Cal-West NATS
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Regional Conference
    • General Information
    • Event Schedule
    • Links and Handouts
    • Fee Schedule
    • Presenters
    • SNATS Summit Presenters
    • Teacher Award
    • Volunteers
  • Regional Auditions
    • Registration
    • Categories
    • Videos
    • Judging
    • Copyright
    • Finals 2022
    • Results 2022
  • SNATS
    • SNATS
    • Poster Paper Presenters
  • News and Events
  • Past CWR Auditions
  • 2021 Results
  • Past Conferences
  • Photo Gallery
  • 2020 Photo Gallery
  • National Competitions
    • NSA
    • NATSAA
    • Music Theater
  • Join Us!
  • More
    • Home
    • About Us
    • Regional Conference
      • General Information
      • Event Schedule
      • Links and Handouts
      • Fee Schedule
      • Presenters
      • SNATS Summit Presenters
      • Teacher Award
      • Volunteers
    • Regional Auditions
      • Registration
      • Categories
      • Videos
      • Judging
      • Copyright
      • Finals 2022
      • Results 2022
    • SNATS
      • SNATS
      • Poster Paper Presenters
    • News and Events
    • Past CWR Auditions
    • 2021 Results
    • Past Conferences
    • Photo Gallery
    • 2020 Photo Gallery
    • National Competitions
      • NSA
      • NATSAA
      • Music Theater
    • Join Us!
Cal-West NATS
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Regional Conference
  • Regional Auditions
  • SNATS
  • News and Events
  • Past CWR Auditions
  • 2021 Results
  • Past Conferences
  • Photo Gallery
  • 2020 Photo Gallery
  • National Competitions
  • Join Us!

2022 SNATS Summit Presenters

John Chen

John Chen is an active vocalist, pianist and conductor who maintains a  rigorous schedule as a vocal coach, orchestral/choral conductor, recital  pianist and high school music teacher. John has worked at the Interlochen  Arts Academy and studied at the Aspen Music Festival and School where  he studied organ with Thomas Bara, piano with Virginia Weckstrom, and  voice with Beverly Rinaldi, Jeffery Norris & Irene Gubrud. His lineage of  music teachers includes: Dr. Victoria Neve (SFSU), Corey Head (SFSU),  Katherine Heater (UC Berkeley). Mr. Chen received his degree in Music  Education and Performance in Voice and Piano from San Francisco State  University,Kodaly Certification from Holy Names University and Masters in  Education from Notre Dame de Namur. He has taught Music/Voice at St  Matthews School & Crystal Springs Uplands and directed over 50 musicals  and operettas. Currently, Mr. Chen is the Choral and Orchestra director at  Aragon High School. 

Dr. Jennifer Erickson

Jennifer Erickson, DMA, teaches in the Department of Theatre at the  University of Utah and in the Voice and Jazz departments at Weber State  University. She has a passion for teaching voice and has enjoyed working  at the university level for the past decade. She has built and maintained a  private voice studio for over 25 years. She is a sought-after diction and  drama coach as well as a respected voice technician. Jennifer is a dynamic  singing actress known for her flexibility and versatility and enjoys an active  performance schedule with local arts organizations. In addition to teaching  and singing, she has served as stage director, assistant stage director,  music director, and conductor for various opera projects at the community,  university, and professional levels. Jennifer completed an MM and a Doctor  of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Utah. 

Diane Sloan Kubeja

Diane Sloan Kubeja initially pursued her passion for music and  performance as a student, receiving a Bachelor of Music degree from the  University of Northern Iowa and a Master of Music degree from Eastman  School of Music in Opera Performance & Literature. Based in Los Angeles  and touring, Diane enjoyed a 14-year career as a performing artist in opera, 

cabaret, musical theatre, television, commercials, and film. Diane found her  life’s calling in a teaching career which spans 20 years of running a private  voice studio in Big Bear Lake, CA. She has taught an average of 35-45  students per semester and created/directed over 90 productions. Diane’s  vocal students have successfully competed in the NATS Student Auditions,  the International Rotary Music Competition, the SBCMEA Solofest, and the  Inland Master Chorale Scholarship Competition. Over 30 of her students  have been selected as finalists and sang in the Honors Performance Series  at Carnegie Hall and five at the Sydney Opera House. Diane gladly served  as the NATS, Las Vegas Chapter Treasurer for 5 years, as a NATS vocal  adjudicator for 10 years, and as an HPS Chaperone for her students and  others in New York City eight times and in Sydney, Australia twice. 

Dr. Rachel Velarde

Dr. Rachel Velarde, mezzo-soprano, received her BA in Music from Smith  College in Northampton, MA in 1994, and Arizona State University (ASU)  subsequently awarded her a two-year Teaching Assistantship in Voice. She  received two MM degrees—Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy— from ASU in 1997 and her DMA degree in Vocal Performance in 2013. Her  main areas of interest are vocal performance, voice literature, voice  science, and voice pedagogy. She began teaching private voice and piano  lessons in 1993 and became a member of NATS (National Association of  Teachers of Singing) in 1996, serving 3 terms as Valley of the Sun NATS  Chapter President and four years as NATS Arizona District Governor. She  has regularly served on the NATS Cal-Western Region Student Auditions  Committee, three times as chair. Dr. Velarde is currently Professor of Music  (Voice) at Grand Canyon University (GCU) and continues to maintain a  private studio, focusing on singers in commercial music styles. As the GCU  Student NATS Chapter (GCU SNATS) faculty advisor, Rachel has  facilitated student attendance and volunteering at multiple national and  regional NATS events. 


During 2020, Rachel completed multiple professional development  opportunities, primarily related to somatic awareness, singing, and the  body. To resolve issues around her own, now resolved, muscle tension  dysphonia, diagnosed in spring 2019, she turned to Feldenkrais®  practitioners and other related somatic practices. These explorations have  led to changes in her pedagogic approach in the singing studio, facilitating increased student progress by utilizing motor learning principles and  somatic practices. In October 2021, Rachel completed the Bones for Life®  teacher certification program, a somatic practice rooted in the Feldenkrais  method, that targets posture and balance for walking in short, readily  applicable movement processes. Teaching and singing are Rachel’s calling  and passions—spreading the joy of music. If she can help students  discover the joy of learning, even if not in her specific area of music, then  she has done her job. Learning is a lifetime goal, and she enjoys  challenging students to think about and verbalize their experiences. She  finds that when she asks the right questions, students find their way to  answers. 

2022 SNATS Summit Moderator

Dr. Monica A. Williams-McCullough

Dr. Monica A. Williams-McCullough, a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor  Society, began her career in teaching as an Adjunct Professor of Music at  the College of Southern Nevada. In 2014, Monica joined the music faculty  at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas as an Adjunct Professor of Voice,  receiving a full-time appointment in 2019. In 2018, she received UNLV’s  College of Fine Arts Outstanding Part-Time Teacher of the Year Award and  also the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Nevada Music Teachers  Association. Her students are winners of regional and national voice  competitions and attend summer festivals in Europe and the United States.  Monica’s students have been accepted into Dolora Zajick’s Institute for  Young Dramatic Voices and several prestigious graduate voice programs,  including Eastman School of Music, the University of Southern California’s  Thornton School of Music and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.  

Monica has performed on the operatic stage and has appeared often as a  concert and chamber soloist. Most recently, she was a guest soloist in  Opera Las Vegas’s Opera Legends in Black. Her performance credits  include appearances with Vegas City Opera, Euterpe Opera, Golden West  Opera Theatre, Nevada Opera Theatre, Channel One Television, Peabody  Opera Outreach, New West Stage Company, Bell Flower Symphony,  American Youth Orchestra, Moore Park College Theatre, Huntington  Chamber Players, Valley Committee for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and  guest soloist in the premiere of Andrea Centazzo’s Return to Vukovar. 

Monica received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from  the University of Southern California. She continued her doctoral studies at  the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and completed her  Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 

Currently, Monica is in her second term as the Nevada District Governor for  the Cal-Western Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing  and has held positions of Vice President and Secretary in the Las Vegas  Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. This is her fifth  year as Director of Opera Discovery at Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young  Dramatic Voices. 

Back to Home


© 2018 NATS Cal-Western - All Rights Reserved.