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Faculty

Dr. Robert Best
Associate Professor of Voice

ROBERT BEST, lyric baritone, has been a member of the Vocal Studies Division since 2001. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance/Pedagogy from the University of Colorado at Boulder where he studied with Barbara Doscher and Robert Harrison. Dr. Best also earned BM (Vocal Performance) and MM (Vocal Performance and Vocal Performance/Pedagogy) degrees from Arizona State University where he studied with Jerry Doan. ~ MORE...

Dr. Soon Cho
Assistant Professor of Voice

SOON CHO, mezzo-soprano, joins Baylor University as Assistant Professor of Voice in the fall of 2007. Recently, the press hailed Dr. Cho as "delightfully melodramatic" in her portrayal of Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Astoria Music Festival, where she repeated the role. She is the winner of the Artman and Straub Opera Award, Ralph Corbett Award, Dieterle Vocal Scholarship, Brechemin Family Foundation Award, Cecilia Bartoli Scholarship, and Young Artist Soloist of the Year. ~ MORE...

Mr. Jack Coldiron
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Voice

JACK H. COLDIRON Lyric Baritone, received the Bachelor of Music (cum laude) from Stetson University, and the Master of Church Music degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. Further graduate study was undertaken at Southern Methodist University where he was a student of Mack Harrell. In addition, Mr. Coldiron has studied at the German Center for Music Education in Stuttgart, Germany, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy of Music, both in London, England. ~ MORE...

Dr. Jerry Gordon
Associate Professor of Voice

JERRY GORDON, tenor, holds the Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Music in Voice and Bachelor of Science in Music Education degrees from the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati where he won both the Gorno and Baur Vocal Competitions. While a student, he placed in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, WGN Auditions in Chicago, the Corbett-American Opera Auditions and won second-place in the San Francisco Opera Auditions. Dr. Gordon has sung professionally throughout the United States and in many of the leading opera houses in Europe. He has appeared as soloist with the Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dayton and Honolulu Symphony Orchestras under such noted conductors as Robert Shaw, Josef Krips, Max Rudolf and Eric Kunzel, conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. ~ MORE...

Dr. Jeffrey Peterson
Assistant Professor of Voice

Pianist and coach JEFFREY PETERSON has appeared in recitals and master classes on five continents, with such important operatic artists as Martina Arroyo, James King, and Teresa Kubiak, in venues as far-reaching as Hoam Hall in Seoul, the Marian Anderson Festival and Competition, and Manaus, Brazil. He has appeared at art song festivals in Cleveland and Delaware, and the Blossom Festival, and been part of cultural exchange cruises to Greece, Turkey, and South America. His performances have been broadcast on public radio stations in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and New Mexico, as well as on WFMT in Chicago. ~ MORE...

Dr. Daniel Scott
Associate Professor of Voice

DANIEL SCOTT, bass, holds BM and MM degrees in vocal performance and pedagogy from Indiana University and the Doctor of Music degree in vocal performance and literature from Northwestern University. His principal voice teachers were Hermannus Baer, John Toms, Anna Kaskas, Marko Rothmueller, Norman Farrow, Eugene Bayless and Hadley Crawford, with additional master classes under Pierre Bernac. He has sung recitals, operas and oratorios throughout the country, working with such eminent conductors and stage directors as Boris Goldovsky, Howard Swann, Donald Neuen, Clayton Krehbiel, Thor Johnson, Tibor Kozma, Wolfgang Vacano, Hans Busch, Ross Allen and Robert Gay. ~ MORE...

Dr. Randall Umstead
Associate Professor of Voice
Chair, Division of Vocal Studies

RANDALL UMSTEAD, tenor, holds the Doctor of Musical Arts in voice, with a cognate field of Sacred Music, and the Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he was as a student of Barbara Honn. He also holds a Bachelor of Music degree in voice from Oklahoma Baptist University. He began teaching at Baylor University as Assistant Professor of Voice in the fall of 2006. ~ MORE...

Dr. Deborah Williamson
Associate Professor of Voice

DEBORAH WILLIAMSON, soprano, holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice with a related field in Vocal Pedagogy from the University of North Texas, the Artist Diploma in Opera and the Master of Music degree in Voice from the University of Cincinnati, College/Conservatory of Music and the Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Baylor University. In addition to serving as Associate Professor of Voice at Baylor University, she also serves on the Voice faculty at The American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria during the summer months and is frequently sought after as an adjudicator at the state and regional levels. ~ MORE...