NSA 2019 WORKSHOPS - Meet the Presenters
Special sessions for students have been planned during the NSA competition at St. Olaf. This educational component of the NSA event features presenters who are experts in their topic areas and have donated their time to inspire and encourage singers and they learn and grow as young professionals. We encourage all NSA Student participants to take advantage of these learning and developmental experiences.
If parents want to attend sessions with their singers, they will need to pay a special parent registration fee of $75 when they arrive on-site at St. Olaf. This will grant them access to all NSA and Summer workshop sessions. If parents do not wish to pay to register for the event, they will still be able to attend the one NSA Session, “My Child Wants to Be a Professional Musician – I Have Questions – HELP!”, scheduled on Thursday at 3:30 pm.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
12:30 pm-1:15 pm (Thu. 6/27)
Diane Foust: Alexander Technique for Singers
Diane Foust has music degrees from Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi; Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas; and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She began her study of the Alexander Technique in 1995 and was certified as a teacher by Alexander Technique International in 2007. After retiring in 2013 from 28 years of full-time music teaching at Viterbo University, Dr. Foust continues private and adjunct teaching of voice and the Alexander Technique, and serves on the boards of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra and the United Fund for the Arts and Humanities. This summer she is Music Director for The Fantasticks at the Weber Center and The Secret Garden at La Crosse Community Theatre, both in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
2:30 pm-3:15 pm (Thu. 6/27)
Matt Campbell: The Business of Music Theater - Audition Techniques and Tips
Matthew Scott Campbell (Matt) is an AEA actor, director, educator, and fight director. He is the chair and an associate professor of theatre and music theatre at Viterbo University. He also serves as the Artistic Director for the VU New Works Festival and the Musical Theatre Intensive Coordinator for KCACTF Region III. His theatrical work has been seen off-Broadway, on national tours, and regionally with such companies as Goodspeed Opera House, Peninsula Players Theatre, Bay Street Theatre, Hartford Theatre Works, North Carolina Theatre, The John Engeman Theatre, among many others. Additionally, Matt does career coaching for the NYC based company The Biz of Show, helping artists navigate the business of musical theatre and achieve their fullest potential.
2:30 pm-3:15 pm (Thu. 6/27)
Albert Lee: The Prepared Artist: From Undergrad to the Professional World
The performances of tenor Albert Rudolph Lee 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, and the Caramoor International Music Festival, Dr. Lee’s recent performances include the tenor solo in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Jackson Symphony, an appearance with Opera Las Vegas in a tribute concert to African American Opera Legends, and a feature role in the world premiere of Douglas Buchanan’s opera Bessie and Ma. In his seventh year on the voice faculty of the University of Nevada, Reno, Dr. Lee can be heard in George Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning work Lilacs for Tenor and Orchestra with Sinfonia da Camera in Albany Records. He performed the work most recently for the opening concert of the African American Art Song Alliance 20th Anniversary Conference.
3:30 pm-4:15 pm (Thu. 6/27)
Jennifer D’Agostino: Practice Technique and Auditioning
Jennifer D’Agostino received her Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Voice Performance with a minor in Opera Production. She completed her Master’s Degree as a member of the Knoxville Opera Studio at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and her Bachelor’s Degree from Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music. Jennifer is interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning. She has presented at the Lilly Conference, NATS, and the National Collegiate Honors Council. She is on the board of the New York Singing Teacher’s Association (NYSTA), and is the current editor for VOICEPrints, NYSTA’s scholarly journal. She has held teaching positions at Alverno College, Beloit College, and Pellissippi State Technical Community College. Jennifer D’Agostino is currently Assistant Professor of Music in Voice at Walsh University in North Canton, OH, teaching a variety of music courses. She lives in North Canton with her husband, baritone Michael Roemer, and their two sons, Henry and Charlie.
3:30 pm-4:15 pm (Thu. 6/27) (Open to Parents)
Allen Henderson: My Child Wants to Be a Professional Musician – I Have Questions – HELP!
Being the parent of an aspiring musician can be, let’s face it, EXHAUSTING! It can also be one of the most joyful, enjoyable, and fulfilling experiences within the parenting journey. Although not a trained therapist, Allen Henderson, executive director of NATS and professor of music at Georgia Southern University has: served as chair of two music departments, managed the recruitment process, counseled parents of highly talented students at all levels about the realities of parenting an artist, been through the process as the parent of a flutist who started her college career as a flute major, advised his nephew who performed on Broadway at age nine through the process of auditioning at the top tier music theater programs and is currently a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon, and continues to counsel his 79 year old mother that, although she was terribly worried when he chose to change his major from engineering to music during college, he has turned out ok. Inhale! Exhale! Repeat!
4:30 pm-5:15 pm (Thu. 6/27)
Sangeetha Rayapati: Vital Vocalises for Singing your Best
Sangeetha Rayapati is Professor of Music and Voice Area Coordinator at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois. In addition to performing, she has been active as a scholar in research, publication, and presentation about the aging singing voice for NATS, the American Choral Directors Association, NAFME, and the College Music Society conventions, and internationally at ICVT in Vancouver, BC, Brisbane, Australia, and Stockholm, Sweden. Her book, “Sing Into Your Sixties and Beyond”, a primer for teaching older adults, is available through Inside View Press. Outside of the world of singing she loves competitive sports, local politics, and traveling with her family.
4:30 pm-5:15 pm (Thu. 6/27)
Karen Brunssen: Your Evolving Voice: What to Expect in the Years Ahead
Karen Brunssen, NATS President, Co-Chair of Music Performance, Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University. Concurrent with her 30+ year singing career she has taught both privately and at universities. She is a frequent vocal clinician, master teacher, panelist, adjudicator and presenter, recently at the 2019 ACDA Conference, 2017 ICVT, numerous teaching residencies at Cambridge University and the Zürcher-Sing Akadamie, the International Symposium on Singing in Newfoundland, Opera America, Chorus America, Podium2016-Choral Canada, and many NATS events. Her spirited presentations, articles, and new book, The Evolving Singing Voice: Changes Across the Lifespan, (Plural Publishing),chronicle changes in respiration, vibration and resonance, and the impact on realistic, age appropriate expectations for vocal development throughout a lifetime of singing. Karen attended Luther College, and did graduate work at the Yale School of Music and Kent State University. In 2013 she was presented the Weston Noble Award by Luther College. She was awarded the Northwestern University Alumni Association the “Excellence in Teaching Award.” She is a Consultant Editor with Plural Publishing.
Friday, June 28, 2019
10:00 am-10:45 am (Fri. 6/28)
Amanda Johnston: How to Practice Diction
Canadian collaborative pianist Amanda Johnston is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Mississippi where she acts as Music Director for the Opera Theatre; teaches courses in advanced diction; and coaches students at the undergraduate and graduate level. She is also on faculty at Musiktheater Bavaria and the Druid City Opera Workshop. She is author of English and German Diction for Singers: A Comparative Approach, 2nd edition (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), highly praised in Journal of Singing for “enlivening the study of diction”. CDs include Pleas to Famous Fairies with Linda Lister, soprano (Albany Records 2018); Métissage with Adam Estes, saxophone (MSR Classics 2017); and Mahler: Rückert-Lieder with Julia Morgan, mezzo-soprano (MSR Classics 2012). She has held positions at the University of Toronto, Royal Conservatory of Music, York University, Taos Opera Institute, and Lied Austria, and has performed in Hong Kong, Germany, France, Austria, Scotland, Canada, and the USA.
11:00 am-11:45 am (Fri. 6/28)
Tesfa Wondemagegnehu: Music and Social Justice
Tesfa Wondemagegnehu serves as the conductor of the Viking Chorus and the Chapel Choir at St. Olaf College. He is also the guest artistic director of one of North America's Largest LGBTQ+ choirs, Minnesota's One Voice Mixed Chorus. Tesfa maintains an active voice studio and teaches Music & Social Justice with the goal of helping bridge the gap of social injustice through music, dialogue, and inspiring participants to take action in their communities. Wondemagegnehu most recently was the Director of Choral Ministries at Westminster Presbyterian Church of Minneapolis, where he co-founded the Justice Choir movement with noted composer Abbie Betinis. In the summer of 2018, Tesfa served as guest conductor of the children’s choir at the Aspen Music Festival, leading them in a week-long journey on the Justice Choir Songbook. Most recently, Tesfa completed an extended music and social justice residency with Dr. Andrew Clark and the Harvard University Glee Club.
11:00 am-11:45 am (Fri. 6/28)
Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk: Mindfulness for Peak Performance
Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk is the Director of Opera and Coordinator of Voice at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her musical and stage directing has garnered three national awards for UAB through the National Opera Association’s opera production competition. Britten’s The Burning Fiery Furnace, Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Mozart’s La Finta Semplice won first, second, and third prize respectively. Additional directing credits range from musical theatre to Shakespeare. Dr. Hurst-Wajszczuk is a featured speaker on mindfulness and overall wellness for performers at national and international conferences, most recently at The Foundation in Philadelphia, the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) National Conference in Las Vegas, and the International Congress of Voice Teachers in Stockholm, Sweden. She is the only Koru-certified meditation teacher in Alabama, a kind of meditation developed specifically for emerging adults ages 18-29. She is currently serving her second term as the NATS Vice President for Workshops.
12:00 pm-1:00 pm (Fri. 6/28)
Juanita Ulloa, Carol Perry, Laura Krider, Albert Lee, Tesfa Wondemagegnehu: Careers in Music Panel Discussion
Dr. Juanita Ulloa has thirty years of national experience molding voices, accents, and careers of all kinds. She has many CDs and songbooks available at juanitamusic.com. She is also one of the few specialists worldwide in Hispanic classical, mariachi, and folk song, styles, and literature. She is currently under contract with Oxford University Press, writing Teaching the Mariachi Voice & Mexican Song.
Carol Perry founded Studio Sostegno, a private independent voice studio, in 2012. She has been teaching voice since 2009 and specializes in college audition preparation for her high school students. Her studio is focused on developing and supporting not only the voice, but the student as a whole, as well as building community and networks among students, alumni, and other NATS Independent Teachers. Carol holds degrees in voice from Colorado State University and the Frost School of Music. She was a member of the 2017 NATS Intern Program in Toronto and currently studies with Freda Herseth at the University of Michigan. Follow her studio (@studiosostegno) on Twitter and Instagram.
Laura Krider is an arts worker, nonprofit unicorn, and singer living in the Twin Cities. She currently serves as Director of Education and Community Partnerships at the American Composers Forum, and previously served as Graduate Student Services Assistant and Public Engagement Coordinator at the University of Minnesota – School of Music. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Music Education and a Master of Professional Studies degree in Arts and Cultural Leadership, both from the University of Minnesota. Laura has also done consulting/board work the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, VocalEssence, and the MN State Arts Board. As a freelance singer, Laura is the alto section leader and a founding member of The Singers (Matthew Culloton, Director), and has also participated in projects with the Minnesota Beethoven Festival Dale Warland Chorale, The First Readings Project, The MPR Carolers, Border CrosSing, Deviated Septet, and other contemporary choral settings. In short, she lives for making sound and supporting the people who craft it.
