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Rollins wins 2007 Virginia Chapman Voice Competition

The winners of the 2007 Virginia Chapman Voice Competition at Brewton-Parker are (l-r) Dustin Simmons (third), Cindy Rollins (first) and Dallas Wilke (second). (Photo by Kelley M. Arnold)

By Kelley M. Arnold

Director of News and Public Information

MOUNT VERNON—Twelve BPC students competed for the top $1,000 prize in the 2007 Virginia Chapman Voice Competition Saturday, March 17. Cindy Rollins, a freshman soprano, won the coveted first place cash prize, beating out several seniors and her peers.        

Baritone Dallas Wilke took second place ($600) and tenor Dustin Simmons placed third ($400).    

Rollins performed “The Little Horses” from Aaron Copeland’s Old American Songs and “Voi, che sapete” from Mozart’s opera, Le Nozze di Figaro.

The Chapman Music Scholarship was established through the generosity of the Chapman family of Vidalia in recognition and remembrance of Virginia Chapman (1936-1998) and her love of music. To further encourage excellence in vocal performance at Brewton-Parker, $2,000 of the scholarship is given as cash awards to the first, second and third place winners of The Virginia Chapman Voice Competition.

The afternoon’s competition was judged by three members of Georgia’s music community. Michelle Murphy DeBruyn teaches studio voice and vocal pedagogy at Columbus State University (Columbus, Georgia) and was a semi-finalist for the NATS Artist Award Competition in 2006. Tenor Chris Hendley is an active performer with numerous stage credits including Don Annibale (Il Campenello), Curly (Oklahoma!) and Antonio (The Merchant of Venice). Dr. Hendley teaches Music History, Applied Voice, Vocal Methods and other courses in music literature at Georgia College and State University. Soprano and private voice instructor Jaime White is scheduled to finish her master of music in vocal performance degree this spring from Georgia Southern University, where she studies voice with Dr. Kyle Hancock. She lives in Savannah, where she maintains a private voice studio.

Contestants in the competition, in addition to the winners, included BPC vocal performance students Carey Wilson, baritone; Mandy Madson, soprano; Rodney Schramm, baritone; David Schmidt, tenor; Brejoya Perry, soprano; Nicole Mathis, mezzo-soprano; Katelyn Pierce, soprano; Monroe Bennett, tenor; and Steven Hopper, bass.

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