Deborah Popham
Deborah Popham, DMA
Associate Professor of Voice,
Associate Director of the School of Music
GPAC, 120D | 936.294.1393 | dlp037@shsu.edu
Division | Music Education
Dr. Deborah Popham, soprano, joined the faculty at Sam Houston State University in 2016 as an Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Vocal Studies. She has performed internationally as a soloist throughout Canada, Italy and Switzerland, including the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, and she is a founding member of the ensemble, Trio Roma. An active recitalist as well, she has been guest recitalist and master clinician throughout the United States, including South Carolina, Arizona, Kentucky, Mississippi, Iowa, and Missouri. Dr. Popham has also performed with Arizona Opera, Rome Symphony, and was selected for the Emerging Artist program with OperaWorks. A few of Dr. Popham’s performing credits include Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Michaëla in Carmen, Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito, Cathleen in Riders to the Sea, and Tatania Navigator in Royal Flush (an original improvisational opera). In 2014, she was selected as one of twelve teachers to participate in the prestigious NATS Intern Program, as well as the recipient of the Emerging Leader Award for the Southeast Region (Georgia, Alabama, Florida). Most recently, Dr. Popham made her Carnegie Hall debut performing a recital in Weill Hall as part of DCINY’s Artist Series.
Dr. Popham’s students have won at District and Regional NATS auditions in both classical and musical theatre categories, and have been accepted into numerous universities, summer programs and summer stock around the country. Her students have been finalists in the NATS National Student Auditions and the Classical Singer Competition, and winners in local and regional opera competitions. She has presented her research at the National Opera Association Convention and College Music Society Conference, and has been published in the NYSTA journal, VoicePrints. Her research interests are voice pedagogy and vocal health for all voice users, as well as contemporary American art song. Before coming to Shorter University, Dr. Popham taught voice and other music courses at Shorter University in Rome GA, Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK, and at the University of Akron in Akron, OH.
Dr. Popham is originally from Cleveland, OH. She attended the University of Akron, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and with honors, earning a Bachelor of Music degree in voice performance, and two Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Philosophy. After finishing undergraduate studies, she remained at the University of Akron, studying Music Theory. She concluded her studies at Arizona State University, where she earned a Master of Music in Music Theater Performance (Opera) and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance, where she was a student of Dr. Jerry Doan.