Artists

Paul L. Koenig has served as Voices of Omaha’s artistic director since 2017. Koenig is no stranger to the organization; he first performed the tenor solos with the artists in 1997 and has sung many of the performances of Messiah since then.

Koenig earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Morningside College (Sioux City, IA). His Master of Music Education degree work was finished at Vandercook College of Music (Chicago, IL). A career music educator, he taught in public school music programs at Sanborn, IA; South Sioux City, NE; and Omaha, NE. He was minister of music at Dundee Presbyterian Church (Omaha) from 2003-2014. He conducted several major works for special services at Dundee Presbyterian Church including The Seven Last Words of Christ (Dubois), Christmas Oratorio (Saint-Saëns), Requiem (Fauré), and Messiah (Handel).

An active vocalist throughout his career, Koenig has sung with several area artists and organizations including Opera Omaha, Omaha Symphonic Chorus, and Soli Deo Gloria Cantorum. In 1978, he sang in the chorus at Saratoga Springs, NY with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy and Robert Shaw. He was also among the artists performing in the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria in 1984.

Koenig has also enjoyed serving as a voice instructor at Augustana University (Sioux Falls, SD); Creighton University and Grace University, both in Omaha. He also taught voice in the University of Nebraska at Omaha music school. Additionally, he was the interim choral director for UNO school of music in 2014-2015.

Shelby VanNordstrand has appeared as a soloist with a wide range of ensembles and companies; including Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival, New York Lyric Opera Theatre, Opera Omaha, Omaha Symphony, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, and the Simon Estes Young Artist Program.

VanNordstrand is passionate about connecting song and opera repertoire to today’s audience. Her recital project “The Giving Voice Project: Ophelia” examines the gendered oppression of Hamlet’s Ophelia from a twenty-first century view point through song, opera, and dance. She continues to share her love of song across the globe at many locations including Indonesia, Japan, China, Hawaii, and Lithuania. She is an alumnus of the SongFest program.

VanNordstrand is Associate Professor of Voice, Vocal Area Coordinator, and Director of Opera at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. As a teacher of singing, her students have been named winners of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Student Auditions at the state, regional, and national levels and winners of the National Opera Association’s Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition. As a clinician, she has presented at the National Collegiate Music Society Conference, the National Opera Association Conference, and other state and regional conferences. She is a frequent guest clinician for high school and collegiate musicians. VanNordstrand holds a Bachelor of Music in music education from Iowa State University, and a Master of Music in vocal performance from Michigan State University.

Janeen Jensen has been a steady musician in the Omaha area for over two decades, singing comfortably as a featured soloist and ensemble performer alike. As a soloist, she presented Pergolesi “Stabat Mater” with Opera Omaha in 2022 and the role of Humility in the rarely performed Hildegard work, “Ordo Virtutum” with Cathedral Arts Project in 2019. She has been featured with the Omaha Symphony and Soli Deo Gloria Cantorum.  

Jensen’s versatile voice and acting abilities were seen as Uzo, in the ensemble cast of “Godspell”, as presented in 2023 by the professional vocal group Resonance, of which she has been a core member since its inception in 2012. Other professional ensembles include Abendchor of Abendmusik and Opera Omaha since 1997.

Jensen earned her Master of Music degree from the University of Northern Iowa and taught voice at College of Saint Mary for 12 years. She has served in music leadership at several churches and treasured her 17-year position at Trinity Cathedral as section leader and handbell director. Jensen also works as a licensed massage therapist in Omaha. Her hobbies include gardening and bee keeping. 

Justin Payne is a classically-trained tenor, composer, and playwright from Omaha, NE. In addition to collaborating with Dani Cleveland on Heaven Come Home and Little Brown Boy, Payne composed music for The Draft with playwright Lisa Harrison-Jackson. One of Payne’s newest creations is Belle Terre the Musical, a whimsical story that sends an adolescent young woman on a journey to self-discovery with music inspired by the New Orleans brass band style.

Payne has performed as the tenor soloist for Handel’s Messiah with the Voices of Omaha and will debut as Artistic Director for the 2022 season/performance. Payne has sung on stages in Germany, Austria, Italy, and China. In addition to these credits, Payne has enjoyed roles in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Once on This Island, and Little Shop of Horrors. Payne has served as the musical director for Buffalo Women musical reading, Giraffe’s Can’t Dance, a new children’s musical, and Choir Boy. This season he will join the Omaha Community Playhouse production team in musical direction of the Broadway hit, Dreamgirls. He also will join the University of Nebraska–Omaha school of the arts staff to co-music direct Into The Woods with Hal France.

He holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from University of Nebraska–Omaha, and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Michigan State University.

Kyle Sandall is an active educator and performer in the Omaha and Lincoln metropolitan areas. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree from Hastings College, NE, Sandall was awarded a teaching assistantship to the graduate program of University of Nebraska–Lincoln where he received his Master of Music degree in vocal performance.

Sandall has performed in many musical theater and opera roles throughout the region including: the lead role in Sweeney Todd; George Benton in Dead Man Walking; Billy Bigelow in Carousel; Demetrius in Midsummer Night’s Dream; Priest Guide in The Magic Flute; Officer Lockstock in Urinetown; Ben in Telephone; Barry in Later that Same Evening; Oz in The Wizard of Oz; and Trevor Greydon in Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Sandall serves as a vocal teaching artist, clinician, contest judge, and private voice instructor. He is an active singer throughout the region, performing with the Opera Omaha chorus, the First-Plymouth Choir in Lincoln, NE. He is a member of Resonance vocal artists ensemble in Omaha. Sandall was previously a member of the South Dakota Chorale. He has sung Mozart’s Requiem, Faure’s Requiem, Hayden’s Creation, and Handel’s Messiah on a number of occasions, and is a busy concert soloist.

Sandall is assistant band director at Bellevue East High School. He is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and American Choral Directors Association. Sandall currently resides in Bellevue, NE with his wife Kate.

David C. Neely is Professor of Violin at the Glenn Korff School of Music at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He joined the faculty in 1993. Since 2010, Neely has also served as artist and faculty member of the Orfeo International Summer Music Festival in Vipiteno, Italy. Neely is violinist and a founding member of the chamber group, The Trans-Nebraska Players. This ensemble performs regularly throughout the country; in 2014, the artists made their international debut performing at the Canadian Flute convention.

Neely received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. His Bachelor of Music degree was earned at Iowa State University in Ames. He has also studied at Indiana University in Bloomington. Neely’s teachers include Peter Marsh, Josef Gingold, and Mahlon Darlington. Prior to appointment at UNL, Neely was a tenured associate professor of violin/viola at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion from 1987-1993. He was a founding member of the Rawlins Piano Trio. Neely served as first violinist of the Omega String Quartet at the Lutheran Summer Music Festival from 1989-1997.

Neely performs and gives master classes for artists throughout the United States and Europe. He is recorded on the Albany Records label. Neely has presented several sessions at the annual national American String Teachers National Conference (ASTA). He reviews violin, viola, and chamber music literature for the ASTA journal. He presented at the March 2016 national ASTA convention in Tampa Bay, FL. Neely appears as guest concertmaster of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra. He has also served as co-concertmaster of the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra. He has been a member of several orchestras in various states including California, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Neely currently plays in the Omaha Symphony.

In 2015, Neely returned to the Orfeo International Summer Music Festival as Artist/Teacher in residence. He performed several faculty recitals, gave individual lessons, and presented master classes. In the summers of 2006 and 2009, Professor Neely was a member of the faculty at the Schlern International Music Festival in Italy where, in addition to  performing and teaching, he judged artists in the 2009 international concerto competition.

He also taught and performed at the Rocky Ridge Summer Music Festival in Estes Park, CO from 1998-2009. Neely spent a month teaching and performing in 2000 at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland.

During the summer of 1997, Neely embarked on a three-week tour of Europe. He performed 11 recitals in cities throughout Switzerland and Germany, including Frankfort, Winterthur, St. Gallen, Schaffhausen, and Zurich. He also presented master classes for artists at the Leysin American School and Aiglon College in Switzerland and at the University of Mainz in Germany.

Victory Sedlacek, harpsichordist, has accompanied for ballet and modern dance artists for many years. She was music director at Princeton Ballet for eight years. Additionally, Sedlacek taught piano at the Westminster Conservatory Community School in Princeton, NJ.  She is the accompanist at Burke High School, Omaha Academy of Ballet, MasterSingers, and also, organist at Second Church of Christ Scientist. Sedlacek accompanied the Princeton Girlchoir and Nebraska Children’s Choir “Cantori” for many years.

Sedlacek holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of Nebraska–Omaha. Her Master of Music degree in Accompanying/Coaching was earned from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. She continues to enjoy collaborative work with soloists, chamber musicians, choirs, dancers, and artists.