Sangeetha A. Rayapati

Professor, Voice

• Phone: 309-794-7238
• Email: SangeethaRayapati@augustana.edu
• Office: Bergendoff Studio

Sangeetha Rayapati, soprano, is a professor of music specializing in vocal pedagogy, and head of the voice program.

She also teaches course in diction and song literature, music research, general education and coordinates offerings of the Barbara Shellhouse Center for Singing.

Described as a true artist, she uses her expressive skills in a variety of vocal genres. She has sung with regional companies including the Minnesota Opera, the Minnesota Chorale, the Kenwood Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Opera Theater, Voices of Vienna, Ballet Quad Cities, the McDonough Choral Society and the Handel Oratorio Society. She is a frequent recitalist and collaborator with contemporary composers.

Other performance credits include solos in Rutter's Requiem, Vivaldi's Gloria, Respighi's Laud to the Nativity, and several Bach Cantatas. Operatic roles have included Despina in Cosi fan Tutte, Frasquita in Carmen, and Pamina in Die Zauberflšte. She has been honored as a finalist for the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Award and for study at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.

Her professional output also includes presentation and publication on pedagogy for the aging singer. Her work can be found in the Journal of Singing and her recent book (2012), Sing into your Sixties and Beyond from Inside View Press. Previous presentation includes national and international venues for the National Association of Teachers of Singing, American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, and American Guild of Organist chapters. She was featured at the  International Congress of Voice Teachers in Brisbane, Australia, in July 2013 and was featured at the Northwest Regional NATS conference in Victoria, British Columbia, in October 2013.

Rayapati is a member of professional organizations such as the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the College Music Society, the music honor society, Pi Kappa Lambda, Mortar Board, and Sigma Alpha Iota. She has served as president and board member for the Central Illinois Chapter of NATS and on the Community Engagement committee for the College Music Society.

Dr. Rayapati holds undergraduate degrees in vocal performance and nursing from Valparaiso University, and graduate degrees from the University of Minnesota. During the summers she has been a member of the vocal faculty at Lutheran Summer Music, a national music festival for talented high school musicians and provided vocal instruction at Lutheridge Music Week, Arden, North Carolina.

Specializations: Vocal pedagogy, Diction and song literature, Opera, Musical theatre, Vocal music