Vocal students steal the show at annual singing competition
Released: November 13, 2007
More than four hundred singers from across the state auditioned for the annual Wisconsin Chapter National Association of Teachers Singing Student Auditions at Lawrence University, but University of Wisconsin-Whitewater students stole the show. Two UW-Whitewater students took home first place honors in their divisions, with one of those taking top honors among men in all divisions. In addition, six other UW-Whitewater students were named semi-finalists.
"The two other girls that I went up against in the finals round were some excellent singers. I didn't hear them sing in either of the previous rounds because I didn't want to freak myself out knowing what I was up against," said UW-Whitewater senior Janalyn Bump. But in the end, it was Bump of Cambria who took home first place for Senior Women.
This came as no surprise to UW-Whitewater music lecturer Brian Leeper as she also received first place in the annual competition as a junior.
Adding to the success of the student auditions during the first weekend in November was UW-Whitewater student Michael Roemer of Brodhead, who took first place in the Sophomore Men division and received Outstanding Male Performance Award for men in all divisions from freshmen through graduate level.
"After receiving first place, I was rather shocked, but afterward I was excited and more confident with myself as a singer," he said.
"I was pleasantly surprised that Michael was awarded the Outstanding Male Performance as a sophomore," said Leeper. "There were so many men in the junior, senior and graduate divisions that sang well."
Roemer's hard work over the past year is evident as he received second place as a freshman the previous year. Leeper added, "The awards are extremely difficult to win. Schools only send their best students to the auditions and with more than 400 students each year some divisions have as many as 50 singers or more in them. Just to get to semi-finals is an incredible feat."
UW-Whitewater student semi-finalists included:
- Brandon Auer of La Crosse - Freshmen Men
- Amber McKoy of Deerfield, Wis. - Sophomore Women
- Sarah Rehborg of Sedona, Ariz. - Sophmore Women
- Deborah Skidmore of Waukesha, Wis. - Sophomore Women
- Maddie Olson of Sussex, Wis. - Sophomore Women
- Amanda Franecki of Hartland, Wis. - Junior Women
"We usually do well, with one or two people finishing in the top three, but this is the first year since I have been here that we've had two first place winners, and since the Outstanding Male Singer Award was only started this year, we are the first school ever to have a student winner for that award. We have also never had this high of a number of people in the semi-finals for their divisions," said Leeper.
To prepare for the competition, the students took weekly lessons, participated in four group master classes during the semester, brought in guest artists to the master classes before the auditions and had the students sing in a recital the week of auditions as a "warm-up" to the actual event.
This is the only competition the students participate in throughout the year. The Wisconsin Chapter National Association of Teachers of Singing Student Auditions is the only competition of its kind in the state and is hosted at different locations each year. UW-Whitewater will host the event in November 2008.
- Regina Shirkey,shirkeyrm26@uww.edu
