Chattanooga area resident Mark Laseter was named the winner of the prestigious Schmidt Youth Vocal Competition held at Belmont University in Nashville.
The regional competition is sponsored by the William E. Schmidt Foundation
and the Vocal/Opera Area in the University of Kentucky (Lexington) School of Music. Held annually in multiple venues throughout the Southeast, this year’s event included nearly 30 singers from Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee.
The judges for the contest included several recognized professionals in the fields of professional voice
and opera, including performers, opera stage directors, and music conservatory faculty.
Mark prepared several vocal solos for the competition. He chose his opening song and the judges selected other
songs from his other prepared pieces.
Mark’s selection was an arrangement of the spiritual “Steal Away” by renowned Chattanooga musician Roland Carter, Ruth Holmberg professor of Music at UT‐Chattanooga.
A member of the Chattanooga Boys Choir since the sixth grade, Mark has continued his vocal studies with the choir and has pursued private voice study with CBC Artistic Director Vincent Oakes.
In addition to currently performing with the CBC changed voice choir, Mark also accompanies several of the CBC training choirs on piano. A gifted accompanist, he has also played for numerous church, school, and community choirs, as well as the middle and high school honor choirs of the Middle Tennessee Vocal Association.
Previously, Mark was the winner of the 2009 Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Youth Vocal Competition and a
selected participant in the 2008 Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts in voice. A student at the Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts, Mark is also a member of the CSO Symphony Chorus and the choirs of First Baptist Church.
These experiences have given him the opportunity to perform excerpts from great musical masterworks at a very
young age, including Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Puccini’s La Boheme, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
After graduating from CCA in the spring of 2010, Mark will enter college next fall. He plans to major in music and pursue a career in music performance. Mark is the son of proud parents Jeff and Susan Laseter of Signal Mountain.
Vincent Oakes, voice teacher and Chattanooga Boys Choir director, said, “This is an incredible honor for Mark. I am very proud of the hard work, dedication, and effort he has displayed to put himself in position to be so successful at the competition. His future in music is very bright. He carries the perfect balance of both confidence and humility that will serve him well as he pursues further education and a career in this field.”