391 MTSU VOCALISTS WIN 1st and 2nd SPOTS AT NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS OF SINGING COMPETITION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 17, 2006
CONTACT: Tim Musselman, (615) 898-2493

(MURFREESBORO)—Two MTSU vocal students, Emily Kent and Andrew Radar, won first- and second-place honors, respectively, at the regional (Southeast) auditions for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition on March 31 and April 1 at Carson Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn.
With more than 300 singers competing from colleges such as Belmont University, University of Tennessee Knoxville, East Tennessee State and Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music, Kent won first place in the Junior Women's category, with Rader taking second place in the Junior Men's division.
A native of Seymour, Tenn., Kent is a junior vocal performance major at MTSU, where she studies with Dr. Christine Isley-Farmer.
"It is really encouraging to me to win this award because I feel that my category was one of the most competitive there," Kent remarked. "There were a lot of wonderful singers there, so this was indeed an honor for me."
Kent said that there were 50-plus women in her category, where she sang three times, each time progressing to another level of the competition. Nine minutes of performing for judges landed her in the semifinal round, where another six minutes of performance carried her into the finalists round.
Second-place winner Radar, a native of Kingsport, Tenn., is a junior vocal performance major at MTSU.
In addition to Kent and Radar, MTSU vocalists Mark Wanich, Megan Tozer, Becky King and Corinne Denny also were selected as semifinalists in the competition.
For more information on Kent, Radar or the Mclean School of Music, please contact Tim Musselman at (615) 898-2493.


ATTENTION, MEDIA: To request an interview with either of the winners or to request a jpeg of the winners for editorial use, please contact Tim Musselman in the music school at MTSU at 615-898-2493.