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PRESENTERS
Brian Gill • Keynote Speaker
Dr. Brian Gill, tenor, is professor of music in voice at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He was previously music associate professor/director of vocal pedagogy at New York University’s (NYU) Steinhardt School and Voice Center (Langone Medical Center). • A 2011 Van L. Lawrence Fellowship winner, Gill has performed numerous operatic and musical theater roles, concerts, and recitals in the United States and abroad. From opera companies and world-famous churches/cathedrals to sold-out arenas, recording studios, and packed houses playing/singing hard rock, funk, country, jazz, and even Indian classical music, he still enjoys a very diverse performing career entertaining a broad range of audiences around the world. • In addition to NYU, Gill has taught at Eastern Kentucky University, Pace University, University of Kentucky at Lexington, and University of Colorado at Boulder in the Continuing Education program. • A sought-after master clinician/guest lecturer, Gill has taught/presented for the New York Singing Teachers’ Association (NYSTA), U.S. Army Soldier’s Chorus, South Carolina Governor's School, NYU’s Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York Voice Study Group, the Los Angeles and the Michigan National Association of Teachers of Singing, Fall Voice Conference, Voice Foundation, National Center for Voice and Speech, Acoustical Society of America, Physiology and Acoustics of Singing Conference, Pan-European Voice Conference, OPERA America, and Johan Sundberg’s “Science of the Singing Voice” course.
Additionally, Gill has taught in France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Czech Republic, and South Korea. His students perform throughout the United States and abroad, including at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, English National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Royal Opera House, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera, On and Off Broadway, in Broadway national/international tours, the Soldiers’ Chorus, and many regional theaters around the globe. • Gill has been published in VOICEPrints (NYSTA official journal), Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology, and Journal of Voice.
Amber Blaylock
Amber Blaylock is a second-year graduate student in The Ohio State University’s MA Speech–Language Pathology program. She is currently pursuing a specialization in voice/singing health and aspires to build a career that allows her to treat a variety of vocal needs including voice pathologies, gender affirmation, and accent/dialect modification.
Robbie Davidson
Robbie Davidson is a Speech–Language Pathology graduate student at The Ohio State University, specializing in Singing Health. At age ten, Robbie began developing a strong interest in the arts, and has since appeared in various television, film and theatre productions. He hopes to use his degree in Speech Language Pathology to help treat and work with individuals in the arts community.
Hope Davis-Coen
Performing Arts Medicine Specialist Hope Davis-Coen has been a student of dance since age five. Following an injury that put her on complete bed rest, she knew she wanted to help dancers. Pursuing her passion for dance and medicine with a dual degree, she graduated magna cum laude in both BA in Dance and BS in Athletic Training from The University of Akron. • She has been working as a performing arts-specific athletic trainer since 2003; she has been part of the Sports Medicine Performing Arts Medicine team since 2008 and subsequently became a team leader for the program in 2012. Hope was a former dancer and remains an active member of the performing arts community, serving on Ohio State's Medicine in the Arts board, Chair of Medicine in the Arts roundtable, advisor for the dance portion of Humanism in Medicine. Hope has been the head athletic trainer for BalletMet since 2008, she can often be found backstage treating company members. Prior to her time at Ohio State, Hope was the head athletic trainer for The University of Akron Dance Department from 2003–2007. • Hope is a frequent presenter, speaking to dancers, instructors and health care professionals, including presentations at the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science, National Athletic Trainer’s Association, Ohio Athletic Trainers’ Association, American College of Sports Medicine, and Capital City Sports Medicine Symposium. She has been interviewed on WOSU, Columbus Dispatch, and Good Day Columbus. Mrs. Davis-Coen has also been published in the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science, Dance Magazine, Columbus Dispatch, and Pointe Magazine. She went on to do specialty training in Pilates through Balanced Body, manual therapy, Graston, Chinese cupping, active-release and dry needling. | Video recording will be posted here at a later date.
Sean Ferguson
Sean Ferguson, Professional Staff, Music & Dance Library
Rachael Gates
Soprano, opera director and vocal health specialist Rachael Gates has sung in Germany, Russia, Italy and throughout the United States. Dr. Gates was assistant opera director at Northwestern University, has taught at the University of Hartford and Michigan State University, and guest directed operas for Yale University. She is the vocal health specialist for the College Music Society, is published in The Journal of Singing, belongs to the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and teaches voice and pedagogy at Grand Valley State University. Dr. Gates pioneered what is now a Singing Health Specialization at The Ohio State University Medical Center with laryngologist L. Arick Forrest, MD and Kerrie Obert CCC-SLP. Dr. Gates holds degrees in music from Carnegie Mellon University, The University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music, and The Ohio State University. Her book, The Owner’s Manual to the Voice: A Guide for Singers and Other Professional Voice Users (Oxford 2013) is available at The Metropolitan Opera Shop.
Alan Green
Alan Green, Professor of Libraries and Head Librarian of Music & Dance Library
Shelby Martell
Shelby Martell, BA Music (Voice), BA Speech and Hearing Science • Shelby is a graduate student at Ohio State pursuing a Master of Arts in Speech–Language Pathology with a Singing Health Specialization. She has a background in singing in opera and musical theatre, and she seeks to help future clients find a comfortable and individual voice.
Diane McCullough
Diana McCullough teaches the Alexander Technique in the Dance Department at The Ohio State University. This practical somatic method increases ease and improves freedom of movement, balance, support and flexibility as students learn to integrate mind and body. Discover your primary co-ordination body in this introductory session.
Kerrie Obert
Speech and Language Pathologist
Karen Peeler
Karen Peeler, soprano, is Professor Emeritus of Voice and Pedagogy at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, where she headed the graduate program in voice pedagogy, and was Director of the Helen Swank Voice Teaching and Research Lab. Dr. Peeler holds degrees from Tulane University (BA, English), the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (MM, vocal performance), and the Florida State University (DM, vocal performance). Included among her teachers and coaches are Elena Nikolaidi, Oren Brown, Hubert Kockritz, John Wustman, Harold Heiberg, Thomas Grubb, Karl Pilss, and Hans-Peter Schilly. She has performed leading roles in opera, operetta, and musical theater throughout the United States, and has concertized widely in the US, Austria, and Italy. She appears with her chamber trio, TRIO ARIANA on their compact disc of original music for voice, viola, and piano, Renovations and Rhymes on the Eroica label. • Known also as a stage director, Dr. Peeler has directed opera programs in Mississippi and Texas. In 1991 she was chosen as one of four “master teachers” to inaugurate the Voice Teacher Intern program for the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and served as the local coordinator for that program in 1993 and 1996. She has been a national clinician for such organizations as NATS, MTNA, and the Voice Foundation, which gave her the 1993 Van Lawrence Award for teachers who have demonstrated excellence in voice teaching and pedagogy. She received the 2006 OSU School of Music award for Distinguished Teaching, and is a past NATS National Vice-Present for Membership. • Internationally, Dr. Peeler has served on the faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and La Lirica Musica in Novafeltria, Italy. She has presented classes in art song repertoire and vocal technique at the Instituto Superior de Arte of the Teatrò Colòn in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the National Ping-Tung Teachers College in Taiwan. Dr. Peeler also served on the voice faculties of Baylor University, Delta State University, and Capital Conservatory of Music. Among her voice students are professional singers, teachers, and prize winners across the nation and in Europe.
Karen Perta
Karen Perta, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a medical speech pathologist and singing voice specialist who has performed over 6,000 laryngoscopies. She presents research, lectures and workshops on various topics related to voice physiology at the local, national and international levels. She is a current lecturer in Speech and Hearing Science at The Ohio State University as well as a singer and multi-instrumentalist at Howl at the Moon Columbus.
Alexandria Schmidt
Alexandria Schmidt presents "Alumni Perceptions of Music Theater Curriculum Integration within Voice Programs at Ohio Public Universities"
Michelle Toth
Michelle Toth, Clinical Voice Pathologist, MA, CCC-SLP, is a voice therapist and singing health specialist for the JamesCare Voice and Swallowing Disorders Clinic at The Ohio State University. She received a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance, cum laude, from Wright State University in 2004. She graduated from The Ohio State University with a Master of Arts in Speech and Hearing Science in 2008 with the first Singing Health Specialization. Michelle has been working at this clinic since graduation, and participates in research mainly focusing on professional voice and singers. Additionally, she provides community outreach for singing health to local high schools and colleges. Her clinical interest remains working with singers from all styles and backgrounds and other professional voice users. Michelle is a member of the American Speech Hearing Association and a Lee Silverman Voice Therapy certified clinician. She lectures through the Speech and Hearing, Music, and Otolaryngology departments. She also enjoys singing recreationally.
PERFORMERS
- The Ohio State Men's Glee Club / Statesmen, directed by Robert J. Ward
- Women's Glee Club, directed by Jordan Saul
- Janus String Quartet with Mark Rudoff, cello; Nancy Nehring, viola; Devin Copfer and Kelsey Shaheen, violins; Sadiyah Babatune, soprano
- Zing-a-Mama Barbershop Quartet — Matthew Burns, Nick Denino, Seiji Kawakami, Indigo London
- Dana Carlson-Kottke, soprano; Brittany White, horn; Nancy Nehring, piano
OHIO STATE VOICE FACULTY
- Katherine Rohrer, Associate Professor and Area Head of Voice
- Edward Bak, Associated Faculty, Vocal Coach and Collaborative Pianist
- C. Andrew Blosser, Assistant Professor of Practice, Voice
- Lara Semetko Brooks, Associated Faculty, Voice
- Laura Portune, Assistant Professor of Practice, Voice
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