Johanna Nordhorn Voice Studio
Welcome to the Studio!
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Johanna Nordhorn, Mezzo-Soprano, has delighted audiences across the nation as a professional opera singer, and loves to share her knowledge and experience in this field with her students! Along with running her successful Private Voice Studio for the last decade and a half, she has served on the Voice Faculties of the University of Central Florida (UCF), Valencia College, Jefferson College, Webster University, Principia College, and St. Louis Community College. She has also served on the faculty of nationally-recognized Opera Theatre of Saint Louis's one-of-a-kind Artists-In-Training program, which offers extensive training and performance opportunities to promising high school singers. Her students have garnered major successes in performance and competition, and have been accepted with scholarship into top Classical Voice, Musical Theatre, Music Education, Music Therapy, and Commercial Music programs across the nation. They consistently perform around the country and can be found singing with top organizations such as Sarasota Opera, Winter Opera, Union Avenue Opera, the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, as well as repeatedly on the stage of Carnegie Hall. Many of them have released solo albums, including an upcoming release featuring Johanna as a special guest! She loves encouraging her students and bases her teaching on catering to the individual needs of each singer, infusing them with the confidence, creativity, and practical skills they need to succeed in music.
As a professional opera singer, Johanna is a favorite in her home state of Florida as well as the Midwest, where she sang with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Union Avenue Opera, Gateway Opera, and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra while living in St. Louis. She won the Southern Illinois Young Artist Competition, placed in the Metropolitan National Council Awards (Missouri district), and received a generous Individual Artist’s Grant from the Regional Arts Commission to complete extensive training in the field of Positive Performance - transforming performance anxiety into positive experience!
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Johanna's number one goal is for all of her students to sing with a healthy, beautiful technique that will carry them through a LIFETIME of singing. Her number two goal is that they enjoy it! She finds that the right teacher supports the voice AND the individual using it.
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Johanna is also a certified Reiki master and offers Reiki sessions and classes in this gentle, healing modality. Reiki is a Japanese relaxation technique that relieves stress and promotes healing on all levels: physical, mental, and spiritual. It is a lovely pairing to voice lessons and many of her voice students have chosen Reiki to help support them in their daily lives or with specific singing issues, like performance trauma, nerves, or body tension. To find out more about her Reiki and Healing Songs, please click HERE.
Click below to hear me sing:
About Johanna
Voice Teacher / Professional Opera Singer / Reiki Master
Johanna Nordhorn has sung professionally across the nation and is a favorite in the city of St. Louis, MO, where she has been a featured soloist many times over with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in Powell Hall, a two-time Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, performed opera roles with Union Avenue Opera and Gateway Opera, and has sung specialized Early Music concerts with the famed Kingsbury Ensemble. She also spent a summer in New York as a Young Artist with Opera Saratoga. She has placed in the Metropolitan National Council Awards (Missouri district), won the Southern Illinois Young Artist Competition, received a generous Individual Artist’s Grant from the Regional Arts Commission, and was awarded the title of St. Louis’s “Best New Opera Singer” in the St. Louis Post Dispatch during her time living in the city.
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Johanna is a gifted teacher, and is very passionate about helping her students be the best they can be while also encouraging their personal development as singers AND humans. Her private students have been accepted and offered scholarships into high-level collegiate music programs including Oklahoma City University, Loyola University, University of Kentucky, Ithaca College, DePauw University, Belmont University, Maryville University, Florida State University, Webster University, Emory University, University of Central Florida, Missouri State University...among many others.
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Johanna has served on the Voice Faculty of many colleges and is well-versed in audition preparation for collegiate music auditions as well as those for professional opera and musical theatre shows. She is an expert in appropriate repertoire selection, successful audition techniques, and of course her favorite subject, building a sturdy vocal technique. She views each student's voice as a precious gem, meant to be polished and faceted until its unique gleam can be admired by everyone!
Holistic Singer Support
In our Studio, we honor the individual and recognize that singing is a process that involves all aspects of a person's being: mental, physical, and emotional. I feel it is my job to support the singers gently in all of those beautiful facets, making sure to always abide by their comfort levels and letting that inform the way that we work week-to-week. This could look like talking through the singer's insecurities about singing, helping to offer another perspective on a painful performance experience, tackling the mental game of performing together, or discussing vocal health issues and possible lifestyle shifts that would make for an easier singing life!
Disclaimer: I am not a trained counselor and will refer my students to counseling when appropriate. Of course they may continue lessons with me during that time!
Positive Performance Coaching
Get Out of Your Own Way and Enjoy Performing!
Based on countless hours spent performing around the country and the game-changing work of Jeff Nelsen's Fearless Performance, Johanna takes a mindful approach to the mental, emotional, and physical obstacles a performer can face while onstage and turns their fears into fuel. She has had great success in helping her students focus on what they want, sing through the fear, and have more positive performing experiences than ever!! She wants you to know it IS POSSIBLE to ENJOY performing.
Private Voice Lessons
What can I expect?
- World-Class Training from a professional opera singer and former Professor of Voice
- A Warm, Encouraging Environment
with lots of love and levity!
- Bespoke Vocal Warmups tailored directly to you and your vocal needs
- Online Lessons (FaceTime or Zoom) or In-person lessons (Jacksonville, FL)
- Preparation for any number of performing situations and auditions
- Expert Repertoire Selection
- Heightened Confidence in your Singing Abilities
- A Kind but Strong Guide who has loads of high-level professional performing experience.
"At first, I thought taking private voice lessons was just another step in my musical journey. Little did I know, it would be more like a huge leap forward, all thanks to an experienced, dedicated, and caring teacher!"
Abby Benson, Soprano
"If you want to grow as a singer and a performer, I would definitely recommend lessons from Johanna! She works with you to help you achieve your musical goals. Johanna has worked with me to help me grow in ways I did not think were possible. She helped me to notice things I would not otherwise have, like posture and jaw tension. Johanna's voice lessons continue to help me reach my full potential."
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Danielle Goldberg, Soprano
"Thank you so much. I told everyone about you and that you had offered to attend (the funeral). I can't thank you enough for your support as I prepared. My experience with you was wonderful. I didn't cry as I sung but I have tears in my eyes writing this because without you I wouldn't have had the courage!" Michele B., Alto, Singing at a family member's funeral