The Voice Department offers motivated students the opportunity to study privately with professional singers and to participate in our cabaret-style, informal soirees and end-of-semester recitals. Whether you are a beginning singer, a student hoping to go on to conservatory or an accomplished performer, our faculty helps students feel empowered to achieve their goals and enjoy their music in a supportive, non-competitive community atmosphere.

Our Musical Theater and Opera Department offers year-round youth and teen programs in Musical Theater as well as programs geared to adults, including Acting for Singers, Scene Study and a full length opera or musical theater production every year. We also offer acting intensives for singers who want to dig more deeply into specific theater skills in a fun, laboratory atmosphere. In addition, we offer private performance coaching and Alexander Technique lessons (oriented to the coordination of mind and body) to help students work on acting skills and develop audition material on an individualized basis.

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Mary Crowe

B.A., Bennington College; M.A., Lesley College; further studies at New England Conservatory, Boston University and the Longy School; additional studies with Richard Miller. Principal teachers: Phyllis Curtin (at Tanglewood), Joan Heller, and Craig Wich.

Ms. Crowe has appeared as a soloist with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, M.I.T. Choral Society, John Oliver Chorale, and the Concord Chorus, and in recital at Tanglewood, M.I.T., the New School of Music, and Powers Music School. She has sung opera roles with Longy Summer Opera and the Opera Lab. A founding member of WordsMove Theater Company, and she appears in Boston area cabaret and music theatre. Previous faculty posts include Powers Music School and Concord Youth Theater.

Susan Bonito

B.A., Vocal Performance, California State University; additional studies at University of Southern California. Principal teachers: Leslie Holmes, Dewey Camp, Dean Rhodus. Masterclasses with Hakan Hagegard, Elly Ameling.

Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Central California Regional Auditions, Ms. Bonito has performed with the San Francisco Symphony (under Robert Shaw), California Repertory Opera, Kensington Symphony, Pippen's Pocket Opera, Newport Music Festival, and Nashoba Valley Chorale. Founder of "Adventures in Music", an early childhood music enrichment program, she teaches voice privately and is choir director at United Parish of Upton.

Matthew DiBattista
Graduate Assistant, Conducting, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; Artist Diploma, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; M.M., Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; B.M., Boston University. Principal teachers: Tom Baresel, Penelope Bitzas, Earl Rivers, Ann Howard Jones, further vocal study with Master Teachers in Lucca, Italy and Tanglewood.

Mr. DiBattista currently sings opera and concert works throughout the U.S. and abroad with some of the world's most prestigious conductors, including James Conlon, Seiji Ozawa, Keith Lockhart and Robert Shaw. He has been seen and heard on numerous television and radio programs including PBS's Great Performances and has recorded on labels such as Telarc and Vienna Modern Masters. As a conductor, Mr. DiBattista served as Director of Choral Activities at DeSales University, Director of the University of Cincinnati Men's and Women's Choruses, Assistant Director of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Chorus, and Director of the Boston College High School Choir. Mr. DiBattista also had the privilege of conducting the famous Dale Warland Singers in Masterclass and traveling to Southern France as a member of the Robert Shaw Festival Chorus.

Nancy Leinonen Howells
B.M. Central Michigan University; M.M. and D.M.A., University of Michigan. Additional studies include the Institute of Vocal Performance Pedagogy, masterclasses with Richard Miller, and the McClosky Institute of Voice. Principal teachers: Dan Sullivan, Linda Pierce-Hunter, Martha Sheil; musical coaching with Martin Katz, dramatic coaching with Ken Cazan; piano with James Smolko.

Dr. Howells has appeared as soloist and recitalist in the midwest and greater Boston areas, including performances with the Bay View Opera (Michigan), the Boston Cecilia, the Assabet Valley Mastersingers, and Mass Theatrica, and was a recipient of a grant from the MIT Council for the Arts. She formerly taught at the University of Michigan, and the Brookline Adult and Community Ed Program. In addition to her work at Indian Hill, Nancy maintains a private studio, and teaches in the Weston after school program. She also serves as membership chair of the National Association Teachers of Singing Boston Chapter, and is a life member of Omicron professional music fraternity.

Paul Pampinella

B.M., Berklee College of Music, degree in Commercial Arranging. Principal teachers: Helen Hobbs Jordan, Nan Guptill, Joan Bujacich, John Porzycki.

Mr. Pampinella is a veteran vocalist, arranger/composer and clinician with two Boston-based a cappella ensembles: Vox One and Five O'Clock Shadow. He has written and arranged songs on eight albums for the two groups. With Five O'Clock Shadow he has given hundreds of clinics on topics such as vocal technique, performance skills and arranging. Currently, Paul is on the faculty at Berklee School of Music. He teaches voice privately and works with both of his vocal groups on a part-time basis.

Charlotte Russell

Cornell University; Westminster Choir College. Principal teachers: Donna Hewitt-Didham, Jo Estill.

Active as a soloist and recitalist throughout New England, Ms. Russell has appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and The Orchestra of Indian Hill. She is music director at the Union Church of Stow and teaches at St. Mark's School in Southborough.

Martha Warren

Oberlin Conservatory; University of Michigan.

Ms. Warren has maintained a private voice studio for many years and was on the faculty at Milton Academy, the Southeastern Massachusetts Arts Council and Belmont High School. She has performed numerous opera roles and oratorio solos with Granite State Opera, Longwood Opera, the Paul Madore Chorale, Salem Philharmonic, Raylynmor Opera, and the Masterworks Chorale. Recent performances include Michaela in "Carmen" with the Claflin Hill Symphony and Musetta in "La Boheme" with Granite State Opera.