The School of Music and Voice Faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi will host a bi-annual Vocal Arts and Science Symposium on February 3-4, 2017. The symposium will feature guest clinicians such as renowned tenor George Shirley and Dr. Thomas Cleveland from Vanderbilt University. Participants will experience two days of sessions on topics related to vocal pedagogy, anatomy, production, and more. The event is open to singers, speakers, teachers and medical professionals with an interest in the voice.

2. Vocal Arts and Science Symposium
February 3–4, 2017
www.usm.edu/music/voice/events
In keeping with its mission to provide cultural enrichment, development of musicians,
teachers, and creative and research professionals in the arts and arts/music education, the
School of Music and Voice Faculty will host a bi-annual Vocal Arts and Science
Symposium with invited voice professionals in the medical, pedagogical, and Speech and
Hearing fields. Our first collaborative symposium that took place in January 2011 was
well received and proved to be a much needed community service. Our second event will
take place on February 3 – 4, 2017, our special guest clinicians will be two of our
nation’s leading pedagogical and voice experts: Tenor George Shirley, the Joseph Edgar
Maddy Distinguished University Emeritus Professor of Voice at the University of
Michigan – Shirley was the first African-American tenor and second African-American
male to sing leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera, where he
remained for eleven years as leading artist; and Dr. Thomas Cleveland, Director of
Vocology at Vanderbilt University’s Bill Wilkerson Center, as our master clinicians.
They will be joined by local speech therapists and ear, nose, throat physicians: speech
and hearing specialist, Dr. Steven J. Cloud, Ph.D., CCC-SLP; otolaryngologists, John D.
Sobiesk, M.D. with ENT Associates of Hattiesburg Clinic, Drs. Charles E. Guice, III
M.D. FACS-ENT, and Dr. Curtis Scott Childress, ENT and Facial Plastic Surgery of
Hattiesburg. Also headlined are actor and professor of voice, Robin Aronson, professor
in Southern Miss’ Department of Theatre and Dance; Dr. Donald J. Gray, founder of
Voce Vista; and Dr. Nicholas Perna, assistant professor of pedagogy at Mississippi
College.
You will experience two power-packed days of pedagogical material and topics including
but not limited to vocal and respiratory anatomy and function, voice production, tension
in the singing voice, medicine and handling pathologies (allergies, respiratory illnesses,
etc.), treating and working with the voice after injury or surgery, to name a few. Panel
discussions and fun-filled master classes for speakers and singers (avocational and
professional) are also included to give practical methods and techniques on vocal
improvement in both singing and speech.
The symposium is open to members of the National Associations of Teachers of Singing
(NATS), the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), private studio teachers and
professional singers (not affiliated with NATS or MTNA), professional speakers, speech
and hearing specialist, voice specialist and otolaryngologists, K-12 teachers,
actors/orators, ministers, choral directors, church music directors, forensics teams,
avocational singers (with all styles of music), church choir members, students and all
who have an interest in professional or avocational voice usage.

4. Hotel Information:
Best Western Premier University Inn (New to Hattiesburg)
ROOM RATE: Standard King- $103.99 Double Queen-$107.99
This rate includes a deluxe complimentary hot breakfast each morning, parking, high speed
internet access, and fitness center access. It is subject to a 9% sales tax. This is a group-
discounted rate and cannot be used in conjunction with any other rate.
BOOKING: There are two ways to book a room.
Online – http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/groupSearch.do?groupId=L85SI1M8
Or, through www.bestwestern.com, click “Group Reservations” at the top left of the webpage and
enter the Group ID: L85SI1M8
Phone – Call the hotel directly at 601-909-6658 and ask to book a reservation under the Vocal
Arts and Science Symposium Party.
La Quinta Inn & Suites Hattiesburg - I-59
109 Lundy Lane
Hattiesburg, MS 39401
Phone: 769.223.6000
Group: Vocal Arts and Science
Room Rate: $89 + tax, King $99 + tax, 2 Queens
Block Cancellation is January 27, 2017.
(These rooms are very nice. I checked them myself.)
Complimentary Breakfast
Hilton Garden Inn – See link on Website
GROUP NAME: VOCAL ARTS & SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM
GROUP CODE: VAS
GROUP RATE: $109.00
$115.00 (this rate would include breakfast)
Hilton Garden Inn
133 Plaza Drive
Hattiesburg, MS 39402
Please call 601.261.3770
Presented in part by a generous grant by

5. Mr. Shirley hasrecorded for RCA,
COLUMBIA, DECCA, ANGEL,
VANGUARD, CRI, and PHILIPS;
hereceived aGRAMMY AWARD
in 1968 for hisrole(FERRANDO)
in theprize-winning RCA recording
of Mozart’sCOSI FAN TUTTE.
An extensivetwo-volumecollection
of excerptsfrom thetenor’slive
performancesand studio recordings
spanning some50 yearswasreleased
in winter of 2014 by HAMBURGER
ARCHIV FÜR GESANGSKUNST.
Recent releasesof hisCovent
Garden performancesin Wagner’s
DasRheingold (L oge, 1975), and
DieMeistersinger (David, 1969) are
availablefrom OperaDEPOT.com.
A graduateof Wayne(State)
University, GeorgeShirley wasthe
f rst African American to beappointed
to ahigh school teaching position in
music in Detroit, and thef rst African-
American member of theUnited States
Army Chorusin Washington, DC.
Hewasthe f rst African-American
tenor and second African-American
maleto sing leading roleswith
theMetropolitan Opera, wherehe
remained for eleven yearsasleading
artist.
RobinAronson
isaProfessor of
Voiceand Acting
in theDepartment
of T eatreand
President of the
LessacTraining and
Research Institute.
Asoneof 55 L essac Voiceand Body
Certif ed Trainersin theworld, Robin
most recently served asvocal coach
for T eTempest Reimagined project
with thePhilippineEducational
T eatreAssociation in Manila. Robin
hastaught International Lessac
workshopsand Master Classesin
Australia, Ireland, England, Croatia,
Philippinesand Austria. Ms. Aronson
also created thef rst L essac training
program globally to achieveLessac
Practitioner Statusfor graduate
studentsat theUniversity of Rijeka.
Presently, Robin ismentoring aMFA
Voiceand Speech Candidateand the
T omasF. Cleveland
isdirector of vocology
at theVanderbilt
VoiceCenter
and Professor of
Otolaryngology in the
School of Medicine,
Vanderbilt University,
Nashville,TN, where
heconductsresearch and isinvolved
in team management and careof
thesinging voice. Dr. Cleveland has
lectured in Australia, Brazil, England,
France, Italy, theNetherlands, Portugal,
Sweden,Turkey and throughout the
United States. Heistheauthor of
morethan 80 articlesand research
papersthat havebeen published in the
NATSJournal,T eJournal of Singing,
T eJournal of Research in Singing,
T eJournal of theAcoustical Society
of Americaand T eJournal of Voice.
Dr. Cleveland holdsaPh.D. from the
University of Southern California. He
conducted graduateand postgraduate
research with Dr. Johan Sundberg at
theRoyal Instituteof Technology,
Stockholm, Sweden, asaFulbright
Scholar and astherecipient of agrant
from theVoiceFoundation of America.
GeorgeShirleyis
oneof America’smost
versatiletenors. Heis
in demand nationally
and internationally
asaperformer,
teacher, and lecturer.
Asaperformer he
haswon international acclaim for his
performanceswith theMetropolitan
Opera, Royal Opera(Covent Garden,
London), DeutscheOper (Berlin),
Teatro Colòn, (BuenosAires),
NetherlandsOpera(Amsterdam),
L’Opéra(MonteCarlo), New York
City Opera, Scottish Opera(Glasgow),
Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco
Opera,Washington Opera, Michigan
OperaT eater, GlyndebourneFestival,
and SantaFeOpera, among others.
GeorgeShirley hasperformed more
than 80 operatic rolesover thespan of
his56-year career, aswell asoratorio,
recital, and concert literaturewith
someof theworld’smost renowned
conductorsand accompanists.
f rst international intern in thehistory
of Southern Missfrom theNational
Instituteof Dramatic Art in Sydney,
Australia. Robin hasbeen thevocal
dialect coach for thepast thirteen
yearsfor theSouthern Missincluding
Dancing at L ughnasa, Hitchcock
Blonde,Waiting for theParadeand
Candida. Additional vocal coaching
creditsincludeOur Country’sGood
for theUniversity of New Orleansand
A Member of T eWedding at Triad
Stagein Greensboro, North Carolina.
T ispast fall, Robin wasnominated for
her fourth excellencein directing award
for Next To Normal at Southern Miss.
Robin hasserved astheChair of the
Voiceand Speech Committeefor the
Southeastern T eatreConferenceand
isamember of the Voiceand Speech
Trainer’sAssociation.
StevenJ. Cloud,
Ph.D., CCC-SLP,
isachair and
associateprofessor
in theDepartment
of Speech &
Hearing Sciences
at theUniversity
of Southern Mississippi. His
specialty areasincludeanatomy and
physiology of thespeech mechanism,
multicultural languageissues,
and adult neurogenics. Dr. Cloud
graduated SummaCum L audefrom
Western CarolinaUniversity with
aB.S. degreein Education and a
major in Communication Disorders.
Hereceived hisMaster of Speech
Pathology degreefrom theUniversity
of South Carolina, and hegraduated
from theUniversity of Tennessee
Knoxvillewith hisPh.D. in Audiology
and Speech-LanguagePathology. He
hascoauthored abook on advancing
communication disordersin the
profession, and hehaspublished eight
book chaptersand articleson various
topics. Healso hasdelivered more
than 25 presentationsat national and
stateconventions. Dr. Cloud hasawife
(Meg) and two boys—Cameron (age
14) and Brandon (age11). Heenjoys
reading and watching hissonsplay
baseball and basketball.
2017 Vocal ArtsandScienceSymposium–Guest Clinicians, PanelistsandCo-Presenters