Four Indiana Wesleyan University music students competed and placed at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Competition held on Saturday, Nov. 2 at Indiana State University.
NATS is the largest organization of professional singing teachers in the world with more than 7,000 members around the world. Each year, NATS sponsors a competition in which students of member teachers may participate. The competition is organized into categories based on age and length of study (lower high school through graduate school), voice type (male/female) and genre (primarily classical/musical theatre). A total of 16 IWU students participating in 19 categories competed at this year’s competition.
The NATS award-recipients from IWU included:
Anna Wright, 1st Place, freshman college treble (classical)
Graham Sutton, 2nd Place, junior college tenor/bass/baritone (classical)
Sydney Meyers, 3rd Place, freshman college treble (classical)
Alden Wagaman, 3rd Place, sophomore college tenor/bass/baritone (classical)
Wright, Sutton and Wagaman are Music Education majors. Meyers is a Vocal Performance and Music Therapy major.
“Observing the technical and artistic improvements resulting from the hard work the students put into preparing for this competition is satisfying in its own right,” said Dr. Troy Castle, associate professor of music. “Of course, seeing that work validated by others is also gratifying, particularly as it helps confirm for the students the quality of education they’re receiving at IWU.”
