Rudd, Vela, Campbell earn top NATS honors

MOREHEAD — The stage at Baird Music Hall pulsed with talent as nearly 300 singers, teachers and accompanists gathered for the Mid-South Region conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), hosted this year by Morehead State University. Among the standout performers were three students from the vocal studio of Dr. Roma Prindle, a longtime professor of music and voice at MSU.

The two-day event, marked by three rounds of competition and culminating in a five-hour gala concert, drew participants from across Kentucky and Tennessee. With nearly $10,000 in prize money awarded, the stakes were high — and the performances, by all accounts, delivered.

Three of Prindle’s six student entrants earned top honors in five categories. Erin Grace Rudd, a junior at Magoffin County High School, won first place in both the high school classical and musical theater divisions. Ashley Vela, a Morehead State sophomore from Lexington, took top spots in the sophomore-level classical and musical theater categories. Eli Campbell, a junior from Flatwoods, placed fourth in junior-level musical theater. All three singers will advance to the national round of the competition later this month.

Prindle, a former Mid-South Region NATS governor, served as the site host for the event. Under her direction as the advisor of the Morehead Chapter of the Student NATS, 30 MSU vocal and instrumental students organized to run the competition.

Founded in 1944, NATS is the largest professional organization of singing teachers in the world, with more than 7,000 members across the United States and in over 35 countries.