Emily Siar
Emily Siar is a soprano and voice teacher based in Boston, MA. A member of the voice faculty of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, she teaches private voice lessons and lyric diction to gifted pre-college singers. Additionally, she maintains a thriving private voice studio in Boston, where her students have been accepted to such prestigious institutions as the Berklee College of Music and the Longy School of Music at Bard College. Emily is an active performer of opera, art song, chamber music, new music, musical theater, and cabaret. Favorite roles performed include the title role in Massenet's Cendrillon, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Calisto in La Calisto, Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica, Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, La princesse in L'enfant et les sortilèges, Cosette in Les Miserables, and Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.
Emily has pursued extensive training in both performance and pedagogy at a variety of institutions, including the New England Conservatory of Music (Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy anticipated 2021), the Eastman School of Music (Master of Music 2017), SongFest (2014), The Song Continues at Carnegie Hall (2013), and the Music Academy of the West (Vocal Fellow and mentee of Marilyn Horne 2012/13). A summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Emily was one of four Kenan Music Scholars in the class of 2014, attending college on a full, four-year merit scholarship. Formative teachers, coaches, and mentors have included Ian Howell, Carole Haber, Dana Varga, John Heiss, Kathryn Cowdrick, Marilyn Horne, Cameron Stowe, Robert Tweten, Josh Major, Anthony Dean Griffey, Warren Jones, Arlene Shrut, Jeanne Fischer, and Barbara Ann Peters.
In 2019, Emily won a large grant from the Presser Foundation that enabled her to travel to Paris to research fin de siècle French cabaret and diseuse Yvette Guilbert. As the winner of the DMA Prize Instructorship in Music History at New England Conservatory, Emily will teach an undergraduate elective course on "Cabaret and Culture" at NEC in the spring of 2021. Emily's doctoral research explores the intersection of voice education and stigma of voice injury in the student voice major population. She is an advocate for changing conversations about voice health and injury and seeks to empower young singers to better understand their voices and to know how to access voice care should they need it. She is a proud member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and is on the board of NATS Boston.
Caroline Nielson
A native of Dallas, Texas, Caroline Nielson is currently based in Boston, where she is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy at the New England Conservatory of Music. Caroline completed an MM in Voice Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music in 2017, as well as a BM at Belmont University in 2015, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in Vocal Performance and a minor in German.
Caroline has performed numerous roles in operatic and musical theatre productions and has been a young artist at Finger Lakes Opera and Opera in the Ozarks. Her theatrical roles include Foreign Singer – Postcard from Morocco (New England Conservatory), Bradamante - Alcina (Rochester Baroque Vocal Consort), Orlofsky (cover) – Die Fledermaus (Finger Lakes Opera), Meg Boyd – Damn Yankees, Grace Farrell – Annie (RAPA), Maurya – Riders to the Sea, Dorothée – Cendrillon, Abbess – Suor Angelica (Eastman), Nancy – Albert Herring, Mercédès –
Carmen (Opera in the Ozarks), Dido – Dido and Aeneas, Cherubino – Le nozze di Figaro, Mother Marie – Dialogues of the Carmelites (Belmont), and ensemble in Pirates of Penzance (Nashville Opera) and Carmen (Syracuse Opera).
An avid performer of chamber and choral music, Caroline sings with the choir of Church of the Redeemer (Chestnut Hill) and actively performs in the Boston area. In 2020, she performed Schönberg’s seminal Pierrot Lunaire with NEC’s Contemporary Ensemble, as Diana in Cavalli’s Baroque masterpiece, La Calisto, with NEC Opera, and in the ensemble of Arnold Rosner’s The Chronicle of Nine with Odyssey Opera. In addition to her performing, Caroline has previously taught voice at Finger Lakes Community College, Roberts Wesleyan College Community Music School, and Music & Arts. In her role as a teaching fellow at NEC, Caroline manages the Voice for Non-Majors Program and teaches students enrolled in the course.
Corey Hart
Corey Dalton Hart, tenor, is a native of Asheville, North Carolina known for his musical versatility, engaging presence, and expressive textual interpretations. With a passion for American art song and champion of contemporary music, Corey is a regular recitalist along the east coast, having premiered new works in New York City, Boston, and Albany. On the opera stage, his varied roles have included the Podestá in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, Monastatos in Die Zauberflöte, Arithmetic in Ravel’s L’enfent et les Sortilèges, Gherardo in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and the Cat in Oliver Knussen’s Higglety Pigglety Pop!
As an active and eager singer of oratorio, Corey was a featured soloist for Mozart's Coronation Mass with the Bard College Symphonic Chorus at the world-class Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Other recent solo performances include Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor with the Church of the Advent in Boston, Handel’s Messiah with The Orchestra Now, Haydn’s Creation with the American Symphony Orchestra, Handel's Esther with the Bard College Baroque Ensemble, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse with the Furman University Symphony Orchestra, and Telemann’s St. John Passion with the Harvard Early Music Society. In addition to his solo work, Corey is an active chamber music artist in and around Boston. He has performed with groups such as Boston Baroque, In Stile Moderno, the choir at the Church of the Advent, Trinity Church Copley Square, Schola Cantorum of Boston, Miryam Ensemble, Labyrinth Choir, Renaissance Men, and the Ashmont Bach Project. Corey is also an inaugural young artist of Voces8’s American Scholars program.
In conjunction with his performance schedule, Corey maintains an active private voice studio in addition to being a member of the voice faculty of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. As both a voice teacher and repertoire coach, Corey believes in fostering versatility in his students in order to give them optimal chance for success. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from the New England Conservatory of Music and holds a MM from the Bard Conservatory Graduate Vocal Arts Program and a BM from Furman University. Corey brings to his singing and teaching years of work with esteemed teachers and mentors including Dawn Upshaw, Bradley Williams, Ian Howell, Dana Varga, Kayo Iwama, Erika Switzer, Cameron Stowe, Tanya Blaich, JJ Penna, Joshua Major, Robert Tweten, Lorraine Nubar, Jill Feldman, and William Thomas.
Jonathan Heller
Jonathan Heller is a New York City-based actor, singer, voice teacher, and dancer. A skilled performer, he has been seen in productions with the Ohio Light Opera, the College Light Opera Company, and VHRP LIVE! Some of his favorite roles include Cacambo in Candide (OLO), Billy Baxter in Fifty Million Frenchmen (OLO), Vicomte Cascada in The Merry Widow, Frid in A Little Night Music (CLOC), and Manfred Lewin in the collegiate premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Out of Darkness (Eastman School of Music). He has also performed on notable concert stages including The Town Hall, Feinstein's 54 Below, and at the Theatre Orb in Tokyo. In 2019, Jonathan was a finalist in the prestigious Lotte Lenya Competition, which recognizes talented singer/actors with a pronounced ability to succeed in a variety of repertoire, ranging from operetta, to opera, to musical theater.
Jonathan holds a Bachelors of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Eastman School of Music and a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance (musical theatre concentration) with an Advanced Certificate in Vocal Pedagogy from NYU Steinhardt. During his time at NYU, he was on the Adjunct Voice Faculty, teaching both private and group voice lessons. Since graduation, Jonathan has continued teaching voice privately, is a section leader at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Manhattan, and serves as a vocal Mentor for the National Children’s Chorus.
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