April N. Hamilton, soprano, is pleased to begin her professional teaching career with the Starmount Vocal Academy. She has studied voice with Robert Overman since 2002 and has observed and assisted him in studio classes, lessons and staged performances. Graduate assistantships have included teaching private voice and beginning voice classes, assisting with studio classes, assistant directing, stage management and recording recitals. April has a passion for sharing her love of music and the stage with others and is excited to work with students of all ages and levels.

From a very young age, April began singing in church, acting in school plays and playing clarinet in the school band. She enrolled at Greensboro College as a theatre major. After one year of study, she added a music minor. After two years of study, April became a music major, theatre minor. She had never sung in a classical chorus or had private voice lessons before attending college. She quickly fell in love with opera and the study of classical voice.

April has performed leading roles in opera and musical theatre productions and scenes. Complete roles include Madame Goldentrill in The Impresario, Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief, Serpina in the U.S. premiere of Bent Lorentzen's Pergolesi's Home Service, Marian in The Music Man, Rizzo and Jan in Grease, Rosemary in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Maria in West Side Story. Operatic and musical theatre scene study has included the roles of Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the title role in Rusalka, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Baby Doe in The Ballad of Baby Doe, Monica in The Medium, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Julie Jordan in Carousel, Aldonza in Man of La Mancha and Anna in The King and I. She has been fortunate to sing in masterclasses with Sherrill Milnes, Johan Botha, Marcus Haddock, Mignon Dunn, Thad Motoyka and Dr. Marilyn Taylor.

April is a member of the national music honor society, Pi Kappa Lambda. She holds a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from East Carolina University where she studied voice with Dr. Louise Toppin and a Bachelor of Arts degree in music performance with a minor in theatre performance from Greensboro College. In addition to SVA, April serves as soprano section leader at Starmount Presbyterian Church.

Robert began singing as a child and by high school was involved in church and school choirs, madrigals and other singing groups. With three other high school friends, he formed a barbershop quartet that rose through the local ranks, won a district championship and qualified for international competition. This was followed by a part in a community theater musical production, which ignited his love for the theater as well as music. Robert attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he studied voice with Professor Charles Lynam. While at UNC-G, Robert sang numerous leading roles in musical theater and operatic productions, was a Concerto Competition Winner, was a winner of the National Opera Association Auditions and was a district, regional and national winner of the National Council Metropolitan Opera Auditions, culminating in concerts in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera and other concerts in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach, FL, Atlanta, GA and San Francisco, CA.

This was followed by a series of nightclub appearances in Boca Raton and Miami FL, where he was heard and hired by Royal Viking Cruise Lines as an entertainer. During his time in Florida, Robert also found time to sing two tours of musical theater productions, where he was featured in the role of Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun and Gaylord Ravenal in Showboat. Once settled into shipboard life as an entertainer, he became interested in management and was soon promoted to Assistant Cruise Director and then Cruise Director. While cruising in the South Pacific, Robert was heard by Robert Herman, then General Manager of the Greater Miami Opera Company, who advised him to leave the cruise ships and pursue a career in opera. Mr. Herman arranged a coaching with baritone opera star, Sherrill Milnes, who also encouraged him to sing opera professionally.

Robert returned to North Carolina where he resumed study with Charles Lynam and began coaching operatic roles with Dr. Peter Paul Fuchs, Conductor of the Greensboro Symphony and former Assistant Conductor and Coach at the Metropolitan Opera. After several months of preparation, Robert embarked on an auditions tour of Europe, first for agencies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and then, with their representation, for opera houses in those countries. Two weeks later Robert was offered a two-year contract as Principal Baritone in the opera house in Salzburg, Austria.

While singing in Austria, Robert pursued his academic interests at the famed Mozarteum Conservatory in Salzburg, Mozart's birthplace. Robert made his European debut in the role of Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca in the Grosses Festspielhaus (Grand Festival Hall) in Salzburg, the home of the renowned Salzburg Festival. He made his debut in the Salzburg Festival the next year singing the title role of a work commissioned for the Festival entitled Fuerst von Salzburg - Wolf Dietrich. This was followed by a guest appearance in the National Theater in Karlsruhe, Germany in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni. After this production, Robert was offered a contract in Karlsruhe as their Principal Baritone. While in Karlsruhe, Robert sang leading roles in numerous operas including: Nabucco in Verdi's Nabucco, Rigoletto in Verdi's Rigoletto, Germont in Verdi's La Traviata, Don Carlos in Verdi's La Forza del Destino, Luna in Verdi's Il Trovatore, Andrei in Prokofieff's Krieg und Frieden (War and Peace), Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Almaviva in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Orestes in Gluck's Iphigenie auf Tauris, and Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème. During the La Bohème production, Robert was introduced to famed director Gian Carlo del Monaco. When del Monaco became General Director of the International Opera House in Bonn, he offered Robert the position of Principal Baritone in Bonn.

In Bonn, Robert sang such roles as: Capulet in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Alfio in Mascagni's Cavelleria Rusticana and Tonio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca, Rambaldo in Puccini's La Rondine, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, Lescaut in Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Gonzales in Gomes' Il Guarany, Germont in Verdi's La Traviata, Guglielmo in Puccini's Le Villi and Jago in Verdi's Otello. Robert sang with such noted singers as: Katja Riccerelli, Giuseppi Giacomini, Barbara Daniels, Vladimir Atlantov, Waltraud Meier, Eva Lind, Julia Varady, Eva Marton, Sherrill Milnes and Placido Domingo.

Robert has also sung as a guest artist in opera and concert in: Vienna, Zurich, Bern, Basel Strasbourg, Nice, Montpelier, Warsaw, Reggio Emelia, Torino, Luxembourg, Heidelberg, Nüremberg, Leipzig, Weimar, Aachen, Freiburg, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Kiel, Dortmund, Düsseldorf and Munich as well as Houston, San Francisco and New York. At the invitation of Helmut Rilling, Robert traveled to Houston to sing the baritone solos in Mendelssohn's Die Erste Walpurgisnacht, which Rilling conducted with the Houston Symphony.

More recently, Robert has been heard with the Piedmont Opera Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the roles of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Scarpia in Tosca, Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera, Germont in La Traviata, the Father in Hansel and Gretel and King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors. He has also sung the bass solos in the Winston-Salem Symphony's Messiah and has appeared with the Greensboro Symphony's Chamber Series singing Spohr's Six Songs for Baritone, Violin and Piano in collaboration with Nancy Johnston, piano and Dimitry Sitkovesky, violin.

Since leaving his singing career after 25 years as a full-time performer, Robert has been director of the Centenary Academy for Music and the Performing Arts in Winston-Salem, Artist-in-Residence and Director of Vocal Studies at Greensboro College and currently serves as an adjunct instructor in voice on the music faculty of High Point University. Robert also serves as Director of Music Ministries at Starmount Presbyterian Church and Director of the Starmount Vocal Academy.