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CSU voice students advance to regional competition

By Hannah Phillips | February 22, 2023

Eight voice students from the Charleston Southern University Horton School of Music and Performing Arts are advancing to the National Association of Teachers of Singing Mid-Atlantic Region competition.

Annalisa Blevins, Jacob Himes, Teneah Fee, Jonathan Moyd, Meredith Lane, and Luke Jones. Not pictured: Iris Salvador and Alyssa Medina.

The students earned awards competing in state-level events held in the fall and spring by the South Carolina Chapter of NATS. Student auditions are in various categories and age levels ranging from children to adults. Categories include musical theatre, classical, commercial music, and American Negro Spirituals.

The Mid-Atlantic Region NATS Student Auditions will be held in a hybrid competition including online and in-person competition beginning March 3 online and continuing March 10-11 in-person at Liberty University.

The S.C. Musical Theatre and Commercial Music auditions were held in Anderson and included 279 students auditioning. CSU students advancing were: Luke Jones in First-Year Collegiate Musical Theatre TBB Voice and Iris Salvador in Third-Year Collegiate Musical Theatre Treble Voice, both students of Dr. Jennifer Luiken.

Teneah Fee, student of Dr. Jill Terhaar Lewis, won the Spotlight on African American Composers-Collegiate award for her performance of “I’m Here” from the musical The Color Purple composed by the team of Brenda Russell, Stephen Bray, Allee Willis. This award highlights outstanding performances of music by African American Composers and is given to one high school and one collegiate student in the fall and spring.

CSU Voice Students Advance to Regional Competition

The S.C. Classical Student Auditions were held in Spartanburg and included 204 students.
CSU students advancing were: Jacob Himes in First-Year Classical TBB Voices, Jonathan Moyd in Second-Year Classical TBB Voices, Iris Salvador in Third-Year Classical Treble Voices, all students of Luiken. Meredith Lane, Annalisa Blevins, and Alyssa Medina, students of Professor Ricard Bordas, also advanced.

Teneah Fee advanced in the Fourth- and Fifth-Year Post High School and Graduate American Negro Spirituals category.

Terhaar Lewis is in her fourth and final year as the Mid-Atlantic Region Governor of NATS. She is in charge of planning and running the Mid-Atlantic Region Conference. The Mid-Atlantic Region includes NATS chapters from South Carolina as well as North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Roughly 800 students are expected to compete at the conference.

Students who finish in the top five of their respective categories at the regional level may advance to the National level of the auditions. National auditions will begin online and culminate at the summer workshop in San Diego 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 at http://midatlanticnats.org/.

CSU offers four degrees in music: Music and Worship Leadership, Music Education, Music Therapy, and Music Performance. Blevins and Lane are both Music Performance majors. Moyd and Medina are majoring in Music Education. Salvador and Fee are majoring in Music Therapy.