Vocal Contests:
Many EVS students have successfully competed in local, regional, and national vocal competitions such as NATS, Classical Singer, Triple Threat, YoungArts and the National Music Theater (Jimmy) awards, garnering high praise, recognition and even receiving monetary prizes and scholarships.  If you are interested in any of these, please let me know as early as possible so we can begin preparation to help you reach your goal.

National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) National Student Auditions: 
I am an active member of NATS and encourage participation in its National Student Auditions (NATS NSA) at the state, regional and national levels.  
MN Chapter auditions are held each year on the first weekend of November in St. Cloud. Here’s what you should know:

• if you are interested, please talk to me, and we will determine together if it is a good fit for you!
• repertoire will be selected in studio to show a good variety of style and to showcase your strengths
• you are responsible for your own transportation
• 2023 MN Chapter Auditions: you must be available to miss school on Friday November 3, 2023 AND be available on Saturday November 4, 2023 should you advance to semi-finals and/or finals
• there will be a $120.00 fee billed separately from your regular monthly tuition which will cover the following:
  • 30 minutes of in-studio (or other location) rehearsal with our NATS accompanist in October
  • accompanied audition at the preliminary round on Friday November 3 (includes warmup and tempo check with accompanist if the accompanist’s schedule allows)
  • NATS Student Audition Application Fee
  • High School Rounds: If you advance beyond the preliminary round, an additional $40 accompanist fee will be due for semi-finals and $25 more for finals.  This will be paid directly to your accompanist on Saturday November 4.*fees are for the 2023 auditions and may change due to accompanist fee changes in the future. Lower College round at St. Olaf: $130 for 30 min rehearsal and playing at the preliminary live round (includes app fee of $20): if you advance to semifinals and/or finals, there will be an additional $50 per round due to your accompanist (unless 2 or more advance, it will be reduced to $30); Upper College: $160 (includes app fee): if you advance to semifinals, an additional $50 will be due to your accompanist, and if you go to finals, another $50 (unless the lower college students also advance, which may reduce the fee charged by the accompanist).

NC Regional Round: by invitation.  If you are interested in submitting an audition recording to the North Central Regional NATS Student Auditions (via YouTube) and we determine you are a good fit, there will be a $175.00 fee billed separately from your regular monthly tuition which will cover the following:

• 60 minutes of in-studio rehearsal with your NATS accompanist
• one hour accompanied recording session in the studio
• Studio set-up, video equipment, recording, video editing, YouTube uploading and application submission done by Jerry Elsbernd
• NATS Regional Student Audition Application Fee of $25 (per category)*
• If the rehearsal and/or recording sessions are not able to occur during your lesson, an additional fee of $50 per hour will be charged to your account for Jerry’s additional coaching time outside your regular lesson tuition.

National Round: by qualification as finalist in the regional auditions only. If you are a finalist in the Regional auditions, you are then eligible to advance to the (online) National Preliminary round.  If you continue to this level, it is unlikely that you will need a separate rehearsal before re-recording your audition songs for the National round, assuming the same accompanist is available to play for your National videos.  Therefore, the fee for the National Round will be $150 and will include:

• one hour accompanied recording session in the studio
• Studio set-up, video equipment, recording, video editing, YouTube uploading and application submission done by Jerry Elsbernd
• NATS National Student Audition Application Fee of $75 (per category)*
• If the rehearsal and/or recording sessions are not able to occur during your lesson, an additional fee of $50 per hour will be charged to your account for Jerry’s additional coaching time outside your regular lesson tuition.

*If you plan to submit recordings in more than one category, additional rehearsal and recording time will be necessary, and additional fees will be discussed and agreed upon before the recordings take place.