program. Her students have been part of GRAMMY® recordings, films, Broadway, Off-Broadway, national/international tours, television (“The Voice,” “American Idol,” and “Kidz Star USA”), cruise ships, concert halls and opera houses. Means Weekly regularly presents at The Voice Foundation, NATS chapters and national conferences, Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA), Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC), and universities throughout the United States. She has authored several research publications in Journal of Voice, and has been a contributing author for “Teaching Singing in the 21st Century,” “The Vocal Athlete,” “The Voice Teacher’s Cookbook” and “Training Contemporary Commercial Singers.” Her performances have been broadcast on radio and television, and recorded by Decca and Koch. She also has been on standby for Broadway stars Patti LuPone, Elaine Paige, and Linda Lavin. She serves on the advisory boards for the NATS National Musical Theatre Competition and the National Student Auditions, The Voice Foundation, PAVA and Musical Theatre Educators' Alliance (MTEA). Her biological father is The King of Bluegrass, Jimmy Martin.

Howard Whitaker

Howard Whitaker is professor emeritus at Wheaton College, where he continues to teach composition and post-tonal theory. He studied music education at Wheaton College (B.M.E.) and the University of Colorado (M.M.E.) and composition at the University of Chicago (M.A., Ph.D.), where he studied with Ralph Shapey, Roger Sessions, and Shulamit Ran, with additional academic work at the University of Southern California and the Aspen School, where he studied with Darius Milhaud. Whitaker’s catalog of compositions includes children’s music, chamber and orchestral, jazz, electronic, and church music. Chicago performances of his works have featured the Orion and Picosa ensembles, Jim Gailloreto’s Jazz String Quintet, and radio WFMT-FM. He has received grants, awards, and commissions from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Aldeen Fund, the University of Chicago, the Aspen School, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Bay Chamber Symphony, the Calvin Institute, the Millar Brass, the National Flute Association, and others. His choral works have been published by SMP, Harold Flammer, Shawnee Press, and Augsburg. He is also active as a performer in jazz and free improvisation groups.

Jay White

Jay White has realized a performing career as a professional chorister and alto soloist spanning more than 35 years. He sang eight seasons with the internationally acclaimed ensemble, Chanticleer, with whom he traveled to more than 40 states and 15 foreign countries. No stranger to the recording process, White can be heard on more than 45 albums, including three nominations and two GRAMMY® Award-winning recordings with Chanticleer. Most recently, White has been at the helm of the small vocal ensemble Quire Cleveland as its artistic director.White received his training at the Early Music Institute at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and the University of Maryland School of Music and Maryland Opera Studio. He holds a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate in music, with studies in vocal performance, musicology and performance practice, as well as pedagogy and vocology. He has served in higher education for more than 15 years on the faculties of University of Maryland, University of Delaware, and DePauw University. White is currently professor of voice at the Kent State University Hugh A. Glauser School of Music. He has been a proud member of NATS since 2004.

Sarah Wigley

Sarah Wigley is a clinical associate professor of voice for the Lyric Theatre department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she instructs Lyric Theatre studio, musical theatre repertoire, and singing in musical theatre while maintaining a private voice studio and frequently stage directing both opera and musical theatre. Wigley holds a master’s degree in voice performance from Colorado State University and a bachelor’s degree in voice from the University of Minnesota, performing with regional companies such as the Guthrie Theatre, the Minnesota Centennial Showboat, and the Minnesota Opera. She previously served as faculty for the musical theatre department at the University of Northern Colorado. As a contemporary voice specialist, Wigley frequently presents workshops concerning flexible voice technique and crossover training. Recent engagements include the International Congress of Voice Teachers, the National Association for Teachers of Singing, Illinois Music Education Association, Iowa Choral Directors Association, and Minnesota Music Education Association.

Jenevora Williams

Jenevora Williams is a leading exponent in the field of vocal health and singing teaching. After a successful career in opera, Williams turned her attention to investigating healthy and efficient vocal function. The combination of academic study and practical experience has resulted in a unique perception for understanding the human voice. She was the first singing teacher to be awarded a doctorate in voice science in the U.K., and she won the 2010 British Voice Association Van Lawrence Prize for her outstanding contribution to voice research. Her book, “Teaching Singing to Children and Young Adults,” has been enormously popular with singing teachers throughout the world. She is well-known for her imaginative and rigorous international training courses for singing teachers and voice professionals. She now runs Vocal Health Education and Evolving Voice. As a teacher of singing, she works with professional singers of all ages in both voice rehabilitation and career mentoring.

Kevin Wilson

Kevin Wilson is the director of vocal pedagogy at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He created both the M.M. and M.F.A.in voice pedagogy for the Conservatory. Wilson, a master teacher for the 2019 NATS Intern Program, presents all over the world on teaching musical theatre and classical voice. Most recently, he has presented at San Francisco Conservatory, New York University, and the University of Southern California, to name a few. His students have performed in venues ranging from the Metropolitan Opera to Broadway, have won numerous classical and musical theatre competitions, and are teaching at prestigious universities and colleges all over the United States.

Edward W. Wimp

Edward W. Wimp was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a minor in political science. While at Monmouth College, Wimp pitched for the baseball team as well as played guitar in the jazz band. He then proceeded to attend Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida, where he earned a master's degree in entertainment business, before attending Florida A&M College of Law where he earned a juris doctor. During law school, Wimp participated in the Entertainment and Sports Law Society, and he served as an ambassador for Themis bar review. Wimp began his legal career gaining experience defending insurance companies in workers’ compensation disputes at a statewide civil trial defense law firm. He then went on to continue to defend insurance companies in the areas of first party property and general liability at one of the “Largest U.S. Law Firms” according to the National Law Journal, and “Top Corporate Law Firms” according to Forbes. Wimp is now honored to bring his knowledge to represent those who have been mistreated in matters such as wrongful termination, discrimination, unpaid wages, medical leave, and whistleblower cases. Pro bono work is a cornerstone in Wimp’s legal career, as he volunteers his time to serve as a guardian ad litem for children in need, serves as a legal observer to protect the rights of demonstrators in peaceful protests, and he aids in providing legal services to artists through Lawyers for the Creative Arts. In addition to his practice, Wimp enjoys playing music, golfing, cycling, and spending time with family and friends. He currently resides in Orlando, Florida. Wimp is a member of the following professional organizations: Orange County Bar Association, National Lawyers Guild, Black Entertainment & Sports Lawyers Association, American Bar Association, and the Paul C. Perkins Foundation

Gretchen Windt

Originally from Chicago, mezzo soprano Gretchen Windt channels her strong presence and engaging personality into performances in genres ranging from opera and operetta to symphonic repertoire, art song recitals, and musical theatre. She has performed with companies including Sarasota Opera, Utah Opera, Ohio Light Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Southwest, Chesapeake Chamber Opera, Opera Idaho, OperaModa, Bowen Park Opera, and DuPage Opera Theatre. She has performed roles including Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), Meg Page (Falstaff), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), and the title roles in Massenet’s Cendrillon and Offenbach’s La Perichole.

She has degrees from the University of Utah, the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, and North Park University. Currently, she is the director of vocal studies and associate professor at the University of North Alabama. For more information, visit gretchenwindt.com.

Rachel Wood

Mezzo-soprano Rachel Wood has appeared in opera, concert, and recital performances across Canada, the United States, Italy, and the Netherlands Wood’s opera credits include Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia), Penelope (Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Zita (Gianni Schicchi), La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica), Alma March (Little Women), Madame de Croissy (Dialogues des Carmélites), and Cornelia (Giulio Cesare). Recently, Wood appeared as a featured soloist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra Rhapsodie Quartet, performed a guest artist recital with pianist Javier Arrebola at SongFest in Los Angeles, and was a contributor to SongFest’s 25th anniversary celebration “Songs of Unity and Hope.” Wood has performed with orchestral, choral, and chamber ensembles throughout the Midwest in performances of works by Purcell, Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, and Beethoven. Dr. Wood holds degrees from Indiana University and Western University, and is currently an assistant professor of voice at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Oliver Worthington

Oliver Worthington, baritone, has received international and regional acclaim for performances as an opera singer, oratorio soloist and recitalist with organizations like Indianapolis Opera, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, San Antonio Opera, San Antonio Symphony, Hill Country Lyric, Austin Opera, and Lone Star Lyric in roles ranging from Eisenstein to The Duke of Plaza-Toro. A champion of living composers, he frequently premieres new works. Dr. Worthington is the vocal area coordinator and the producing director of Butler Opera Theater at Butler University in Indianapolis. His directing credits include musicals and operas from old favorites to world-premieres in venues throughout the United States. He maintains a full schedule as an educator and performer and serves as the president of The Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation (jensenfoundation.org), a non-profit dedicated to supporting the arts through cash prizes to young opera singers.

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David Young

David Young is a tenor from Houston, Texas, and a graduate of DePauw University where he received a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance. His previous credits include: Monty Navarro (A Gentleman’s Guide), Conrad Birdie (Bye Bye Birdie), Prince Charmant (Cendrillon), Don Basilio (Le nozze di Figaro), Captain Corcoran (H.M.S. Pinafore), Sir Francis (Where’s Charley), George Banks (Mary Poppins), and Sir Roderic (Ruddigore). Young also has achieved great success in competitions nationwide: NATS Musical Theatre Competition 2022 (1st Place), Hal Leonard Vocal Competition 2019 (1st Place), Tri-State College Vocal Competition 2020 (1st Place), the Opera Grand Rapids College Vocal Competition 2020 (1st Place), SAS Performing Arts Company Vocal Competition 2020 (Finalist), James Toland Vocal Competition 2020 (Finalist), Lotte Lenya Competition 2021 (Emerging Artist), and the American Traditions Vocal Competition 2021 (Quarterfinalist). Most recently, Young joined the first national Broadway tour of Fiddler on the Roof. Young recently signed with Dave Secor of Daniel Hoff Agency. Follow Young on social media @davidyoungsings or learn more at davidyoungsings.com.

Charbel Yubaile

Charbel Yubaile was born in Veracruz, Mexico. He completed his bachelor's degree at the University of Zacatecas, Mexico, and a master’s degree in piano performance and pedagogy at Oklahoma State University. He has performed at the School of Musical Arts at the University of Costa Rica, Ambato City Hall in Ecuador, Alixares Hotel in Granada, Spain, Slovak Radio Concert Hall in Bratislava, Freskensaal at the Laudon Palace in Vienna, Kurhaus Pavillon in Bad Aussee, Austria, and the Tel-Hai International Piano Master Classes in Israel. He has performed as a solo and collaborative pianist in multiple recitals, festivals and contests in the U.S. and abroad, such as the NATS Texoma competition at Oklahoma City University in 2015. Recent performances include a program of art songs by Latina composers at the MATCH Center Houston, as well as a recital of songs by Ponce and Maria Grever at Sam Houston University and the Dallas Latino Cultural Center, in collaboration with Amy Canchola. He has worked as a piano professor and accompanist at the University of Nayarit (México) and as a graduate teaching assistant at Oklahoma State University and the University of Houston, where he completed his doctoral music degree in collaborative piano while writing his doctoral thesis on “The Multicultural and Eclectic Art Songs of Manuel M. Ponce”. Yubaile is the director of vocal performances at The Ponce Project, a Houston-based non-profit whose mission is to promote the rich and exceptional music of Mexican composer Manuel Ponce.

Dana Zenobi

Dana Zenobi’s recital work focuses attention on art song by women. She also has garnered operatic success in roles ranging from Mozart and Verdi to Mark Adamo and Philip Glass. At Butler University, she teaches studio voice, pedagogy, diction, and vocal literature courses, and she directs the Butler University Vocal Competition. A recipient of the 2020 National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Vocal Pedagogy Award, Zenobi has presented at conferences and festivals, including the NATS South Texas and Texoma region events, the International Music By Women Festival, The Voice Foundation, the Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA), and the Associated Colleges of the South Gender Studies Conference. A native of Northport, New York, she earned both her doctorate and master’s degree in music from the University of Texas at Austin. She holds a dual bachelor’s degrees in music and women’s studies from Duke University. Learn more at danazenobisoprano.com.

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Meredith Ziegler

Praised for her “stunning voice” and “delightful portrayals,” Meredith Ziegler has impressed critics and audiences alike with her warm, lyric mezzo-soprano voice and her engaging characterizations. Ziegler's leading operatic roles include Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Dido in Dido & Aeneas, Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti, Hänsel in Hänsel & Gretel, and Meg Page in Falstaff. Ziegler has been an award winner in competitions with the Metropolitan Opera National Council, Sullivan Foundation, Palm Beach Opera, and Connecticut Opera Guild. Additionally, Ziegler was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Extra Chorus. She teaches voice at the University of Connecticut and also maintains a private studio. Ziegler has been an active member of NATS since 2010, and she served as secretary for the Connecticut NATS chapter. Ziegler was a participant in the 2012 NATS Intern Program.

Jacqlyn Zito-Edwards

Jacqlyn Zito-Edwards is an adjunct assistant professor of musical theatre voice at Shenandoah Conservatory and Faculty at the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute. She holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music (with a minor in acting from Case Western Reserve University) and Louisiana State University, and she has performed professionally in musical theatre and opera. Current and former students have performed on Broadway, off-Broadway, on cruise ships and national tours. Her current research investigates the roots of Euro-centric vocal music education in the United States and the biases that have limited the inclusion of CCM styles in university curricula.

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