The Vocal Arts Competition for Emerging Artists

Special to The Truth

The Mary E. Singletary Vocal Artist Competition for Emerging Artists was held on Sunday, April 7, 2019 at People's Missionary Baptist Church, 1101 Heston Avenue.  The Vocal Arts Competition was sponsored by the Maumee Bay Club, Toledo Adult Club, and Toledo Youth Club of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc.

The performing vocalists were Samuel Spencer and Joseph Fields.

Spencer, a baritone, is the proud son of Robert and Fleurette Spencer and is currenly a junior at the University of Toledo majoring in vocal music.

He is a member of UT Opera Ensemble and the Concert Choral. He has performed solo pieces in the Toledo Musuem of Art’s Great Gallery.  He has also performed as Sandman in the dream sequence from Hansel and Gretel, and Marquis Khadja in The Merry Widow with The University of Toledo"s Opera Ensemble.

Spencer is a member of the Beta Xi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. He is also a member of Springhill Baptist Church and a member of the Young Adult Chior as well.

Fields, a tenor, attended Woodward High School and was a member of the chior for four years. He is currently studying voice performance at Bowling Green State University under instructor Chelsea Cloeter.

Joseph was a former member of the University of Toledo Gospel Choir and the Bowling Green State University Collegiate Chorale.  He is currently a member of BGSU Acapella Choir and and The Voices at BGSU performing classical and non-classical music. Joseph performs at fashion shows, recitals, seminars and the Jabberwock at BGSU.  

Both Samuel Terrell Spencer and Joseph Trevor Fields were greatly appreciated by the audience. Adjudicators LaTonya Johnson-Crawford, Margaret Barron and Franklin Brewer listened to an additional song from each contestant to help them determine the winner. 

Spencer was named the winner and will be representing the adult and youth clubs of Maumee Bay and Toledo Clubs at the North Central District Conference in May.

The Vocal Arts Competition for Emerging Artists, formerly known as the Leontyne Price Vocal Arts Competition, is the Signature Program of The National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc. In 1982 under the leadership of Past National President Mary E. Singletary, the competition was introduced to provide a competitive arena for talented young African-American vocal artists to showcase and demonstrate their artistic abilities in classical vocal performance.

Each artist competes on the local level with the winner moving on to the district level. The winner at the district level emerges as a finalist qualified to participate on the national level. These young people represent the result of an intensive year long search throughout the country to locate the finest and most gifted young artists within the vocal arts genre. Each contestant will perform selections from a repertoire composed of an Aria from a major opera, an Oratorio Cantata, a German Lied, a French Melodie and a Negro Spiritual or a work by an African-American composer.

NANBPWC and Toledo Club Programs were highlighted by Patti Poston, Maumee Bay first vice president and program chairman; and Denise Black-Poon, Toledo Club first vice president and program chairman.  Alexii Collins, second vice president and Toledo Youth Club Leader, gave an overview of the youth programs.
 

Copyright © 2019 by [The Sojourner's Truth]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 04/18/19 11:01:52 -0400.

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