Six Lawrence University Students Capture Top Honors at State Singing Competition

APPLETON, WIS. — Lacey Jo Benter won her third straight state singing title and Emily Fink received outstanding female singer honors as six Lawrence University students earned first-place honors at the 2007 Wisconsin chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition held Nov. 2-3 on the Lawrence campus.

Benter, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earned first-place honors in the junior women’s division. She has previously won the lower college women’s musical theatre division and the freshman women division. Fink, Neenah, won the senior women’s division and was named the competition’s outstanding female singer, a new award presented for the first time this year. Both are voice students of Karen Leigh Post.

Four other Lawrence students, one high school student from the Lawrence Academy of Music and one Lawrence graduate also won their respective divisions. Lawrence students swept the top three places in two categories. A total of 66 Lawrence students participated, with 22 advancing to the finals.

Other Lawrence first-place finishers included Katy Harth, Naperville, Ill., in the freshman women’s division; Katherine Meckel, Baltimore, Md., women’s lower college musical theatre division; Nicholas Benson, Minneapolis, Minn., in the men’s lower college musical theatre division; and Ashley Koroleweski, Manitowoc, women’s upper college musical theatre division.

Danny Rakita, a student at the Lawrence Academy of Music, earned first-place honors in the high school music theatre division, while Kerry Hart, a 2001 Lawrence graduate, won the adult professional division.

Harth studies in the voice studio of Joanne Bozeman. Meckel is a student in the studio of Ken Bozeman. Benson studies with John Gates and Koroleweski studies with Steven Spears. Rakita is a student of Bryan Post at the LAM and Hart is a former student of Patrice Michaels.

All first-place finishers were awarded $150 for their winning efforts, while Fink received an additional $100 for her outstanding singer award. Second- and third-place finishers received $125 and $100, respectively.

A total of 425 singers from around the state competed in 20 separate divisions by gender and level in this year’s auditions. Depending upon the category, NATS competitors are required to sing two, three or four classical pieces from different time periods with at least one selection sung in a foreign language.

2007 NATS Auditions/Lawrence Results

November 2-3, 2007 — Lawrence University