2025 Presenters

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Robyn Frey-Monell is an active and dedicated vocal pedagogue and adjudicator. Her scholarly research has centered on motivation, self-assessment and how students learn. Dr. Frey-Monell spent two decades teaching college level voice, diction, song literature and opera workshop, where she trained students to thoroughly create characters for the stage. She is currently building the music program at Rosary Academy in Fullerton, CA by teaching choir, orchestra, song writing, musical theater and learning strategies. Dr. Frey-Monell received a Doctor of Education degree from Columbia University Teachers College, a Master of Fine Arts degree from University of California Irvine and a Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College.

Professor Megan Gillespie, Social Media Board Member, NATS LA  Professor Gillespie holds a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music in Opera Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Her international opera career includes performances at the Royal Opera House of Oman, Carnegie Hall, and venues in Spain, Italy, and Austria. She has directed over 50 youth musicals and recently co-directed Orpheus in the Underworld at The Broad Stage.  A sought-after speaker, Professor Gillespie presents workshops on Conflict Resolution for Performers and Acting for Singers.  She incorporates bel canto, Alexander, and breath techniques into her teaching, emphasizing humor, inclusivity, and empowerment. Professor Gillespie is passionate about nurturing talent through her studio and her work as Outreach Advisor with The Music Center.

Soprano Melissa Heath enjoys a varied career of opera, concert and recital work. Hailed as a “soaring, sparkling soprano” with “vivacious stage presence,” recent opera roles include Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème, Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen. Recent concert work includes Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and both Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in c minor with the Temple Square Chorale and Orchestra at Temple Square, Handel’s Messiah with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and both Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate and Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915 with Sinfonia Salt Lake. With the Utah Symphony, Ms. Heath has performed both Nielsen’s Symphony no. 3 and Handel’s Messiah. In 2017 she was the soprano soloist with Ballet West in choreographer Nicolo Fonte’s world premiere of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. She reprised this role with both Ballet West (2022) and Nevada Ballet Theater (2022 and 2023). Ms. Heath is a frequent soloist on Salt Lake City’s NOVA Chamber Music Series, and has performed on the Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival. In 2019 she sang the role of The Water in Utah Opera's Production of The Little Prince, Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 with Salt Lake Symphony, and soloed with Utah Symphony in their Deer Valley Concert Series. In 2023, she appeared again with Ballet West in Stravinsky’s Les Noces and with Utopia, Utah’s premiere early music ensemble. In 2024, she performed with Salt Lake Symphony for the world premiere of John Costa’s The Statuette EP, and with the American Festival Chorus & Orchestra in Merrill Bradshaw’s The Restoration. Ms. Heath was a district winner in the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions, and was a two-time regional finalist in the National Association of Teachers of Singing’s biennial art song competition. Ms. Heath is an Associate Professor of music and the Voice Area Coordinator in the Department of Music at Utah Valley University. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in voice from Brigham Young University and her Master of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees in voice from the University of Utah.

Valdis Jansons is a baritone and vocal educator. In more than two decades on stage, Latvian-born baritone Valdis Jansons had been praised for his “scenery-chewing intensity” (The Wall Street Journal), “generous and expressive phrasing” (Opera Actual, Spain), and “vigorous voice, with easy high notes and excellent breath control” (Olyrix, France). After making his opera debut in 2002, under the baton of Antonello Allemandi, and winning numerous international singing competitions, Mr. Jansons has conquered audiences worldwide in repertoire spanning from early Mozart to contemporary opera, jazz, and musical theatre. Among more than 50 leading roles in his repertoire, and his almost 20-year long residence in Italy, Jansons specializes in Italian repertoire, especially on that of the 19th century. Mr. Jansons appeared in hundreds of theaters worldwide, including Teatro alla Scala, Teatro San Carlo, Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Theater an der Wien, Teatro São Carlos in Lisbon, and Teatro Regio di Parma.

Dr. Rebecca Plack is Professor of Opera Studies and Music History at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where the courses she’s taught include Lieder, Opera on Record, Mozart Role Preparation and Vocal Pedagogy. She has given solo recitals in London and Budapest as winner of the Los Angeles International Liszt Society, and in Hamilton, Canada at the International Great Romantics Festival; she has also performed with Sacramento Opera, Ithaca Opera, and at the Caramoor and Aspen Music Festivals. A passionate educator, she has given invited talks and master classes at Oxford University, King’s College London, and most recently as keynote speaker at the University of Surrey’s Mechanical Recording Workshop. She holds degrees from Princeton University (B.A.), Manhattan School of Music (M.M.) and Cornell University (Ph.D.).

Melissa Treinkman, DMA, is an assistant professor of musical theatre vocal performance at the University of Southern California. Melissa's works has been published in the Journal of Singing, the Journal of Voice, and the Musical Theatre Educators' Alliance Journal. She has presented her research at conferences given by the Voice Foundation, NATS, the Association for Popular Music Education, Northwest Voice Conference, The Fall Voice Conference, and the Pan American Vocology Association. Melissa was the 2020 recipient of the Voice Foundation's Sataloff Award for Young Investigators and she was the first researcher to win the award in the category of vocal pedagogy. She was also the 2024 recipient of the Richard Sjoedsrma Excellence in Writing Award. She currently serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Singing, where she is the author of "The Vocal Point" column. She is a regular singer with the Los Angeles Opera chorus. www.melissatreinkman.com