Arts & Culture

Two Palm Beach State College voice students took home awards for their performances recently in an audition competition held by the Florida Gold Coast National Association of Teachers of Singing chapter.

Charlie Alguera won first place in the Third Year College Men Musical Theatre category and Giavanna Joseph won second place in the First Year College Women Musical Theatre category.

This was the third year in a row that Alguera, who is currently a semifinalist for the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, won the category.  They also received monetary awards. As the winner in his category, Alguera also performed a selection in a winner’s recital at the end of the competition.

The event, held at Barry University in North Miami, featured Florida Gold Coast NATS student members from Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

“Each year NATS chapters host student auditions, which is an exciting experience for our student singers to perform and receive written feedback,” said Michael MacMullen, professor and PBSC Music Department chair who served as a judge at the competition. “Charlie and Giavanna had some tough competition, and we are very proud of how they performed, as well as the other PBSC students who participated.”

The other PBSC students who auditioned on Jan. 26 were Jullysa Tomas Reinozo and Kristie Betancourt. Both Alguera and Joseph now qualify for the SERNATS competition to be held March 28-30 at Florida State University.

Alguera graduated summa cum laude from PBSC last December.  Joseph graduated summa cum laude last May. Both are still taking classes at PBSC in preparation to transfer to a university.

Earlier this year, Alguera, Joseph and Reinozo performed in master classes at the NATS Winter Workshop at Palm Beach Atlantic University. In addition, PBSC alumna Sarah Rodgers, who is now a senior at Palm Beach Atlantic, also performed for one of the workshops.

For more information on the Florida Gold Coast NATS, visit www.goldcoastnats.org. For more information on PBSC’s music programs, visit www.palmbeachstate.edu/programs/music.