Martha Elliott, M.M., author of Singing in Style: A Guide to Vocal Performance Practices has been teaching at Princeton University since 1985. Her book has been enthusiastically received throughout this country and the U.K. She has presented talks, workshops and master classes at the NATS National Conference in Nashville, the York Early Music Festival in the U.K. (July, 09), New Jersey Opera Theatre, Smith College, and elsewhere. As a singer, she has a wide range of repertoire, including avant-garde contemporary music, opera, chamber music, and Baroque music with period instruments, and has performed around the world with the New York New Music Ensemble Continuum.

Scott McCoy is Professor of Voice and Pedagogy, Director of the Presser Music Center Voice Laboratory, and Director of Graduate Studies at Westminster College of the Arts at Rider University. His multimedia voice science and pedagogy textbook, Your Voice: An Inside View (2004), is used extensively by colleges and universities throughout the nation and abroad. He is President of NATS, a member of the American Academy of Teachers of Singing, and a founding faculty member in the New York Singing Teachers Association Professional Development program. He maintains an active singing career as a lyric tenor in concert, opera, and recital.

Thomas Murry is Professor of Speech Pathology in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Adjunct Professor, Columbia University Teachers College, and the distinguished invited professor in the Department of Communication Disorders, University of Hong Kong. He received his Ph.D. and from the University of Florida and completed his post-doctoral training from the University of Florida’s Communication Sciences Laboratory. He has authored, coauthored or edited 12 books including The Singer’s Voice and The Performer’s Voice. Dr. Murry has a national and international reputation as a scientist, clinician, educator and lecturer on the prevention and treatment of voice disorders in voice professionals.

William Westney is a concert pianist, educator, and author known for his refreshing impact on music performance and pedagogy. Winner of the Geneva International Competition, he is Artist-in-Residence and Distinguished Professor at Texas Tech University. Educational honors include the Yale School of Music’s “Certificate of Merit,” the Chancellor’s Council Distinguished Teaching Award (2008) at TTU, and a faculty Fulbright grant to Asia (2006). His innovative “Un-Master Class” workshop, which was profiled in a New York Times article, has been held in Vienna, Beijing, London, Seoul, Melbourne, Toronto, and other prominent music centers worldwide. His book, The Perfect Wrong Note (2003), received enthusiastic reviews and is now in its second printing.

55^th Annual National Opera Association Convention

The 55^th Annual National Opera Association Convention will be held at the Westin Atlanta North at Perimeter Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, January 7 through January 10, 2010. We are pleased that the convention will again be held in collaboration with the National Association of Teachers of Singing Winter Workshop.

We are excited to have as our keynote speaker for the opening luncheon Donald Runnicles, General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin since August 2009, and Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra since September 2009 and Music Director and Principal Conductor of the San Francisco Opera from 1992 to 2009. He is also Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In addition, opening remarks will be made by Dennis Hanthorn, General Director of the Atlanta Opera.

Of course there will be the annual vocal competition, opera scenes competition and master class, scholarly paper session, Todd Duncan Century Fund Session and the popular “Cabaret,” presented by our membership. Felicia Weathers and Marie Robinson will be the honorees at the Legacy Gala and Awards Banquet.

NOA sessions will appeal to directors, singers, producers, conductors and teachers. Presenters will include: Copeland Woodruff, “Viewpoints,” an innovative approach to stage direction; Carroll Freeman, “txt me pls: one director’s look at the importance of text in staging opera;” Dennis Hanthorn and Eric Mitchko of the Atlanta Opera, “Prognosis of Opera in the Region;” Ronald Ulen and Thomas King, “Jumping through the European Hoops;” Paul-André Bempechat, Lyrica Society, “Schumann’s Opera Genoveva;” Pierre Ruhe, former critic Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “What’s Happened to the Music Critic;” and Anne Harley, “Innovations in Motion & Sound Capture Devices;” Carl Gerbrandt, Sacred in Opera “The Staging of Elijah;” among others. Georgia State University Opera Theater will present, The Beautiful Bridegroom, by Dan Shore, winner of the Chamber Opera Composition Competition. Bill Bugg’s session “Speed Presenting,” (much like speed dating) should be of interest to our exhibitors, composers, librettists, and music businesses. Special guests will include counter-tenor David Daniels and tenor Lawrence Brownlee.