David Schmidt worked on his Ph.D. in Music Education at the University of Utah after receiving a Master of Music degree in Vocal Pedagogy and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. David is currently an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) of Theatre at the University of Utah. David is responsible for, and wrote the music curriculum for the Theatre Department’s Musical Theatre Major. He is an active vocal pedagogy and music theory teacher, as well as music and stage director for University production. David has also been an adjunct professor of voice for the musical theater and classical voice faculty at Weber State University.
David is the co-founder and past Board President of the Salt Lake High School for the Performing Arts, Salt Lake’s first high school for talented performing artists. David is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Utah Light Opera Company. ULO produces light opera and musical theater works in Salt Lake City, Utah.
He is the co-author of GottaSing, a 3-DVD set of instructional voice lessons. David has a 24-year career as a professional voice teacher. He is also the author of an 8-CD set of vocal instruction for the beginning singer produced by InAChord Productions. He has authored singing related articles for national magazines and web sites. David is a lecturer for music conventions and symposiums.
He is currently the State Governor for the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the past president of his local chapter of NATS and the Program Director for the 2010 NATS National Convention.
David grew up in a small town outside of Buffalo, New York in a very musical family. He started his singing career as a singing waiter in Casper, Wyoming in 1978 (we all have to start somewhere). Throughout the 1980?s David was involved in the Nashville music scene. He was a singer/dancer at Opryland and the Grand Ole Opry and a studio singer and performer at numerous convention venues.
David has played many roles in musical theater including Sister Hubert in Nunsense A-Men, Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods, Rooster in Annie, Emcee, et al in Lucky Stiff, as well as parts in South Pacific, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Fiddler on the Roof. David’s opera roles include Papageno in The Magic Flute, Marco in Gianni Schicci, Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte as well as parts in The Bartered Bride, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Don Giovanni.
Shalee Schmidt graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance. She completed her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Utah with an emphasis in language diction. Shalee was a departmental scholarship recipient and a finalist for the prestigious national Presser Scholarship for Music Majors. Shalee’s radiant soprano voice is equally at home performing on musical theater, opera, operetta, and recital stages. Her specialty is the character role where she excels as a musical story-teller. Her opera and operetta roles include The Duchess in The Gondoliers, Papagena in The Magic Flute, Erata in Orpheus in the Underworld, Ludmilla in The Bartered Bride, an Innkeeper in Merry Wives of Windsor, and Birdie in scenes from Regina. Shalee’s musical theater roles include Dolly in Hello, Dolly, Sister Hubert in Nunsense, Dominique in Lucky Stiff, and Rapunzel in Into the Woods. She has even been a lead singer for a Brazilian band. Shalee loves singing and acting in stage and film productions, and recording vocals and voice-overs for all types of projects for companies such as Brite Music, Franklin Covey, Voce Productions, NuWorlds Productions, InAChord Productions, and Southwest Airlines. Shalee now spends her time sharing her love of the arts as the co-founder and Executive Director of the Salt Lake High School for the Performing Arts, a public charter high school in the Salt Lake City School District. She is also the co-founder and Artistic Director for the Utah Light Opera Company, Gottasing Vocal Studios, and Voce Productions. Shalee and David perform together and travel the country teaching voice lessons and giving master classes on performance techniques.