Congratulations to Roni Shelley Perez, winner in the 2016 National Student Auditions of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Roni took second place in the Lower College Music Theater Women category. Lower college denotes the student is in their first through fourth semester of vocal study at the undergraduate level. Roni qualified to audition for the national semi-final round after placing at the Western Central Regional Student Auditions last November. Five singers from each regional category advanced to a national online screening round, where entrants submitted a video of their performance for adjudication by a panel of national judges. Of these singers, fourteen singers in each category were invited to compete in the live national semi-finals at Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL during the National Association of Teachers of Singing Convention in July 2015.  Three students from each category were selected to compete in the final round.

Congratulations to our additional UNO students that participated in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Convention in July 2015: Helen Creger, collaborative pianist with Roni Shelley Perez; Lindsey Ussery, National Semi-Finalist in the Upper College Music Theater Women category; Grace Kolbo, poster presentation “Exploring Nia for Singers”; Bobbie Lippert, Alma Ramos, Christine Bendorf, and Jessica Gammons, student conference volunteers.