Shawn Roy
Shawn Roy, Coordinator of Vocal Studies. A native of Louisiana, he received his Bachelor of Music Education degree at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, then went on to the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he received a Master of Music degree in Voice and an Artist Diploma in Opera. Prior to his appointment at UL Lafayette, Mr. Roy performed professionally in Opera and Musical Theatre in this country and abroad. He has been affiliated with such companies as New York City Opera National Company, Cincinnati Opera, Cleveland Opera, Tulsa Opera, Virginia Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Omaha, Connecticut Opera, Opera Delaware, Utah Opera, Sarasota Opera, Utah Festival Opera, The Center for Contemporary Opera in New York, Opera Francais in New York and the West Norwegian Opera in Bergen, Norway. He also toured extensively throughout France, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland as well as performing with the National Symphony of Bolivia in South America. He specialized in the "Basso Buffo" repertoire in such operas as The Barber of Seville, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Tosca, La Boheme, La Cenerentola, The Elixir of Love and Cosi Fan Tutte as well as various contemporary operas. His vocal instructors were Patrick Shelby, Andrew White and Armen Boyajian and studied opera with Italo Tajo and John Moriarty.
Also well versed in Musical Theatre, Mr. Roy has appeared in production of Jesus Christ Superstar, Fiddler on the Roof, 1776! and When Pigs Fly as well as serving as musical director for productions of Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man, Of Thee I Sing, Amahl and the Night Visitors, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Seussical, the Musical and Urinetown, the Musical. His stage directing credits for UL Lafayette include Hansel and Gretel, The Medium, Cosi Fan Tutte, Too Many Sopranos, Of Thee I Sing, Nunsense, Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Mikado, Death Takes a Holiday, and An Evening with Gilbert and Sullivan. The Opera Theater has collaborated with the Acadiana Symphony on productions of The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville, Carmen , Les Misérables and The Marriage of Figaro, where Roy served as stage director.
Roy recorded a CD entitled An American Kaleidocope: Song cycles through the lenses of William Bolcom, John Duke, Thomas Pasatieri and Ned Rorem for Centaur Records with his colleague Dr. Chan Kiat Lim. The duo was also chosen to present at the National CMS conference in 2009. Mr. Roy appeared with the Acadiana Symphony in A Night at the Opera, Copland's Old American Songs and was the Bass Soloist for Mozart's Coronation Mass and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. He has also performed as soloist with Chorale Acadienne in the Brahms Requiem and Mozart's Mass in C Minor. Recent appearances include soloist with the ASO in their recent chamber series event featuring music from France in the 1920's.
Roy joined the faculty of the UL Lafayette School of Music in 1998 and serves as Coordinator of Voice and the Director of Opera and Musical Theatre studies. He holds the Drs. Chuck and Sue Lein Endowed Professorship in Music. He is also a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, The College Music Society, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Alpha Iota National Arts Associate and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He is the current Governor for the State of Louisiana for the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Email: opera@louisiana.edu