“The goal of going to this competition was to gain perspective and receive feedback from other vocal teachers,” Renbarger said. “We had a great showing of our competitiveness in Minnesota, with six finalists in five separate categories, including two first-place finishes.”<\/p>\n
In addition to the two category winners, BSU’s finalists were:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Zicheng He (sophomore, music-vocal performance, Chaska) — 2nd<\/sup> place, Second-year TBB Classical; Renbarger studio<\/li>\n
- Blake Staines (senior, music-vocal performance, Bemidji) — 3rd<\/sup> place, Fourth- and Fifth-year TBB Classical; Renbarger studio<\/li>\n
- Johanna Engman (sophomore, music-teacher certification, Manteo, N.C.) — 2nd<\/sup> place, First-year Treble Classical; Olson studio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
“I am so impressed with the focus, dedication, and maturity of our students. BSU is fortunate to be represented by such excellent students,” Olson said.<\/p>\n
Levi Capesius, the vocal music director at Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Public Schools who studies individually with Renbarger, also placed with a third-place showing in the Advanced TBB Classical category.<\/p>\n
“The students represented BSU once again with class and strength throughout the competition,” Renbarger said. “Our students were excellent models of collegiality as they supported each other throughout the two-day event.”<\/p>\n
The National Association of Teachers of Singing celebrates the art of singing through a series of competitions and auditions designed to showcase the talented singers, performers and composers who are the rising stars in the profession. Students must study with a current member of NATS to qualify for the student auditions and are categorized by the length of time they have studied voice, their voice types and age as of September 1.<\/p>\n
For winning their categories, Binkley and Colgrove will advance to an online preliminary round for further competition. National finals are held in conjunction with the association’s 58th<\/sup> annual conference, scheduled for June 28–July 4 in Knoxville, Tenn.<\/p>\n
![\"Eight](\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/2023-NATS-001-570x380.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tDr. Jennifer Olson\u2019s studio \u2014 \nFront: Indigo Shew; Tamara Moore.\nBack row: Helen Bartlett; Hailee Colgrove; Hannah Lewis; Johanna Engman.\nMiddle row: Megan Moen; Dr. Jennifer Olson; Raegan Jarvi.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure> ![\"Five](\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/2023-NATS-003-570x380.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tHailee Colgrove; Zhicheng He; Carson Binkley; Blake Staines; Johanna Engman; Sarah Carlson, accompanist.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure> ![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/2023-NATS-004-570x380.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tBlake Staines; Carson Binkley; Zhicheng He.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure> ![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/2023-NATS-005-570x380.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tJohanna Engman; Hailee Colgrove.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure> ![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/2023-NATS-006-570x380.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tDr. Renbarger Studio \u2014\u00a0Front row: Merideth Klingbeil; Bella Fontana.\nBack row: Zhicheng He; Dr. Cory Renbarger; Carson Binkley; Blake Staines; Noah Olson; Elijah Lallak; Wyatt Parthun; Joshua Grosvold.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure> ![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/2023-NATS-002-570x380.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tFront row: Indigo Shew; Tamara Moore; Johanna Engman; Merideth Klingbeil; Megan Moen; Denise Laaveg, accompanist.\nMiddle row: Bella Fontana; Helen Bartlett; Hailee Colgrove; Hannah Lewis; Raegan Jarvi.\nBack row: Blake Staines; Carson Binkley; Wyatt Parthun; Noah Olson; Elijah Lallak; Zhicheng He; Joshua Grosvold.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n National Association of Teachers of Singing Minnesota Chapter Student Auditions<\/h2>\n
November 3-4, 2023 • Bethel University • St. Paul, Minnesota<\/strong><\/p>\n
Bemidji State University Participants<\/h3>\n
Bemidji<\/h4>\n
- \n
- Helen Bartlett, freshman, music (teacher certification)<\/li>\n
- Bella Fontana, sophomore, music (vocal performance)<\/li>\n
- Megan Moen, freshman, music (vocal performance)<\/li>\n
- Tamara Moore, graduate, music (vocal performance)<\/li>\n
- Noah Olson, sophomore, music (teacher certification)<\/li>\n
- Blake Staines, senior, music (vocal performance) and psychology<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Minnesota<\/h4>\n
- \n
- Becida (56678) — Wyatt Parthun, sophomore, music (piano performance & pedagogy) and music (vocal performance)<\/li>\n
- Chaska (55318) — Zhicheng He, sophomore, music (vocal performance)<\/li>\n
- Grand Rapids (55744) — Elijah Lallak, freshman, music<\/li>\n
- Motley (56466) — Hailee Colgrove, junior, music (teacher certification)<\/li>\n
- Nevis (56467) — Hannah Lewis, junior, music and accounting<\/li>\n
- Puposky (56601) — Carson Binkley, sophomore, music (vocal performance)<\/li>\n
- Sebeka (56477) — Raegan Jarvi, junior, music (instrumental and vocal performance)<\/li>\n
- Wells (56097) — Merideth Klingbeil, junior, English education<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Other States<\/h4>\n
- \n
- Kenai, Alaska (99611) — Joshua Grosvold, freshman, music (teacher certification)<\/li>\n
- Manteo, North Carolina (27594) — Johanna Engman, sophomore, music (teacher certification)<\/li>\n
- Magnolia, Texas (77354) — Indigo Shew, freshman, music (teacher certification) and design technology (2D art)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BSU sent 17 students to participate at the National Association of Teachers of Singing auditions Nov. 3\u20134 in St. Paul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":48536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1025,3,872,1002,25,980,1021,1048,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-integrity","category-academics","category-homepage","category-music","category-people","category-strategic-plan","category-student-engagement","category-success-story","category-top-story"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48535"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48563,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48535\/revisions\/48563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Blake Staines (senior, music-vocal performance, Bemidji) — 3rd<\/sup> place, Fourth- and Fifth-year TBB Classical; Renbarger studio<\/li>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t