The School of Music and Dance will hold its 3rd Annual UO Pop Voice showcase on Friday, May 20 at 8:00 p.m. The competition will be judged by a panel of industry professionals and UO music faculty in the music building’s Aasen-Hull Hall.

The UO Pop Voice competition is a co-curricular event with the Popular Music Studies major at the School of Music and Dance. “Since singing is such a central part of popular music, having an event that focuses on it is very important to popular music students,” said Toby Koenigsberg, Associate Professor of Music. “In addition, the fact that visiting judges give voice lessons to Popular Music majors while in residence is immensely valuable to them.” Koenigsberg is teaming up with colleagues Brian McWhorter (Professor of Music) and Jay Kenton (Director of SOMD Student Services) to create this professional development opportunity for aspiring commercial music performers. McWhorter will reprise his role as emcee for this year’s event.

In previous years, the UO Pop Voice panelists included music industry singers and producers Amick and Cassandra Byram, and Randy Crenshaw. This year, Alvin Chea will join UO voice professors Karen Esquivel and Eric Mentzel on the panel of judges. Chea is a widely respected LA session singer and multiple Grammy-winning artist most well known for providing the bass lines to the internationally acclaimed vocal group Take 6. He has collaborated with several other artists including Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake, and Jacob Collier. Recent credits include Spider-Man: No Way Home, Encanto, Rogue One:  A Star Wars Story, The Simpsons and The Academy Awards.