Nia Drummond

Nia Drummond, 19, a native of Brooklyn, NY is currently studying Voice Performance at SUNY Fredonia with Ms. Shinobu Takagi & Dr. Gerald Gray. She has appeared as a solo performer at the Apollo Theater and as a contestant on American Idol singing in the styles of gospel, jazz and opera.. Nia has also appeared in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal being described as a “moving and electrifying performer”. Besides her solo career, Nia has sang with acclaimed ensembles such as the GRAMMY award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the award-winning Young People's Chorus of NYC and the New York State Summer School of Choral Studies (NYSSSA SCS). She has been a part of master classes with American opera singers: Renee Fleming, Ruth Falcon, Victoria Vargas, gospel singer Kim Burrell and dancers: Mikhail Baryshnikov and Bill T. Jones. Nia has sung background with Sir Elton John, Bette Midler, Fantasia, John Legend, and Billy Joel to name a few. She has also appeared in choruses under the batons of Michael Tilson Thomas, Lorin Maazel, David Robertson, James Levine, Marin Alsop, and Renee Clausen. Nia has additional appeared in competitions and concert series in Washington D.C., Atlanta, New York City, Chicago, Pittsburgh, the Dominican Republic and Austria. A proud alumnus of the National YoungArts Foundation, Nia was named one of three winners in Jazz Voice out of 10,000 applicants in 2012. She has also been named the recipient of the 2012 Gordon Parks Centennial Scholarship Award presented by the Gordon Parks Foundation. In the upcoming future, Nia is scheduled to participate in the European Festival of the Youth occurring in Switzerland in May 2014 with the Young People's Chorus of NYC.