Commercial Voice Faculty at UC Denver
JUDITH COE
ERIN HACKEL
LESLIE REMMERT SOICH
OWEN KORTZ
Judith Coe
Judith Coe is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of the Commercial Voice program in the Music & Entertainment Industry Studies Department at the University of Colorado Denver, where she teaches applied voice and improvisation, pop songwriting, women in contemporary music and Irish music, and directs the singer/songwriter ensemble. Coe's Cyberspace Music Resources site has won international awards. An eclectic singer/songwriter, composer, and keyboardist/synthesist, Coe specializes in classical, pop and jazz, and music of our time which utilizes extended vocal techniques and technology. She has performed, composed, taught, and recorded in traditional classical, avant, and commercial genres, and has performed and given scholarly presentations and world premiere performances throughout North America, Western and Central Europe, the British Isles, and in the Caribbean. Coe toured the Czech Republic and Poland. During the 2004-05 academic year, Coe worked on three projects - a "Place as Identity" sonic and visual exploration, an Afro-Celt crossover concert, and a multimedia collaboration for digital art and light, dancers, DJ, and rock/hip hop nonet.
Coe received a Fulbright Scholar’s Award for research she conducted in Ireland beginning September, 2006, for the academic year. Coe was hosted by the University of Limerick in the Irish World Music Centre (IWMC), and traveled around the country doing interviews with students and faculty, observing regional pedagogies and singing styles, and listening to and making music with Irish musicians. Her project explores alternative expressions in Irish music and song, and will examine sean-nós (Irish traditional “old-style”) singing and pedagogy, and how those traditions inform and transform other musical genres, including the creative work of emerging pop musicians and singer/songwriters, electronic and experimental musicians, and classical/cross-over genres.
Erin Hackel
Dr. Erin Hackel received a BM in Voice Performance from James Madison University, an MM in Opera from SUNY Binghamton, and her Doctoral degree in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from CU Boulder. She has sung opera and musical theater roles across the country, and performs locally primarily through Central City Opera’s Outreach Ensemble, Erin has been on the voice faculty at UCD for five years, and directs UCD’s competitive, contemporary a cappella ensembles, the 9th St. Singers and the UCD 7.
Hackel has been the recipient of several grants, including a Marshall Fund grant, to research Scandinavian music and singers. She has published several articles in that genre, the most recent being “Hjertets Melodier: The Heart’s Melodies of Nina Grieg,” slated to appear in the November issue of the National Association of Teachers Of Singing Journal.
Leslie Remmert Soich, Mezzo-Soprano
Leslie Remmert Soich holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Southern Illinois University and a Master of Music degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has been a Metropolitan Opera Auditions Regional Finalist in both the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions. She was the 1999 recipient of the Denver Lyric Opera Guild (DLOG) competition’s Norwest Fund Scholarship, the 1998 recipient of the DLOG Berenbeim Scholarship, the 1996-1997 recipient of the Galen & Ada Belle Files Spencer Fellowship at the University of Colorado, the Third Prize Winner in the Meistersinger Competition in Graz, Austria and a finalist in the Bel Canto Foundation Vocal Competition in Providence, Rhode Island. Most recently, Ms Remmert Soich was a quarterfinalist in the American Traditions Competition as part of the Savannah Music Festival, Savannah, Georgia. She appeared as Marcellina (The Marriage of Figaro) with Opera Colorado in 2005 and sang the title role in the companies world premiere of La Curendera in 2006. Other roles include Queen of the Fairies (Iolanthe), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Flora (La Traviata), Mother Abbess (The Sound of Music), Elizabeth Proctor (The Crucible), Cousin Hebe (HMS Pinafore), The Mother (The Consul), the Second and Third Ladies (The Magic Flute), Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), Dinah (Trouble in Tahiti) and as Suzuki opposite Cynthia Lawrence in Madama Butterfly. Solo engagements include the AIMS Festival Orchestra-Graz, Austria, the Boulder Philharmonic, St. John’s Cathedral Festival Orchestra, Sinfonia of Colorado, Colorado Music Festival, Ft Collins Symphony, St. Mary’s Baroque Chamber Orchestra, Belleville Philharmonic and the Alton and University City Symphonies. She has been an apprentice artist with the Sarasota Opera, a member of the Joseph and Loretta Law Artist Center of Opera Colorado and an active member of the Central City Opera Ensemble since 1999. Ms Remmert Soich is also a sought after voice instructor and is currently serving on the music faculty of the University of Colorado Denver.
Owen Kortz
Owen Kortz is a positive presence in the Colorado music scene. His intimate vocals and warm guitar accompaniment combine with his extensive music training to create a new refined folk sound, rooted in the tradition of the style. He started writing songs when he was fifteen and worked to hone his craft throughout high school and college, attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. His performance highlights include playing at the Bluebird Theater in Denver, Colorado, winning a songwriting competition at Berklee, and recording original music with Greg and Matt Bissonette (Ringo Starr, Joe Satriani). Owen’s mission is to grow daily in body, mind and spirit through music: writing, teaching, performing. His vision is to inspire and awaken love in others through these musical endeavors.
To learn more about the opportunities awaiting you in the commercial voice program, please contact a College of Arts & Media advisor.
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