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1701 North State Street Jackson, MS 39210-0001 (800)352-1050 (601)974-1000
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Millsaps College Teaching Artist-in-Residence James Martin recently sang his way to be among the top three finalists in the recent American Traditions Competition in Savannah, Ga.
He received the Patricia and Heyward Gignilliat Bronze Medal Award and $3,000 for third place. He was one of 32 selected quarter finalists invited nationally to participate and one of 12 semi-finalists and six finalists. The competition requires that singers perform a different repertoire each day. Martin was a finalist in the 2009 American Traditions Competition.
James Martin performs at the Mississippi Opera's
production of "Madama Butterfly" in 2011.
The week-long event drew contestants from across the country and featured a world-class panel of judges: Denyce Graves, international opera star; Liz Callaway, Broadway performer; Robert Sadin, conductor, producer and arranger for Herbie Hancock; Joseph Joubert, conductor and arranger for the Connecticut Opera, Oprah Winfrey's "The Color Purple" and "Three Mo' Tenors;" and Amanda McBroom, Cabaret performer who composed the song "The Rose" for Bette Middler.
Martin's current efforts at Millsaps include bringing guest artist, composer David Amram to campus in March for another Millsaps Music Symposium. Martin and Dr. Rachel Heard, assistant professor of music, have been touring a program of Schubert's "Die Winterreise" across the south central United States.
Martin, who has a bachelor's of music from Illinois Wesleyan University and a master's of music from The Juilliard School, has a performance career that is unusually broad. It includes opera, musical theater, straight drama, chamber music and concert music. His musical repertoire includes Bach, be-bop, Busoni, Burleigh, Berg and Bernstein.
He has appeared with orchestras and musical organizations and at musical festivals throughout the United States and abroad in Austria, Switzerland and Norway. He has been a soloist with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Mississippi Chorus, Mississippi Opera and the William Grant Still project of the Mississippi Arts Commission. He performed the role of Sharpless, U.S. consult at Nagasaki, in Mississippi Opera's 2011 production of "Madama Butterfly" in Jackson. He sings with the choir at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Jackson and is involved with the Mississippi Conference for Church Music and Liturgy.
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