Chapter Member News,
Events, and Announcements
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NEWEST announcements appear first (last update 7.17.2020)
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!
Thank You, Kathleen Otterson
The WI NATS Board thanks Kathleen Otterson (Edgewood College) for her service as North Central Regional Governor the past four years. During her term, Ms. Otterson oversaw the regional rounds of the National Student Auditions, NATS Artist Awards, and NATS Music Theater Competition. Ms. Otterson served previously as WI NATS Membership Secretary, Vice-President, President, Auditions Co-Chair, and WI District Governor. Thank you, Kathy, for your leadership and service!
Congratulations, Dan Johnson-Wilmot
Dan Johnson-Wilmot has been named Emeritus Professor of Music at Viterbo University in LaCrosse, WI, and has retired from full-time teaching after 47 years at Viterbo. Dan will remain on staff as Adjunct Instructor of Voice beginning in the fall. He received his BA in Music from St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota and MM in Voice from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During his years at Viterbo, Dan has taught applied voice and vocal pedagogy, directed the Concert Choir (30 years), and served as chair of the music department twice during his tenure for a total of thirteen years. His voice students have won over three hundred and fifty awards in the NATS state, regional and national auditions, and are frequent winners in the Metropolitan Opera auditions, the Bruce Carlson Schubert Club (MN) Scholarship competition, and the Classical Singer competition. Former students are singing on Broadway, at the Metropolitan Opera, in summer programs including Sarasota, Ohio Light, Glimmerglass, Merola, and Central City, and in professional choral groups such as Chanticleer. His students have received scholarships to prestigious graduate programs at Manhattan School, University of Indiana, Bloomington, Cleveland Institute, University of Houston, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, University of Kentucky, Lexington and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Outside the university, Dan has been very active in the music community in LaCrosse: founding the La Crosse Boy Choir in 1974 and serving as their music director/conductor for thirty years; founding the Three Rivers Girls Choir in 1987 and directing them for ten years. Dan was the bass section leader in the St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral Gallery Singers for eleven years and sang in the Choir of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadeloupe. Around the state and in Minnesota, he has sung as soloist in opera and oratorio. He has been in demand as an adjudicator in auditions and competitions, and taught master classes in the United States, Europe and China. Wisconsin NATS knows Dan best as our dedicated former Auditions Chair. Many of the policies and procedures in place for the Fall Auditions were crafted by Dan during 25 years of overseeing them, and he was instrumental in the development of the “Auditionware” system now in use nationally. At the national level, Dan served as Regional Governor of the North Central Region of NATS; and National Vice President for Membership of NATS . He is currently the NATS National Student Auditions Coordinator, and is largely responsible for the expansion of the NSA over the past 5 years. Commenting on his career as a voice teacher, Dan says: “I love teaching because I enjoy the process that students engage in as they discover the musical gifts and artistic potential they possess and develop that potential to its fullest. The study of vocal music is a cooperative venture where teacher and student and accompanist enter in as partners to explore the creative potential of vocal artistry.” Congratulations, Dan! Wisconsin NATS Members Present at
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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.
Heidi Wylie Receives Emerging Leader Award
Heidi Wylie (Milwaukee, WI) has been selected as one of seven national recipients of the NATS Emerging Leader Award. This program is designed to recognize teachers of singing with no more than 10 years of teaching experience, and who are active at the chapter and regional level of NATS. Ms. Wylie is a singer, vocal instructor and music educator in the Milwaukee area, and taught high school choir in the Milwaukee Public Schools for five years. Heidi began teaching private voice after seeing a large need for private instruction among urban students desiring to major in music who were not afforded the opportunity for a K-12 music education. Wylie Voice Studio has secured funding for over $7,000 in scholarships since its inception to help students acquire voice training on par with their suburban peers.
Rachel Wood is the new District GovernorRachel Wood (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) has been appointed WI District Governor, succeeding Susan Bender (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point). Rachel has served as the Corresponding Secretary of WI NATS for the past four years. She is currently an Assistant Professor and Voice Area Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she has taught since 2015.
Helen Ceci Published in Inter Nos NewsletterAn article written by WI NATS member Helen Ceci appears in the current edition of the NATS Inter Nos newsletter. The article is part of the newsletter's "NATS for a Lifetime Showcase." In it, Ms. Ceci discusses her experiences with the NATS organization, and with the Wisconsin Chapter. To read the article in Inter Nos online, please follow this link (you will need to log in to the NATS website using your username and password), and click on "View Current Issue - Fall 2017."
Kenneth Bozeman published in
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