Emily Earnest
Emily Earnest is a Senior Choral Music Education Major, at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University. Emily is the Presser Scholar and Student of Excellence for the 2019-2020 Academic Year at Columbus State University. Emily has an interest in choral conducting, performing, and teaching private voice lessons; she has some experience assisting in leading the choir at her church and teaching private voice lessons to collegiate students. She is also involved in solo and ensemble performances throughout her school and in her community. Emily composed a research paper during the 2019-2020 Academic Year regarding Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) and its possible remedies. She seeks to implement this research into her own teaching and performing. Overall, Emily desires to become a constantly improving educator and performer through research, teaching, and performing.
Brenda Jean Hamilton
Brenda Jean Hamilton has been a member of Actors Equity Association since 2001. She began her professional career directly out of high school, in which she was cast as a Radio City Rockette. Since then, Brenda has performed in national tours such as Some Like It Hot, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and A Chorus Line. She toured for seven years with Wicked and also performed in the Broadway company, where she understudied the role of Nessarose. Brenda most recently performed the role of Margaret in Schwob Opera’s production of The Light In the Piazza at the RiverCenter in Columbus Georgia. Brenda is a second year graduate student in vocal performance at CSU’s Schwob School of Music, where she studies with Dr. Joshua May. She also serves as adjunct faculty for dance at Columbus State University and LaGrange College. Brenda operates a thriving voice studio for Lafayette Society for the Performing Arts and teaches contemporary commercial music using the principles of Somatic VoiceworkSM. Brenda strives to create a collective experience of empathy and self-worth between humans in her performance, research, and teaching methodology.
Hannah Wikaryasz
Hannah Wikaryasz is a mezzo-soprano from Highland, Michigan. She completed her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at the University of Michigan – Flint. She is currently a first year master’s degree student in vocal performance at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University. Ms. Wikaryasz has sung the roles of the Witch in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Grandmother in Barab’s Little Red Riding Hood, and Madame Terentia in Captain Lovelock by John Duke. In addition to her mainstage roles, she participated in opera outreach as Cherubino in The Three Little Pigs and Mother in Jack and the Beanstalk, both arranged by John Davies. She has been featured in scenes programs as the Sorceress in Dido & Aeneas, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Anita from West Side Story, Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Mallika in Lakmé, and the Old Lady in Candide. This spring, she sang as part of the select ensemble in The Light in the Piazza at the River Center for the Performing Arts with Schwob Opera Theatre. She has performed in masterclasses with Metropolitan Opera countertenor David Daniels, Minnita Daniel-Cox, and Ariana Wyatt. Ms. Wikaryasz is a student of Dr. Joshua May.
Victoria Wilson
Victoria Wilson, a native of Edwards, Mississippi, is a respected vocalist and actress. She has appeared on stage in a variety of roles encompassing the repertoire of opera, musical theater, plays, and film. Victoria is the founder and artistic director of Daughter of Music, LLC in Atlanta, GA in which her company offers a variety of music lessons, film and stage production, and music management. In addition, she also has a piano and voice studio with the Gwinnett School of Music in Lilburn, GA. She received her Masters in Voice Performance from Georgia State University (2014) and Bachelors of Music from Tougaloo College (2012). In addition to her active performance and teaching schedule, she also partners with many companies such as Wellspring Living, Habitat for Humanity and Big Brothers Big Sisters for various outreach programs. Her living testament is “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
