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Randall Umstead elected NATS secretary/treasurer
Randall Umstead, the Gordon and Sarah Herring Chair and Professor of Music at Furman University.
Randall Umstead, the Gordon and Sarah Herring Chair and Professor of Music at Furman University, has been elected secretary/treasurer of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, as reported on the NATS website. His term runs July 2022-June 2024 with eligibility for an additional term, and the position affords Umstead a place on the executive committee of the NATS board.
Founded in 1944, NATS is the largest professional association of teachers of singing in the world with more than 7,000 members in the United States, Canada and more than 35 other countries. l
An award-winning tenor, Umstead came to Furman in 2021 after 15 years on the faculty of the Baylor University School of Music. Umstead spent the last four of those years serving as associate dean of academic affairs. Prior to that, he served six years as director of vocal studies at Baylor.
Umstead also served two terms as governor of the Texoma Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. As such, he spent four years on the board of the association.
As a performer, Umstead was twice a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. He has performed as a soloist with Bach Society Houston, Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Flagstaff Symphony, Colorado Bach Ensemble, Cincinnati Baroque Orchestra, Catacoustic Consort, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Irving Symphony and the Bach Society of Dayton.
Umstead’s students have gone on to successful careers as musicians and educators, and they have been accepted into prestigious graduate programs, including the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Indiana University, the Yale University School of Music and the University of Michigan.
Umstead holds a doctorate and a master’s from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a bachelor’s from Oklahoma Baptist University.