Chapter Member News

Chapter Member News,
Events, and Announcements

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NEWEST announcements appear first (last update 7.17.2020)

Kenneth Bozeman, Named Keynote Speaker

Since his retirement in 2019, Kenneth Bozeman (Emeritus Professor of Music at Lawrence University) has been actively giving presentations both nationally and internationally. Recently, he was a named a keynote speaker for the British Voice Association on Sept 4, 2021. Ken has also been named the keynote speaker for the International Congress of Voice Teachers next August 2022 in Vienna. To view his speaking engagements schedule, you can visit his website here. Congrats, Ken!

Dan Johnson-Wilmot, Recipient of Lifetime Achievement Award

Wisconsin chapter member, Daniel Johnson-Wilmot, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the NATS 58th National Conference on July 1st, 2024 in Knoxville Tennessee.

Daniel Johnson-Wilmot, Professor Emeritus at Viterbo University, has devoted over 50 years to teaching and mentoring in voice. His students’ successes on Broadway and at the Metropolitan Opera speak volumes about his impact. Thank you, Dan, for your dedication and leadership through the years!

Wisconsin NATS Members Present at
National Virtual Conference

Congratulations to our WI NATS members who presented at the 2020 NATS National Virtual Conference, which was held June 24-30.

Kenneth Bozeman (Lawrence Conservatory), Chadley Ballantyne, and Ian Howell presented a pre-conference workshop entitled "Acoustic and Perceptual Voice Pedagogy: From Impulse and Affect to Pedagogy and Performance." Mr. Bozeman's most recent book, "Kinesthetic Voice Pedagogy: Motivating Acoustic Efficiency" is available at www.voxped.com.

Joanne Bozeman (Lawrence Conservatory), Nancy Bos, and Cate Frazier-Neely presented a breakout session entitled "Women Singing Through Midlife, Menopause, and Beyond." Their recently-published book, Singing Through Change: Women's Voices in Midlife, Menopause and Beyond, is available for purchase at Amazon.com, and more information is available here.

Brian Leeper is the New North Central Regional Governor

Congrats to Brian Leeper, who has been elected as governor of the North Central Region of NATS. He will begin his full term in July 2024. About Brian:

I am in my 20th year at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where I teach Studio Voice, Opera Workshop, Hawk-Kor and advise our Student Chapter of SNATS. A Wisconsin-Chapter NATS member, I served previously on the board for several years in the following offices: Member-at-Large, Membership Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President and President. As a performer, I remain active - in recent summers I presented masterclasses at Operafestival di Roma and FIO-Italia and travelled to Frankfurt to coach American art song with vocalists at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst. In June, 2022, I sang the premier performance of Children of the Moon with the Nebraska Chamber Players in Red Cloud, NE at the 67th Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference, in celebration of the centenary of Cather's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, One of Ours. Later that month at the Norwegian Singers Association of America’s Sangerfest, I performed as soloist with the festival choir and collaborated with Jessica Paul, piano, on a solo recital of songs by Edvard Grieg.

My vision for our region is to find new ways to connect with each other over the vast distance between our districts. Early in my career while teaching at Western Illinois University and Nebraska Wesleyan University, I attended regional auditions of the West Central and Central regions of NATS. I found these auditions quite beneficial to my own students and I grew to know many of the teachers from the other state chapters in those regions. Being a member now for 20 years in Wisconsin, I rarely have the opportunity to connect with teachers from other districts in that same manner, except at national events. Yes, we are separated by several hundred miles, but I would like to give thought to how we might be able to offer a regional audition for neighboring states within our region, even if that may mean organizing separate auditions that make it possible for our membership to take part in a mini-regional audition. I would also like to continue to champion diversity and inclusion within our region, as we should strive for membership nearly as diverse as our geographical distance. I believe that we should seek out as many varied perspectives as possible when looking at leadership positions within our region for the future.

Joanne Bozeman Publishes Book on Women's Voices

Congratulations to Joanne Bozeman on the recent release of her book, Singing Through Change: Women's Voices in Midlife, Menopause and Beyond, written with Nancy Bos and Cate Frazier-Neely. Speech Pathologist and Singing Voice Specialist Lori L. Sonnenberg describes the book as "a thorough, thoughtful, and compassionate look into the complexities surrounding the singing voice for women during midlife and the menopausal transition, interwoven with stories that inform, encourage and inspire us to keep singing. This will no doubt be a tremendous resource for the singing and medical communities for years to come." Ms. Bozeman writes: "We wrote the book for singers of all kinds, and in accessible language. For teachers, we want them to know that it's not a "how to" book; it's more of a "how women" may react to an important and transitional time of life. With this background, teachers will be better equipped to work with women who come to them for lessons." The book is available for purchase at Amazon.com, and more information is available here.