Aubrey Campbell ’26
Major: Music
Hometown: Utica, N.Y.
Extracurricular activities: Hamilton College Choir baritone; Mainstage theatre production: Rent, Angels in America; Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure
National award: Placed first in the nation in his division (lower level, classical) at the National Association of Teachers of Singing student vocal competitions in Knoxville, Tenn.
With Hamilton graduation now behind him, he looks toward pursuing a master’s of music in voice at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Communications student writer Alejandro Sosa Hernández ’26 sat down with him to ask him about his creative journey.
Q
What experiences at Hamilton helped you decide to study opera?
I’d always had a love for musical theatre, especially when I was younger. So I went into Hamilton wanting to pursue acting and musical theater, but then I started to like the music of classic repertoires better than contemporary musical theatre soundtracks. However, I still really enjoyed the acting aspects of theatre. Then, I discovered contemporary opera, where I can get the best of both worlds — good realist acting and classical singing on top of it. It was just a combination of loving theater, loving music, and not seeing a life without it.
Q
What sort of training and performance opportunities have you had?
I’ve been in the College Choir and taken voice lessons with Professor Kay Paulsen for eight semesters. With her, I’ve been to a lot of competitions for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). In sophomore year, I made it to the nationals and won. That was the moment I was like, “Okay, I’m going for this now.”
Before the NATS competition, I attended a master class with a coach named Susan Ashbaker, and she invited me to participate in Westminster College’s CoOPERAtive Program. At that program, I met a voice instructor named Bryan Hymel, and I really liked his teaching style. The progress I made with him was just tremendous.
Furthermore, artistic director of the Seagle Festival, Darren Keith Woods, visited the CoOPERAtive Program and taught one-on-one sessions where I got to sing two arias for him, whereupon he encouraged me to audition for his program. The following summer, I made my operatic stage debut at the Seagle Festival!
Q
How have Hamilton’s music professors supported you through your music training?
Professor Ryan Carter introduced me to my compositional side and helped me round out my overall musicianship. On the first day of her Intro to Music Theory class, Professor Charlotte Botha told me I sounded like a bass and asked if I wanted to sing in choir. She definitely played a part in helping me decide to become a music major. Finally, Sar-Shalom Strong has been the best coach and collaborator I could have ever imagined. We’re so blessed to have him, especially since we’re not a conservatory. He plays so generously and with such intricate passion and sensitivity. It’s so fun to make music with him.
Q
How did you end up deciding what’s next after Hamilton?
I got into a lot of notable conservatories such as Juilliard, Boston Conservatory, Eastman, etc. However, at the end of the day, Indiana University has the teacher I want to work with — Bryan Hymel. After working with him at the CoOPERAtive program, it was like night and day between sophomore and junior years in terms of technical progress, efficiency, and musicality. I was able to trust in my own instrument in a way that I hadn’t before. I’m super excited to work with him.
Q
What do you ultimately hope to do after you complete your master’s degree?
For the next two years, I might audition for young artist programs, which are usually attached to professional companies. I have my eyes set on companies such as the Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco’s Motorola program, the Linden program at the Metropolitan Opera, and plenty of other ones. However, I could also pursue an artist diploma (AD) or a Doctor in Musical Arts (DMA).
Posted June 8, 2026
