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Posted: 4/28/22

New TAMIU Summer Choir Camp Offered; Deadline May 23

 

Dana Crabtree
Dana Crabtree, TAMIU instructor of Voice  

This summer, a first-ever choir camp for high school students preparing for All-State Choir Competition will be offered at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU). 

Cost for the Camp is  $80.

“Sing to Win @ All-State:  The TAMIU Summer Choir Camp” will be offered June 13 – 16 from 5 to 9 p.m. and hosted by members of TAMIU’s Music faculty and guest clinicians. To register online, visit: go.tamiu.edu/SingToWin. 

The final deadline to register for Camp is Monday, May 23, 2022.  For assistance with registration, please contact TAMIU’s Office of Continuing Education at 956.326.3068 or email ce@tamiu.edu

Dana Crabtree, TAMIU instructor of Voice, said the Camp opportunity is an effort to provide additional professional guidance to high school freshmen to juniors as they prepare for All-State Choir Competitions.

“Laredo and our surrounding area have an amazing number of very talented high school voice students who regularly qualify to advance to All-State competitions.  We will provide our ‘Sing to Win @ All-State’ Camp participants with some very focused professional guidance that will provide advanced technique, strengthen vocal stamina to sustain their performance delivery, offer specialized help with difficult sections, incorporate group rehearsals with like voices, look at all-important sight-reading preparation, and share tips for mastering foreign language diction.  All told, we want to provide Camp students with ways to increase their musicianship and develop a real performance advantage that will serve them well at All-State Competition and beyond,” Crabtree explained.

“We’re also well aware that many of these students are also eyeing participating in summer musical theatre positions locally, so these techniques will help them in those pursuits. Importantly, the timing of our Camp provides them with the flexibility to pursue summer theatre as well,” she observed.

At the conclusion of the Camp, students will present a concert at TAMIU for their friends and family.

tamiudr.-colin-campbell.300.jpg
Colin Campbell, associate professor of Music and University organist

The Camp participants, limited to 50 students from Laredo and the surrounding area, will work with TAMIU faculty members including Crabtree and Dr. Colin Campbell, associate professor of Music and University organist. Additional Camp clinicians include Celia Hernández, VMT School choir director, Hacel Arias, UHS choir director and Debbie Hernández, USHS choir director.  

“Our Camp clinicians are all phenomenally talented musicians and leaders, and Dr. Campbell and I are so excited to partner with them in this venture,” Crabtree said.

Both Crabtree and Campbell have long and varied careers in music education and performances around the world.

Crabtree said the College of Arts and Sciences, department of Fine and Performing Arts is excited to offer this summer Camp program for choir students for the first time. 

“These sorts of camps are offered across the country, so we’re excited to be able to bring this opportunity to students.  Truthfully, I wish I would have had this sort of opportunity available to me as a high school student in Louisiana!  It would have been a real advantage,” she observed.

A lyric coloratura soprano, Crabtree’s performances have been well received in America and Europe. She’s performed in numerous genres, from Broadway favorites to operatic repertoire, and has appeared locally in LTGI and LC Opera Workshop productions.

Born in New Orleans and raised in Baton Rouge, LA., Crabtree attended Louisiana State University, completing both the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Vocal Performance. Her postgraduate work has been at The University of Texas at Austin and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. 

Campbell, originally from South Africa, graduated from the University of Port Elizabeth with a Bachelor of Music in performing arts degree, followed by a Master of Music. He also obtained the Performers Licentiate Diploma in Organ from the University of South Africa with distinction. He has studied with well-known organists in South Africa, and furthered his organ studies in interpretation and improvisation in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

He's appeared with some of the most noted South African orchestras on both piano and organ and performed during live radio broadcasts and for youth concerto festivals. He has made several recordings for the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s National Radio Service and his recitals as a solo artist and in chamber ensembles throughout South Africa, Namibia, Europe, and the USA have earned critical acclaim.

For additional information, contact Crabtree at dcrabtree@tamiu.edu or 956.326.3040, or Campbell at colin.campbell@tamiu.edu  956.326.3071

For more on the University’s Fine and Performing Arts, including degrees and a performance calendar, visit https://www.tamiu.edu/coas/fpa 

An Events Hotline provides recorded information on the Fine and Performing Arts at TAMIU at 956.326.3044.

More University information is available online at tamiu.edu or via TAMIU’s social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.