TRENT RASH

TRENT marvels daily at the many wonderful experiences that the worlds of music and theater have allowed him to have.  From performances at the Kennedy Center to cathedrals in Italy to black box theaters in Wicker Park in Chicago, he has performed the gamut of styles, from Broadway to Palestrina.  

 

While he has a deep love for classical music (and over ten years of study to prove it), there is no doubt that musical theater has always been where his heart has beat faster and his spirit has soared.  From roles that have changed his life and made a markedly direct impact on his performance skills, such as Mark in RENT, and Dan Goodman in NEXT TO NORMAL, to roles that were just plain fun to perform, such as Fagin in OLIVER! and Neville Landless in THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, musicals are a definite home base for Trent's creative endeavors.  The proof is in the pudding: Trent has also directed or music directed over twenty musicals, including favorites WEST SIDE STORY, INTO THE WOODS, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, LES MISERABLES, LITTLE WOMEN, GUYS AND DOLLS, and THE LAST FIVE YEARS. 

 

Trent is also proud of the performance opportunities he has had in the place he calls home: Columbia, MO. Solo engagements include appearances in the Odyssey Chamber Music Series, as the tenor soloist in Bach’s Magnficat and Handel’s Messiah, and with the Missouri Contemporary Ballet.  Trent also helped co-found the vocal ensemble Élan, a choral group dedicated to music performance through collaboration with other art forms.   

 

Trent currently serves on the music faculty at Stephens College where he teaches applied private voice lessons, musical theatre performance techniques classes, and musical theatre repertory classes.  He is also occasionally found onstage as guest faculty artist and serves as the Musical Theatre Coordinator for the Summer Theatre Institute.  Trent is also the Assistant Director of Music at the St. Thomas More Newman Center, where he directs the college student Sunday Mass as well as facilitates cantor formation, retreat music, etc. Lastly, he teaches a handful of students through his private voice studio, RashMusik.  

 

He attended the University of Missouri where he dabbled in journalism before completing work on both a BS in Music Education and a MM in Vocal Performance. 

 

Trent is member of NATS, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and is a frequent adjudicator for both classical and musical theater vocal competitions.  He is also a member of NAFME, the National Association of Music Education.

 

In what spare time he has, Trent is starting a new venture into play writing, and is a featured playwright in the Starting Gate New Play Festival at Talking Horse Productions this Fall 2017.

 

Create an extraordinary day,

Trent