Cheyanne Osoria, a musical theater major at Piedmont College, took home a first-place award at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Student Auditions competition held earlier this month at the 54th annual NATS Conference in Chicago.

Following two live performances at the NATS Conference, Osoria won the top Music Theater Award for junior and senior college women — and a $1,600 scholarship.

A rising senior at Piedmont, Osoria studies with voice professor Andrea Price. She is a member of the Piedmont Singers and has performed in numerous musical theater roles, including most recently in summer performances of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along.” She has also performed in dramatic roles, including last year’s Lillian Smith’s “Strange Fruit.”

The road to Chicago began in November at the state-level NATS competition held at Georgia Southern University, where Osoria took the third-place prize and advanced to the regional competition in March at Stetson University in Florida. She took second in the region, and the top five singers then submitted video auditions for a chance at the national competition in Chicago. In May, Osoria learned that she was one of 14 students nationwide selected for the finals.

On Saturday in Chicago, the 14 competitors sang for a panel of judges to see who would be in the top three to advance.
“When they called out my name for the finalists, I almost didn’t hear it,” Osoria said. “One of the other girls they called is from our region, and I was celebrating with her. Then I heard my mom scream, and I got really excited!”

On Sunday, with accompanist Benji Stegner, instructor of fine arts at Piedmont, Osoria performed four songs for the judges and an audience of singing instructors from across the country. She sang “Your Daddy’s Son” by Stephen Flaherty, “So in Love” by Cole Porter, “I Can Cook Too” by Leonard Bernstein, and “It Won’t Be Long Now” by Lin-Manuel Miranda.