Arizona District

Mary Jane McCloskey

Arizona District Governor

arizonadistrictdirector@nats.org

Mary Jane is pleased to serve as Arizona District Governor for the National  Association of Teachers of Singing. She has previously served on the board of  the Valley of the Sun NATS Chapter as Co-Chair for the Arizona District Student  Auditions, as well as the Arizona Summer Heat CM Auditions. 

Mary Jane has been active in Arts Education for more than years in public,  private and charter schools. She was honored to be awarded “West Valley  Teacher of the Year” for her arts education work in the public schools. 

She also served as Education Director for Arizona Opera, where she developed  their “Opera in a Box” school presentation. The program was awarded several  state and local grants to bring a simple, fun opera introduction into classrooms  around the Phoenix Metro area. 

Mary Jane is also the co-founder of the Muddy River Opera Company, for whom  she wrote and was awarded a National Endowment Grant to bring opera to  underserved schools in rural Illinois. The Muddy River Opera Company is still  thriving in Central Illinois where its mission is to give emerging singers a chance  to perform in fully-staged productions as they develop their careers. 

Mary Jane has preformed in opera, concert and musical theatre. She is an  adjunct voice teacher at Arizona Christian University, and maintains a busy  private voice studio. 

Mary Jane has an MM in Vocal Performance from The University of Michigan 

Deborah Prischmann-Gryniewicz

Southern Arizona Chapter President

soarizonapresident@nats.org

Deborah Prischmann Gryniewicz holds a Master of Music degree in Opera and Vocal Pedagogy from Temple University where she taught voice class for two years (GTA), and a Bachelor of Music Education (K-12) from the University of Arizona, studying with Igor Gorin of the Metropolitan Opera on full Vocal Scholarship. A Voice Faculty member at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia for several years she was the founding Director/Instructor of the Meadowlark Vocal Studio in Doylestown, PA for 25+ years. Deborah currently serves as President of the Southern Arizona Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing in Tucson. She is the Director/Instructor of the Jubilant Voice Studio in Tucson, AZ. As a Vocal Clinician, Deborah presents Vocal Seminars for Colleges, (including Lafayette College), junior - senior high schools and churches. The Embedded Private Vocal Instructor for Marana High School; she has adjudicated for the NATS CAL-Western Region Student Auditions (ASU and UA) and Eastern Region Conference Student Auditions (Westminster Choir College and West Chester University).
Vocal coach and directing credits include: the Philadelphia Opera Children's Chorus for La Boheme, the Bucks County Playhouse Equity Summer Theater, CB West High School musical West Side Story, Musical Arts Academy of Bucks County Youth Chorus, Newtown Arts Company’s Narnia, Doylestown United Methodist Church, Central Schwenkfelder Church, Calvary Chapel of Chalfont, Light The Way Church and was the embedded private voice teacher at Marana High School. She currently is the soloist and pianist for the First Baptist Church of Catalina.
As a professional vocal artist, Deborah has performed throughout the US in Opera, Oratorio, Off-Broadway NY, and on Carnivale Cruise Lines. A featured soloist of the “Voices of the Pops” with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops from 2001 – 2006 performing regularly at the Kimmel Center, the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia and on ABC television. Deborah can be heard as a studio vocal artist recording for such labels as Glory Sound, Shawnee Press, and regularly for Alfred's Music with singers from the New York Voices, Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians, and the Voices of Liberty of Disney World. She is the founder of JUBILANT VOICE MINISTRIES, a non-profit outreach ministry of music and drama. As a concert soloist, keynote speaker, composer and writer she performs in many venues. Deborah is the producer, writer, composer and performer in the musical dramas Daughters Of The King and Children Of The King. As a songwriter, Deborah has produced 4 albums of her original music. She is listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in America for her outstanding achievement in the field of music and Life Time Achievement Award (2017). Deborah was honored at Council Rock high school (2010) receiving the lifetime achievement award in the Performing Arts.

Nicole Jensen

Valley of the Sun Chapter President

valleyofthesunpresident@nats.org

https://vsnats.org