Keith Gates: Music

Michele Martin is Associate Professor, Director of Musical Theatre, and currently serves as the head of the Department of Performing Arts at McNeese State University. Ms. Martin graduated from California Institute of the Arts with a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance where she studied opera production with the late Isaac Van Grove. She completed the masters in voice and is presently finishing her doctoral dissertation (ABD) at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where she studied with Andrew White and Patricia Berlin. While at CCM, she was an assistant to stage and opera program director Italo Tajo and taught music theater voice. A mezzo-soprano, Ms. Martin has soloed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Opera, and has appeared with the Atlanta Symphony with conductor Robert Shaw.

Ms. Martin has performed with many Louisiana Musical Organizations including the Lake Charles Symphony, the Louisiana Choral Foundation, and the Acadiana Chorale. Ms. Martin is also active as a stage director having produced works with McNeese Theater, the Lake Charles Symphony including Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Lehar's The Merry Widow, and numerous Louisiana dramatic organizations including the recent Suite Louisiane project with the Louisiana Chorale Foundation. Professor Martin was featured in Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children mounted by McNeese Theatre and Music. She directed the April 2005 MSU production of The Little Shop of Horrors.

Professor Martin is the immediate Past Governor of the Southern Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She served as President of the South Louisiana Chapter of NATS for four years. In 1996, Professor Martin received the McNeese State University “Distinguished Faculty Award” for excellence in teaching and professional accomplishments.