Adrenaline ran high as the Texas Wesleyan music students and faculty prepared for the 2023 Texhoma NATS competion. Daily coaching by their professors Keith Critcher, Arielle Collier and David Bogaev were a must for this prestigious competition. On the day of competition, excitement and nerves were brewing as all students performed their best for their auditions in each category.

The participation of this year’s competition would not have happened without the hard work and dedication of Professor Keith Critcher. His astounding care and passion for the success of our Texas Wesleyan music students goes above and beyond. He coached each individual student for weeks in preparation while also accompanying them for their audition. He even went as far as to coordinate housing accommodations for the students and dinner reservations while competing in Denton. Professor Critcher carries a heavy load of our department’s success and we honestly couldn’t do it without him.

Everyone gave it their all as they auditioned and many were extremely close to making it to semi-finals and each of them expressed their gain of valued education about singing, their peers and performing/auditioning.

Special congratulations to our students who performed and placed!

Professor Bogaev, along with Professor Critcher, will be traveling to New York City, NY representing the Texhoma Region for National Finals!

A final congratulations to all who were involved in this year’s Texhoma NATS competition!

Written by Music Department student Madison Wooley and Music Department Coordinator Kristen Carlini