SFA vocal students take home honors at regional competition

SFA voice students who competed in the Texoma regional conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing held at the University of North Texas in Denton, along with vocal instructors and professors, are, front row, from left, students Cairee Mayfield, Megan Kurtner, Page Madison, Lindsay Lymer, associate professor Deborah Dalton, and students Juan Garza and Stephen Hanna; and back row, from left, lecturer Nita Hudson, professor Ron Anderson, lecturer Debbie Berry, students Leslie Laney and Flora Wall and associate professor Scott LaGraff.

NACOGDOCHES - Stephen F. Austin State University vocal students earned several honors at the Texoma regional conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing held at the University of North Texas in Denton.

Jacksonville baritone Stephen Hanna placed second in the senior men's division. Soprano Flora Wall from Humble placed second in junior women's division, and Spring freshman Megan Kurtner, mezzo-sporano, also placed second in the freshmen women's division.

Earning third place honors were Houston juniors Lyndsay Lymer, mezzo-soprano, in junior women's division, Cairee Mayfield in junior men's division, and Emily Rhoades, SFA Music Preparatory student from Lufkin, competing in the high school women's lower division.

Honorable mentions went to Gilmer graduate student Leslie Laney in the graduate women's division; to El Paso freshman Juan Garza in the sophomore men's division; and to Carterville, Ill., senior Page Madison in the senior women's division.

Kurtner studies with Ron Anderson, professor of voice at SFA; Madison studies with Debbie Berry, voice lecturer; Laney, Lymer and Wall study with Deborah Dalton, associate professor of voice and opera; Garza and Hanna study with Scott LaGraff, associate professor of voice; and Mayfield studies with Nita Hudson, voice and opera lecturer.