Serena Hill LaRoche, Regional Governor

Serena Hill LaRoche, DMA, is an active concert artist having recently been featured in works such as Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Herbert Howells’s Hymnus Paradisi, Poulenc’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation and Seasons, Brahm’s Requiem, Charpentier’s Te Deum, Vaughan William’s Dona Nobis Pacem and Handel’s Samson. Dr. LaRoche is an active recitalist with regular performances around the country with a special affinity for the discovery of new works and the promotion of works by underrepresented composers. She has had the opportunity to engage as a soloist or clinician with various festivals and arts organizations, including most recently with the Puerto Rico Center for Collaborative Piano, Music on a WIM (Women’s Initiative Music Series), Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, Masterworks Chorus, and Varna International Music Academy, as well as notable past engagements with Greenville Light Opera Works, South Carolina Philharmonic, Bechtler Museum of Art, Palmetto Opera, Firenze Lirico, Columbia Museum of Art, and Abadía Benedictina de la Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos with other performances in both Spain and Italy. Her opera credits include Micaela (Carmen), Lady with the Cake Box (Postcard from Morocco), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and the title role in Dominick Argento’s Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night.

An award-winning vocal artist, Dr. LaRoche has earned praise for her “power, virtuosity…and elegance” with “a thrilling instrument at the top of its range.” She was a 2003 finalist in the Southeast Region Metropolitan Opera Auditions, a 2012 and 2008 NATS Artist Award Regional Finalist and the 2006 Artist of the Year with FBN Productions, Inc. In 2003, she was the Bizet Award winner for the Orpheus National Young Artist Vocal Competition and a Palmetto Opera Competition Finalist in 2005.

Currently, Dr. LaRoche is an assistant professor of voice and director of Carolina Music Studios at the University of South Carolina where she has the great privilege to work with eager undergraduate and graduate singers in applied voice, diction, and vocal pedagogy courses. She earned a Doctorate in Musical Arts with a minor in music history as well as a Master of Music from the University of South Carolina, both in Vocal Performance, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Alabama.

Committed to arts advocacy, Dr. LaRoche has volunteered much of her time to various community and professional arts organizations. She is an active member of the Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA). From 2014 to 2017, Dr. LaRoche served as a board member for the Hartsville-Coker Concert Association. Since 2013, Dr. LaRoche has served as the judge coordinator of the South Carolina District Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (formerly the National Council Auditions).

Dr. LaRoche has been an active member of NATS since 2002 with students regularly participating in district, regional, and national NATS events. She has been a regular adjudicator at all levels of the NSA, presented in district and regional sessions, organized and attended NATS-sponsored events, mentored SNATS chapters, and served as guest clinician for NATS-sponsored masterclasses. Dr. LaRoche served her South Carolina chapter for many years on various committees and as the regular point person for the vetting of musical theatre repertoire before moving on to serve as vice-president and auditions coordinator in 2019. In 2020, Dr. LaRoche teamed up with a fellow NATS member Elizabeth Knight to co-coordinate the first ever unified NATS Summer Program Auditions. Now in their third year, these annual virtual auditions seek to offer singers the opportunity to connect with many summer programs at once without the added expense of travel. In 2022, she participated in the national NATS pedagogy sub-committee work on Supplementary Educational Programs for Science-Informed Voice Pedagogy, which culminated in a workshop presentation for the 2022 NATS National Conference in Chicago, IL. In 2021, Dr. LaRoche began her service as president of the South Carolina district. She looks forward to more opportunities to serve and connect with members, students, and the larger singing community.

Jaclyn Surso, Regional Developmental Liaison

Jaclyn Michelle Surso is a founder and co-owner of Davis Surso Music, a thriving private music studio in Greensboro. She has also recently joined the faculty at High Point University as an adjunct professor of voice. She maintains an active singing career outside of teaching, directing, and coaching.

Jaclyn finished her Professional Artist Certificate fellowship with the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, an esteemed fellowship program affiliated with the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston Salem a few years ago. This followed her Bachelors and Masters degrees in voice performance at The Cleveland Institute of Music.

While working as an A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute fellow, she performed the role of Magda in Menotti’s The Consul as well as Rosalinda in J. Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. In her first year as a fellow she sang the role of Sandrina in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera. During this performance, “Jaclyn Surso lacked nothing in vocal power and agility, conveying Violante/Sandrina’s emotional turmoil,” (William Thomas Walker of CVNC). She also gave a very successful performance of Antonia in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann. Jaclyn continues to study under Marilyn Taylor following their collaboration at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute. She has performed many roles in the US and abroad and continues to widen her repertoire.

She has been involved with NATS since participating as a student in high school in Ohio. She feels significant gratification at the possibility of connecting with other teachers and students to learn what drives and interests them, while helping to connect them with others who feel similarly. Jaclyn has always felt that NATS is an association that is accessible to many and that cares deeply about the growth of young singers.

Jennifer Bryant Pedersen, Webmaster

Jennifer Bryant Pedersen, soprano, maintains an active schedule as a soloist and teacher. Her performance highlights include, a solo cabaret performance with Ricky Ian Gordon, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan Tutte, Nedda in Pagliacci, and Margot in The Desert Song. In 2015, Jennifer performed the role of Daphne Colgate in the world premiere of Gregory Vayda’s Georgia Bottoms with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra.  She appeared as a soprano soloist in the complete Handel's Messiah and Bach’s B minor Mass with members of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra. Jennifer was a semi-finalist in the 2013 NFMC Bienniel Young Artist Competition in Greenville, South Carolina and is the 2010 and 2014 NATS Artist Award winner for the state of Alabama and first alternate for the Southeastern region.

She holds the DMA in Voice Performance from The University of Alabama and the MM in Voice Performance from The University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is on the NOA's Chamber Opera Competition Committee and a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society.

Jill Terhaar Lewis, Past Regional Governor

Known for her beautiful timbre and musical versatility, Jill Terhaar Lewis is in demand as a full-lyric soprano. She has performed as a soloist with esteemed classical ensembles such as the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO), the Piccolo Spoleto Festival Orchestra, and the Hilton Head Choral Society. In addition to her work as a classical soloist, she also has extensive experience with modern and contemporary styles. She has performed with the Charleston Jazz Orchestra and was a featured soloist along with members of the Jazz Artists of Charleston in the Hi-Harmony concert at the Charleston Music Hall. She has been a recitalist on various prestigious concert series including several spotlight performances with the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the Baker and Baker Recital Series, the CSO Magnetic South Series, and the Women & Concert Series. She is a frequent soloist and collaborator with the Charleston Southern Concert Singers and has traveled extensively with them performing throughout Europe as well as in New York City and the surrounding areas.

Jill regularly performs recitals and has a penchant for Late-Romantic music and American art song, and has extensive experience with opera and premiering new music. Jill is married to jazz musician and saxophonist Robert Lewis. Together they collaborate with jazz pianist Gerald Gregory as The In-Between, an ensemble performing new compositions and arrangements by the group that lie both in and in-between classical and jazz genres. They have performed in the South, toured the Pacific Northwest, and made their international debut in Denmark. They have also recorded and released several albums.

Dr. Lewis is a tenured Professor of Vocal Music and Chair of the Vocal Programs at Charleston Southern. She earned her DMA in Vocal Performance with a cognate in music history from the University of South Carolina. She also has degrees from Western Michigan University (MM performance, music history cognate) and the University of Idaho (BMusEd, choral). She coordinates the vocal curriculum, teaches voice lessons and other classes and is also the music history teacher. She is a founder of Contemporary Collaborations, along with composers Trevor Weston and later Yiorgos Vassilandonakis, a new music project where student composers team up with student singers and poets to create new works for chamber ensembles resulting in dozens of new compositions and performances. Dr. Lewis and Dr. Vassilandonakis have presented on this project at an SC NATS Fall Workshop and again at the NATS National Conference in Chicago.

In her community, Dr. Lewis has volunteered her time and services to various organizations. She is co-artistic director of the St. John the Beloved Concert Series in Summerville. She has served as co-chair for the Charleston Jazz Festival, has been vocal consultant for the Charleston Jazz Orchestra, and has worked as a clinician and presenter for Charleston Jazz. Dr. Lewis is a co-founder of the Empathy Project with Dr. Jennifer Whipple, MT-BC and Maurice Burgess. This is a project to foster the development of empathy in young teens through interactive experiences with performing and visual artists in the community.

A member of NATS since 2001, Dr. Lewis has long been of service to her chapter, region, and nationally. She has served as Secretary and Vice President/Auditions Coordinator for her chapter, overseeing two days of nearly 500 student auditions. While Vice President, she also got SCNATS onto social media. She has also served as President and is the current District Governor. As DG, she has formed a membership committee, implemented a mentor program for new members, and planned and executed a series of Outreach Workshops. The Outreach Workshops bring SCNATS members to underserved areas of the state to provide workshops and master classes for our current members as well as for the community at large. The workshops are offered free through the NATS Discretionary Grant and chapter funding and have proved to be a great way to connect current members and recruit new members while serving the community.

She has been the recording secretary for the region and regularly serves in the tally room. She has also been appointed to two national NATS committees: the NATS Education Commission and the NATS Advocacy Committee, where she also serves as the recording secretary. Also through NATS, Dr. Lewis has had great success with her voice students. Since it became a national competition, Dr. Lewis has had several students advance to the semi-final rounds of the NATS National Student Auditions. Dr. Lewis believes in the NATS organization and is excited for the opportunity to serve the Mid-Atlantic Region.