Abigail Young, a vocal music student from Mississippi’s gulf coast, received 3rd place at the Southern Regional NATS (Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana). Vocal students Sadie Gregory, Avery Smith, Kaitlyn Busby and Celeste Waters advanced to semifinals. The competition rotates between states, with this year’s event taking place at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
According to the national web site, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Inc. (NATS) is the largest professional association of teachers of singing in the world with more than 7,000 members in the United States, Canada, and nearly 30 other countries. Internationally, NATS is represented in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom, with the number of countries growing every year.