LINCOLNTON––The upcoming Heafner-Williams Vocal Competition has a saucerful of superb singers.

Among the performers taking to the stage at the Lincoln Cultural Center are Amanda Sesler of Mooresville and Gretchen Struckmeyer of Raleigh.

A noted soprano, Sesler has been praised for the clarity and joy of her sound. She has performed as a soloist both across America and abroad. Her work includes a turn as “Micaëla” in Bizet’s Carmen for the Glow Lyric Theatre in Greenville, S.C., and “Yvette” in Puccini’s La Rondine in Novafeltria, Italy. She toured China with the Windiana Concert Band as the vocal soloist for their “Golden Age of Broadway Tour.” In April, Sesler will perform the title rôle in American composer Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah for Central Piedmont Community College Opera Theatre.

Sesler teaches at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. and Chun University in Charlotte. She has a private voice studio in Mooresville.

Also an accomplished soprano, Struckmeyer is a graduate of the Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music. Highlights from her time there include winning the concerto/aria competition. She was “Laetitia” in Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief. And she enjoyed fluttering across the stage as “Papagena” in Mozart’s Magic Flute.

Struckmeyer works as a ticketing manager by day. She studies privately under Dr. Julia Pedigo.

The Heafner-Williams Vocal Competition is named for local opera singers Carolyn Heafner and Robert Williams. This year’s competition, coming up March 19 and 20, will not be held in front of a live audience. But the finals will be shown on You-Tube that Sunday afternoon.