Singing Festival 2021

Singing Festival

March 2021 NATS Singing Festival and Scholarship Audition

The Redwood Empire Chapter went to the virtual format in 2021 for the Singing Festival. It was marvelously successful with 48 entries representing all three categories: Classical, Musical Theater and CCM (Commercial Contemporary Music). Our finalists’ recital was presented virtually on March 28, featuring songs from the student’s festival selections. All 10 finalists received cash prizes, four receiving the major scholarship awards (listed below).

“Bella siccome un angelo” from Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti
ANDREW CEDEÑO
Received the Jean and Jack Sutter Scholarship Award

“Nymphs and Shepherds, Come Away” from The Libertine by Henry Purcell
SHIN-KI CHIEN-NAKANO

“When I Marry Mr. Snow” from Carousel by Richard Rodgers
CHRISTINA CORRALES

“America” by Paul Simon
SATISH KAPPAGANTULA

“The Man I Love” by Ira/George Gershwin
ARIANA LAMARK

“Alone in the Universe” from Seussical by Stephen Flaherty
TYLER ONO

“No Translations” by Tommy Paquet
TOMMY PAQUET
Received Vaida Falconbridge Scholarship Award

“Villanelle” from Les nuits d’été Hector Berlioz
LILIA SALIDO RICO
Received the Thelma Dare Ahner Scholarship Award

“Nothing” from A Chorus Line by Marvin Hamlisch
MARTINA SANCHEZ

“Bring Him Home” from Les Misérable by Claude-Michel Schönberg
JULIA STEGE
Received Penny Pawl Musical Theater Scholarship Award

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

FOUR DIVISIONS
Division I: Ages 10-14
Division II: Ages 15-18 (still in High School)
Division III: Post High School ages 18-24
Division IV: Ages 25 and above

In all Divisions, both songs are required to be memorized.
Recorded total time for both songs is 8 minutes – INCLUDING:
Introduction of 1) performer’s name, 2) title of composition and 3) composer.

CCM -- CONTEMPORARY COMMERCIAL MUSIC (CCM) CATEGORY
Requirements are two songs, prepared and memorized:
Language: one or two in English; one may be in a foreign language (optional).
Repertoire: Two contrasting contemporary songs, NOT from a musical or stage production. One song may be an original composition (optional).  Student may accompany themselves.
Due to the virtual nature of this festival, no additional amplification is allowed.

CLASSICAL CATEGORY requirements are two songs, prepared and memorized:
Language: one in English and, in Div. II-IV, one in a foreign language.
Repertoire: For all divisions, one must be an Art Song.
The other song must be an Art Song of a different period, a classical folk song including classical gospel,
Classical Musical Theater (no belting), Opera, Operetta, or Oratorio.

MUSICAL THEATER CATEGORY requirements are two songs, prepared and memorized:
Both songs from a staged Broadway, Off-Broadway production, or film musical.
ONLY Division I may use one song from a movie score.
Singers should ensure that contrasting selections represent the spectrum of their vocal and dramatic abilities (Classical, Contemporary, Pop/Rock) and use a variety of vocalisms (belt, mix, legit).

(Must be with teacher a minimum of 5 months to be considered for finalists’ recital)

Repertoire Title
Repertoire: From larger work
Repertoire: Composer
Repertoire: Exact Duration

MEET THE JUDGES

March 2021 Singing Festival

CLASSICAL CATEGORY JUDGES

PAMELA HICKS
Pamela Hicks, soprano and CSU East Bay voice faculty Pamela Hicks retired with her husband to Sebastopol in 2018 after a forty-year career as opera and concert singer, singing teacher, vocal coach, vocal consultant, vocal director and conductor.

Hicks was raised and educated in Los Angeles, attended CSU Northridge, and received her professional operatic training at Hidden Valley Music Seminars, Santa Fe Opera and San Diego Opera. In 1979 she won the New York Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Finals and her career was launched. Over the years she sang leading roles with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the San Diego Opera, Opera Company of Boston, Florida Grand Opera, Arizona Opera and many other regional American orchestra and opera companies. Her voice is featured prominently in the 1980 film The Hunter, Steve McQueen's last movie. From 1981-83 she was resident leading soprano with the Landestheater Detmold in Germany, singing leading roles in over a dozen operas to critical acclaim which cited her vocal beauty, technical agility and acting skills.

After relocating to the Bay Area in 1991, Hicks maintained a large private voice studio in Hayward for 25 years. She also returned to performing, appearing with many Bay Area opera companies, theaters and choral groups, including West Bay Opera (La Traviata, Il Trovatore), North Bay Opera (Tosca, Macbeth), Berkeley Opera (Don Giovanni), SF Lyric Opera (Andrea Chenier), Lamplighters (The Merry Widow) and her last performance with Contra Costa Music Theatre (Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music, which garnered her a 2014 Contra Costa County "Shellie" Award).  She was also vocal director and guest conductor with several East Bay community theaters.

Fulfilling a desire to finish her musical education, Hicks completed a degree in Music Composition at CSU East Bay in 2007, and joined the voice faculty that same year. As faculty artist her many recitals included performances of Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs, Lauridsen's Quatro Canciones, Richard Strauss's Vier letzte lieder, her own work entitled Six Italian Songs, and an all-Debussy program with voice and piano faculty colleagues. She was soprano soloist with the CSUEB Choral Union in Duruflé's Requiem, Orff's Carmina Burana, Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, all under the direction of Dr. Buddy James.

JIM MEREDITH
Jim Meredith, tenor, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Tulane University. He is a musical partner with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. As a solo pianist, vocal and instrumental accompanist and conductor in America, Europe and Asia, his work has brought him into contact with such artists as Elly Ameling, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Eleanor Steber, Gerald Moore for whom he has played masterclasses. For four summers he was pianist Dalton Baldwin's assistant in art song in masterclasses at the French Conservatory in Nice. Concerts with Ms. Von Stade included two appearances on Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion," each reaching a National Public Radio audience of over two million listeners.” He has been conductor of the Oakland Symphony Chorus, was on the faculty of Merritt College, taught masterclasses at Holy Names College, was Festival Opera chorus master, taught Art Song masterclasses at San Jose State University and has been on the voice/piano faculty of the award-winning Young Musicians Choral Orchestra for 17 years where his students have won many competitions and been accepted at major US universities and conservatories.

MUSICAL THEATER CATEGORY JUDGES

ERIC JACKSON
As a Musical Theater Department graduate from the University of Michigan, Eric’s New York City performing credits include Broadway’s  THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE and the original cast of the Mel Brooks musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and original cast recording. He traveled nationally and internationally with touring companies of THE BOOK OF MORMON, DREAMGIRLS, RAGTIME, CHICAGO, THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, and THE RADIO CITY CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR. Off- Broadway he was seen in FINIAN’S RAINBOW at the Irish Repertory Theater and can be heard on their cast recording. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with the concert version of SHOW BOAT. He was a longtime performer with Lincoln Center’s The Little Orchestra Society and their young theater series LOLLIPOPS. He also played regionally in Theaters including Westchester Broadway Theater, Paper Mill Playhouse, Maine State Music Theatre, Weston Playhouse, and Pioneer Theatre. Eric television appearances include “As the World Turns,” “Sex and the City,” “The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” and numerous commercial spots.

Offstage, Eric has taught workshops and masterclasses in New York City with the Broadway Student Lab, Broadway Artists Alliance, and the Broadway Classroom. He has been a Guest Instructor at the University of Alabama, Birmingham and Siena Heights University.   Eric moved to Sonoma to help launch the Transcendence Theatre Company where his creative skills were put to use on and offstage as a performer, as well as Director, Choreographer, Costume Designer, and Props Master for numerous seasons and was voted as “Person to Watch (Male)” by Broadway World SF for his work with TTC. Eric currently heads the Fiber Arts Department and is the Creative Programs Manager at the Sonoma Community Center.

ERIN WILSON
Erin Wilson is a Broadway/TV/Film actor, Voice Specialist, Acting Coach, Utah Valley University Theatre Faculty & owner of Erin Wilson Studio. She has performed on Broadway and in National Tours, has appeared on the Hallmark Channel, Netflix, TNT, and has been fortunate to work and train with many amazing actors and creatives.

Erin studied Musical Theater at Brigham Young University before moving to NYC. Early in her career, she worked for many lovely theaters across the US before originating the role of Shen Shen and understudying Madame Morrible in the record-breaking show of Wicked (2nd National Tour). Erin has played Madame Morrible, the Midwife, and Shen Shen in all three Wicked US companies: 1st National, 2nd National, and Broadway!  Favorite roles include Sister Mary-Martin-of-Tours in the national tour of Sister Act, The Witch in Into the Woods, Cha Cha in Grease (x's 3!), Dolly Tate in Annie Get Your Gun to name a few. TV/Film: Public Morals (TNT), directed by Edward Burns, Tales of the City (Netflix) with Laura Linney, Holiday for Heroes (Hallmark Channel). She continues to work on her craft with some of the very best in NYC and LA as well as run her personal online studio to students worldwide.

CCM (CONTEMPORARY COMMERCIAL MUSIC) CATEGORY JUDGE

MADDIE TARBOX
Maddie Tarbox is a D.C. based voice specialist, studio owner, and performer born and raised in Northern Utah. She received her Masters of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Central Florida and her Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theatre from Weber State University in Utah. She currently serves on the Voice Faculty for Musical Theatre at Shenandoah University where she received her Masters in Music, Voice Pedagogy - Commercial Contemporary Track in May of 2020.

In addition to her work with SU, Maddie runs her own professional voice studio in the Washington DC area, serving artists who perform a wide range of styles from musical theatre and pop to rock and jazz. Students have gone on to perform with such companies as Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Wooly Mammoth, Round House as well as national broadway tours. With evidence-based voice pedagogy at the core of her teaching, Maddie helps singers achieve vocal freedom, efficiency, and consistency within the demands of their desired style/genre.
When she's not teaching, Maddie enjoys spending her time exploring the beauty of the Virginia countryside and Shenandoah with her wonderful husband, Connor. Together they live one crazy-artist life.

STEPHANIE BARE
Stephanie Bare is a performer, vocal coach, musical director and writer based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Her decade of experience onstage and behind the audition table, combined with her extensive training in vocal technique and science, makes her an invaluable resource for clients around the world.

Clients include: high school students preparing for university auditions, Grammy nominated recording artists, and Broadway, film, and television actors. Last year her high school students earned places in the highly competitive musical theatre programs at the University of Michigan, Syracuse University, Boston Conservatory, NYU Tisch, and the University of Southern California, among others.
Stephanie is proud to be a National Center for Voice and Speech trained Vocologist, a member of the Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA), and has recently returned to school to study Speech Language Pathology, with a focus on voice habilitation and rehabilitation.