Area singers participated in the 2011 National Association of Teachers of Singing Iowa District Student Auditions held Oct. 28-29 at Drake University in Des Moines, including Megan Lowe, the daughter of Allison Dencklau and Thomas Lowe and a junior at St. Edmond High School; Haley Stockdale, a junior at Humboldt High School and the daughter of Rachel Stockdale and Joe Stockdale; Kyle Roeder and Izaak Plunkett.
Each student was required to perform three memorized art songs and received written critiques from a panel of judges based on their performance.
All students represented McSweeny's School of the Performing Arts and were selected by private voice instructor MaryAnn McSweeny-Buhr to participate.
Three hundred high school, undergraduate and graduate school singers from college, university and private voice studios across Iowa participated in the two-day event. The event concluded with final auditions held on Saturday morning in Sheslow Auditorium.
Roeder was selected by a panel of judge's during the preliminary auditions to advance to the semi-final round in the High School Men's Division. He was also selected by a panel of judge's during the semi-final round to advance as an honorable mention finalist. He is the son of Jeff and Kim Roeder, and a junior at Jefferson-Scranton High School.
Plunkett also advanced to the semi-final round in the High School Men's Division. A senior at Spirit Lake High School, he is the son of Dave and Jan Plunkett.
Leslie Nagel, Fort Dodge, provided piano accompaniments for this vocal competition.