CSU voice students advance to regional competition in Maryland

Sixteen voice students from the Horton School of Music at CSU have earned awards in two separate National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Student Auditions in 18 different categories.  Fourteen of the students will advance to compete at the Mid-Atlantic Region NATS Student Auditions to be held at Towson University in Towson, Maryland on March 22 and 23 as part of the NATS Mid-Atlantic Region Conference. 

To earn awards and to advance to the Region Student Auditions, students competed with others in their same age, level of study, and gender groups in competitions in Music Theater (MT)/Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) or Classical categories held by the South Carolina Chapter NATS. State competitions were held in October at Converse College in Spartanburg for Musical Theater auditions and in February at the Bob Jones University in Greenville for Classical auditions.

The MT/CCM auditions held in Orangeburg included around 205 students auditioning.  These students CSU students advanced:  Kalb Linen-Yates in First Year College/Independent Studio Men MT, Zachary Patton and Jairus McClanahan in Fourth/Fifth Year College/Independent Studio Men, Emily Schultz, Adelaide Lovelady, and Meghan Roum, in First Year College/Independent Studio Women MT, Ciara Wallace and Timmi Winston in Upper College/Independent Studio Women MT and Rachel Hiester in Fourth/ Fifth Year College/Independent Studio Women MT. Lovelady, Wallace, McClanahan, Linen-Yates, and Roum are all students of Dr. Jennifer Luiken. Hiester, Winston, and Patton all study with Dr. Jill Terhaar Lewis.  Schultz was a student of Ms. Shanelle Woods and now studies with Dr. Jennifer Luiken while Ms. Woods is on sabbatical.  In the CCM category, Evelyn Perea, a student of Dr. Jennifer Luiken earned a Certificate of Distinction award.  This category does not advance to regional competition.

The Classical Student Auditions included nearly 300 students. Jared Rogers and Linen-Yates advanced in First Year College/Independent Studio Men and Tyreke Jackson advanced in Second Year College/Independent Studio Men. Kaegan Fitzherbert and Patton advanced in Fourth Year College/Independent Studio Men. Roum and Madeline Krigbaum advanced in First Year College/Independent Studio Women, Victoria Bradberry in Second Year College/Independent Studio Women and Meagan Carlson in Advanced College/Independent Studio Women. Jackson and Bradberry are students of Mr. Ricard Bordas. Fitzherbert and Krigbaum study with Dr. Luiken, and Carlson and Rogers study with Dr. Lewis.

Fitzherbert, McClanahan, and Linen-Yates (MT) earned the highest scores in their categories and were featured on the Honors Recital. Additionally, Dr. Lewis had two students from her private studio earn the highest scores in their categories: Rina Lucas in CCM Women and Alicia Parrill in Upper High School/Independent Studio Women.

Eligible students will travel to compete with others in the Mid-Atlantic Region which includes NATS chapters from SC as well as North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Roughly 900 students are expected to compete over two days. Students who finish in the top five of their respective categories at the region level may advance to the National level of the auditions to be held in Minnesota in June. 

Dr. Lewis is finishing her second and final year as District Governor of the South Carolina NATS.  She has recently been elected as the new Region Governor, beginning in July.

In addition to the Student Auditions, the Mid-Atlantic Region Conference will also feature guest clinicians and poster presentations by the members selected to present. More details of the event can be found here: http://midatlanticnats.org/.

CSU offers four degrees in music: Music and Worship Leadership, Music Education, Music Therapy, and Music Performance.  Carlson, Patton, Roum, McClanahan, and Fitzherbert are all Music Performance majors.  Linen-Yates, Jackson, Bradberry, Schultz, Krigbaum, and Winston are majoring in Music Education.  Wallace and Hiester are majoring in Music Therapy. Rogers and Perea are majoring in Music and Worship Leadership. Lovelady is a Business-Marketing major.

Photo: l-r (back) Jared Rogers, Meghan Roum, Tyreke Jackson, Kaegan Fitzherbert, Jairus McClanahan, Kalb Linen-Yates, and Zachary Patton (front) Madeline Krigbaum, Emily Schultz, Meagan Carlson, Adelaide Lovelady, Victoria Bradberry, and Rachel Hiester.

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