The National Association of Teachers of Singing has announced the seven winners of its Emerging Leaders Award. The award recognizes teachers of singing who have less than 10 years of teaching experience. Four of the seven award winners are women. Two of the four hold academic appointments at American universities.
Tracelyn Gesteland is an associate professor of voice and opera at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and holds the Walter A. and Lucy Yoshioka Buhler Endowed Chair at the university. She received the Belbas-Larson Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2015, the university’s highest teaching honor. Dr. Gesteland is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She earned a master’s degree in vocal performance and pedagogy at Roosevelt University in Chicago and a doctorate in vocal performance from the University of Houston.
Jessica McCormack is director of voice studies and an assistant professor of voice at Indiana University-South Bend. Earlier, she was an assistant professor of music at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.. Dr. McCormack is a performer of opera as well as contemporary music. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto and holds a master’s degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and a doctorate in music from the University of North Texas.