USD Voice Students to Compete in National Competitions
Michael Arriaza, vocal performance and music education major from Schuyler, Nebraska, and Denisse Balandran ’24, vocal performance graduate from Storm Lake, Iowa, have advanced to the national semifinals of the National Student Auditions sponsored by the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Arriaza and Balandran placed in the top 15 in their respective categories—Lower Post-High School Classical Tenor, Baritone and Bass, and Advanced Classical Treble—in the national preliminary round among singers from across the United States and Canada. They will compete in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in late June.
Trayden Goodman, a vocal performance major from Akron, Iowa, and Carter Van Steenwyk, a music education major from Aberdeen, South Dakota, have also advanced to the national semifinals of the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society’s Scholarship Competition.
Goodman and Van Steenwyk placed in the top 10 nationwide in the vocalist category and will compete in Clarinda, Iowa, in mid-June.
The students all study with Tracelyn Gesteland, DMA, professor of voice/opera and the Walter A. and Lucy Yoshioka Buhler Endowed Chair.
"It is an extraordinary achievement for four of our students to qualify for national-level voice competitions,” said Gesteland. “Their success reflects not only their exceptional talent and dedication, but also the collaborative and supportive environment that we strive to cultivate in our vocal program."
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