Voice, Piano, Recorder
EVERYONE CAN SING! That’s Mike’s belief. If someone has a larynx/voice box, they can sing. Sometimes individuals may experience challenges in trying to match a pitch or read music, but with patience and practice, singing is a skill that everyone can enjoy. Meeting a student where he or she is at – at this very moment in his or her musical journey – and traveling beyond that point, can bring so much joy at any stage in one’s life. Mike has experience teaching adolescents through senior citizens. With experience in opera, operetta, musical theater, choral singing, and piano lounge, Mike has coached many individuals in preparation for auditions, and prepared many for the task of church cantor and leader of song.
Mike has been lucky enough to perform with many professional organizations over the years, both as an ensemble member and a soloist, including the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Music Festival, Opera for the Young (Madison, WI), Muddy River Opera (Quincy, IL), Minnesota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Union Avenue Opera (St. Louis, MO), Chicago Symphony Singers, Chicago Sunday Evening Club Chorale, and in numerous places of worship. As an instrumentalist, Mike has experience accompanying on the piano and pipe organ, and has a fondness for the early music and the recorder in particular. He is frequently investigating the use of the recorder in modern and jazz music. In addition to teaching voice at Old Town School of Folk Music, Mike is also available for piano and recorder lessons. He teaches EVERYONE CAN SING! That’s Mike’s belief. If someone has a larynx/voice box, they can sing. Sometimes individuals may experience challenges in trying to match a pitch or read music, but with patience and practice, singing is a skill that everyone can enjoy. Meeting a student where he or she is at – at this very moment in his or her musical journey – and traveling beyond that point, can bring so much joy at any stage in one’s life. Mike has experience teaching adolescents through senior citizens. With experience in opera, operetta, musical theater, choral singing, and piano lounge, Mike has coached many individuals in preparation for auditions, and prepared many for the task of church cantor and leader of song.
Mike has been lucky enough to perform with many professional organizations over the years, both as an ensemble member and a soloist, including the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Music Festival, Opera for the Young (Madison, WI), Muddy River Opera (Quincy, IL), Minnesota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Union Avenue Opera (St. Louis, MO), Chicago Symphony Singers, Chicago Sunday Evening Club Chorale, and in numerous places of worship. As an instrumentalist, Mike has experience accompanying on the piano and pipe organ, and has a fondness for the early music and the recorder in particular. He is frequently investigating the use of the recorder in modern and jazz music. In addition to teaching voice at Old Town School of Folk Music, Mike is also available for piano and recorder lessons. He teaches all the voices of recorder, and a few less common voices: garklein, sopranino, soprano/descant, alto/treble, tenor, bass, the larger recorders, the c, f, g, Bb fingerings.
Education: Vocal Performance B.A., Northeastern University; Vocal Pedagogy M.A., Northeastern University in progress
Started at the Old Town School in October of 2019
