Congratulations to three newly elected NATS regional governors! Shawn Roy (Southern region), Randall Umstead (Texoma region), and Julie Wieck (Intermountain region) have each begun a two-year term as of July 1. We look forward to their continued contributions to the work of NATS in each of these regions. Below is a photo and short biography on our new regional governors.

A round of applause also goes out to the preceding governors of these regions. At the NATS annual board of directors meeting last month, outgoing regional governors Kimberly James (Intermountain), Jason Lester (Texoma), and Jon Secrest (Southern), were honored for their service at the conclusion of their terms. CLICK HERE to offer them your congrats on Facebook.

Welcome NATS Regional Governors!

Shawn Roy, a native of Louisiana, received his Bachelor of Music Education degree at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, then went on to the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he received a Master of Music degree in Voice and an Artist Diploma in Opera. Prior to his appointment at UL Lafayette, Mr. Roy performed professionally in Opera and Musical Theatre in this country and abroad. He has been affiliated with such companies as New York City Opera National Company, Cincinnati Opera, Cleveland Opera, Tulsa Opera, Virginia Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Omaha, Connecticut Opera, Opera Delaware, Utah Opera, Sarasota Opera, Utah Festival Opera, The Center for Contemporary Opera in New York, Opera Francais in New York and the West Norwegian Opera in Bergen, Norway. He also toured extensively throughout France, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland as well as performing with the National Symphony of Bolivia in South America. He specialized in the “Basso Buffo” repertoire in such operas as The Barber of Seville, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Tosca, La Boheme, La Cenerentola, The Elixir of Love and Cosi Fan Tutte as well as various contemporary operas. Roy joined the faculty of the UL Lafayette School of Music in 1998 and serves as Coordinator of Voice and the Director of Opera and Musical Theatre studies. READ MORE

Randall Umstead currently serves as Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Vocal Studies at Baylor University, while holding the inaugural Charles W. Evans Chair in Voice. Dr. Umstead also serves on the Executive Committee of Baylor’s Faculty Senate. For Fall 2017, he will begin serving Baylor as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Music. He served for seven years as Treasurer-Registrar for the Texoma Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and served as President of the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of (NATS). He holds both the DMA and MM degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, along with a BM degree from Oklahoma Baptist University. He has performed widely in both operatic roles and in concert music. He has performed the title role in Britten's Albert Herring, the Doctor in Dominick Argento's The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe, the Lecturer in Argento's one-man monodrama A Water Bird Talk, as well as Lurcanio in Handel's Ariodante, all at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He was twice a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center.  READ MORE

Julie Anne Wieck is an Associate Professor of Music at Washington State University where she teaches studio voice and directs the opera and musical theatre productions. Dr. Wieck received her Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education at the University of South Dakota-Vermillion. Later she attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she received a Master of Music degree and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance. Dr. Wieck is an active recitalist, adjudicator and clinician. She frequently presents at conferences as a member of National Association for Music Educators, often collaborating with a choral colleague to emphasize the importance of voice and choral teachers working together for the benefit of their students and program. As a member of the Inland Empire Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Julie frequently hosts the annual auditions at Washington State University.  Having served as the President of her chapter for three terms over the past 21 years, she wrote the chapter bylaws, worked to refine repertoire requirements, reorganized the chapter finances, and led the chapter through the recent restructuring of auditions, tailoring the required categories to meet their chapter's needs in consultation with the national office.