Shorter voice student wins national competition

April 13, 2012 - Shorter University senior vocal performance major Trey Smagur was selected as the first-place winner of the Music Teacher’s National Association Young Artist voice competition. Smagur previously competed at the state and division level, winning both rounds toqualify for the national level of the competition. The national level of the young artist competition, which took place in New York, boasts the best singers in the country under the age of 25. Smagur presented a program of five songs and three arias in varying styles, and five different languages, which was adjudicated by three accomplished vocal teachers. Smagur becomes the sixth voice student in Shorter's history to claim this national honor; Shorter also had a student who was a national winner in the organ competition.  “Being selected the winner of such a high caliber, national voice competition is a great honor not achieved by many,” said Smagur’s voice teacher Dr. Chuck Chandler, assistant professor of voice at Shorter. “I expect this is a sign of things to come for Trey as he leaves us for graduate school and eventually the professional singing world.”

Currently, Smagur has plans to attend either Indiana University or Florida State University for graduate coursework. He has been offered full teaching assistantships at both institutions.

Additionally, on the same day Smagur competed at National MTNA, he learned of his acceptance into a young artist program at one of the most prestigious opera companies in the country. This summer, Smagur will spend a week in Houston, Texas, training at Houston Grand Opera. While there, he will receive daily voice lessons and coachings, as well as classes in stage movement, foreign language vocal diction, score and role preparation, and participate in master classes geared towards audition techniques.

Founded in 1873, Shorter University is a Christian university committed to excellence in education. The Princeton Review annually includes Shorter on its lists of best value and best Southeastern colleges. The university offers traditional bachelor’s degrees in 48 major areas as well as undergraduate degree programs for working adults, the Master of Business Administration, the Master of Education and the Master of Arts in Leadership. General education and calculus courses are offered in an online format, and Shorter recently launched online programs that lead toward the Associate of Science, the Bachelor of Business Administration, and the Master of Accountancy degrees. For more information, visit www.shorter.edu.

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