White House commission to honor Chapman faculty member

As a private voice instructor and adjunct faculty member at Chapman University, Patrick Goeser has plenty of experience training the best of the best.

Goeser’s students in Chapman’s College of Performing Arts have launched stellar careers with his guidance and now perform in the world’s leading opera houses, including Vienna, Paris, Venice, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Toronto and Santiago as well as Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. But he was particularly thrilled recently when an envelope arrived at his home with news of a surprising honor. Goeser had been chosen to receive a U.S. Presidential Scholars Program’s Teacher Recognition Award, to be awarded in Washington, D.C., this June by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars.

The tribute came to him thanks to one of his private voice students, Daniel McGrew, a local high school senior who is one of only 20 high school students nationwide to be named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Students honored by the commission are asked to select their most “inspiring and unforgettable teacher.” McGrew, a senior at Crystal Cathedral High School in Garden Grove, named Goeser.

“It took me really by surprise. It’s quite an honor,” Goeser says.

Goeser says he rarely accepts high school students for private instruction, but knew McGrew had something special when he heard him audition. While under Goeser’s tutelage, McGrew won first-place in the high school division of the 2010 National Classical Singer Magazine vocal competition, a Music Center Spotlight Award and competed in the 2011 YoungArts competition, sponsored by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

“He’s a wonderful singer,” Goeser says. “It’s a privilege to work with somebody like that.”

Now Goeser is looking forward to traveling to Washington, D.C., for the award presentation, receptions and performances. The final event will be a performance at The Kennedy Center at which McGrew will sing.

“That will be very fine,” Goeser says.

To see more photos of Goeser working with McGrew, visit The Orange County Register.