Tenor Nicholas Perna’s voice has been hailed by the Houston Chronicle as “an impressive sound,” and the South Florida Sun Sentinel praised his “emotionally driven performance.” Perna was a recent finalist for the American Prize for men in opera, and has appeared multiple times in recent seasons with Opera Mississippi. He debuted the one person play Letters to Puccini for Opera Mississippi in 2022. Perna was twice selected as a Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist singer. Additional Operatic credits include Don José in Carmen, Rodolfo in La Bohème, The Duke in Rigoletto, Nemorino in L’Elisir d’amore, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, & Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. Symphonic soloist appearances include Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Beethoven's Symphony no. 9, Handel’s Messiah, & Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Dr. Perna is Associate Professor of Voice and Voice Pedagogy at Mississippi College, Producer for Lyric Stage at MC, and a voice research associate at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He is a Presser Music Foundation awardee, and has presented research on four continents at events such as the Voice Foundation’s Symposium on the Care of the Professional Voice, ICVT, NATS National Conference, and Physiology and Acoustics of Singing (PAS). Perna is Vice President for Outreach for the National Association of Teachers of Singing for the 2022-2026 term. He is the creator and co-host of the VocalFri Podcast, http://www.vocalfri.com. Your weekly dash of voice science, pedagogy, and pop culture. Perna holds graduate degrees from the University of Miami & the University of Houston.
Mara Davis is a native of Henderson, Nevada. She is a senior in Vocal Performance BM
and the SNATS Chapter President at the University of Utah studying under Dr. Seth
Keeton, and she is so excited to see what’s in store after graduation. Recently, she has
sung in U Opera productions as Zita in Gianni Schicchi, La Zelatrice in Suor Angelica,
The Usher in Trial by Jury, Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol, and Dorabella in Così fan
tutte. This Spring, she will be singing the role of The Cheshire Cat in U Operas’s Alice
an Operatic Wonderland and participating in Sonic Blossom, a performance art project
presenting Schubert in art museums across the world. Vocal pedagogy is a passion of
hers, and she continues to learn as much as she can. When she’s not singing, Mara
loves trivia, photography, baking, and doing jigsaw puzzles.
Emma Dombroski is currently working on a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and
is the SNATS Chapter President at Utah State University, studying with Dr. Cindy
Dewey. She works as a graduate assistant and teaches classes as well as voice
lessons. She received her Bachelor of Music Education from Idaho State University in
2022, and studied with Dr. Diana Livingston-Friedley. During her time there she worked
as a piano teacher in their Preparatory Piano Program, accompanied several musicians,
and was choir president from 2020-2022.
Christian Shelton is the SNATS Social Media Director at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Christian is a tenor and began singing on social media in 2020 and has garnered more than 840,000 followers on TikTok alone. He is currently a senior at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he is majoring in Vocal Performance and studying with voice teacher Dr. Alfonse Anderson. He won 1st place at the National Classical Singer competition 2023 in the Classical University Division. Christian also won 1st place for local NATS in 2023. He gained international attention with his powerhouse rendition of Andra Day’s "Rise Up" for the Indeed 2021 Super Bowl commercial. He has garnered the praise of many celebrities including, Sam Smith, Meghan Trainor, Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Jennifer Hudson.