SUU vocal students from the Department of Music returned from the Jan. 2019 Cal-Western Regional National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Competition held at the University of Nevada, Reno, with an abundance of awards.
Carol Ann Modesitt, director of opera/voice at SUU, shared, “Dr. Lawrence Johnson and I took fourteen SUU students to participate in the NATS competition. Three of our students competed in more than one division. Of the fourteen, twelve were chosen to advance onto the next YouTube round working toward the national competition. In order to participate in that round, the students had to be one of the top five singers in their division. That stage of the contest has the students competing with others from all over the United States.”
Students from SUU who received awards include Claire Robinson, who took 1st place in her division, Matt Watson, who took 1st place in his division along with Samuel Park who took 3rd place in the same division. Megan Goodrich placed 2nd in her division. Ashley Stackhouse placed 2nd in her division and will participate in the YouTube round for another division. Ashlee Brouwer placed 3rd in the two divisions in which she competed. Other students who placed in the top five in their respective divisions were Mackenzie White, Addie Naegle (two divisions), Meredith Draper, Ben Lieske, Pake Nielson, and Matt Henry.
Shauna Mendini, dean of the College of Performing and Visual Arts, said, “[Our] music students have created a remarkable reputation for SUU through their on-going success at the Cal-Western Regional NATS Competition. It is a testament to the outstanding educators SUU has in vocal performance as well as our talented and dedicated students.”
Participants competing at this year’s Cal-Western NATS Competition came from the University of Nevada-Reno, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Brigham Young University, University of Utah, Weber State University, Arizona State University, Utah Valley University, Utah State University, Snow College, and Southern Utah University.
Please visit https://www.nats.org/cal-western-region.html to learn more about the Cal-Western Regional National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Competition. For more information about the Department of Music at SUU, please visit http://www.suu.edu/pva/music.
Story by: Ashley Pollock, Alexis Taylor
accent@suunews.net
Photo by: Claire Robinson
