Singer, ACTRESS and Collaborator:

Teresa is a classically trained lyric-coloratura/soubrette and music theater actress, who continues to be drawn toward traditional operatic and concert work, as well as special performance projects whenever possible.

Highlights include being a featured soloist with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops on the series of Bernstein Centennial Tribute Concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall, where her rendition of Glitter and Be Gay earned standing ovations. During the pandemic, she was featured in their live-streamed Holiday Pops. 

She had the honor to be part of Lee Mingwei: Sonic Blossom, the first on-going performance art installation at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, and a project that has continued to evolve, garnering international attention at major galleries throughout the world. 

In the Boston theater scene, Teresa has performed in some of the most well-attended and critically acclaimed productions in recent Boston theatre history with the award-winning Lyric Stage Company of Boston, including A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Company, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods.  Her performance as Nellie in Floyd Collins was highly praised, and was coached and attended by composer Adam Guettel himself. She has also performed with Moonbox Productions, New England Light Opera, American Classics and more.

Solo voice recitals include the Boston Singers' Resource Recital Series Retrospective: A Tribute to John Duke, the Faculty Artists Recital Series at Gordon College, and a special faculty/student/alumni recital for Walnut Hill entitled "From the Hill to the Shore," at the magnificent Shalin Liu Arts Center in Rockport, MA. Teresa has also been invited to present solo voice recitals for New England National Association of Teachers of Singing (NENATS), Crescendo Club of Boston, Chromatic Club of Boston, Central City Opera House Association, and the Italian Cultural Center of Naples, Florida.

In concert, Teresa has been featured with the North Carolina Symphony on multiple occasions, including a concert version of  Le Nozze di Figaro conducted by Grant Llewellyn.  Other engagements include Brahms’ Requiem (Brevard Music Center, Connecticut Choral Society, and Newton Choral Society), Carmina Burana (Canton Symphony Orchestra), Mahler’s Symphony Number 4 (Eastman Philharmonia under the direction of David Effron). 

Recognized for her skill as an interpreter of song, Teresa was honored with a Career Encouragement Certificate as a finalist in The American Prize for Women in Art Song and Oratorio. She was selected as a semi-finalist in the prestigious Oratorio Society of New York solo competition. In 2010, Teresa was a National Semi-Finalist at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards (NATSAA), after having won the Boston and New England divisions. She also competed as a semi-finalist in the opera division of the Peter Elvins Vocal Competition in Cambridge, MA. 

Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree with honors in Vocal Performance from the University of Illinois, as well as a Master of Music degree and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. There she was a Graduate Fellowship recipient, the Winner of the Jesse Kneisel Lieder Competition, and a Second Prize Winner in the first annual Kurt Weill/Lotte Lenya Musical Theater Competition. She received further training as Studio Artist with Central City Opera in Colorado, Brevard Music Center's Janiec Opera Center, Operafestival di Roma, and as a Resident Artist with Opera Carolina.

Teacher and Arts Administrator:

Head of Voice at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, since 2015, Teresa has been recognized twice with the E. E. Ford Award for Exceptional Merit in Teaching and Service. Walnut Hill is an internationally-esteemed independent school near Boston, MA offering unparalleled education and intensive pre-professional and pre-conservatory arts training to exceptional high school students from all over the world. Teresa has designed a deeply enriching classical voice curriculum, guiding advanced young singers in developing essential skills, technique and artistry, building a strong, healthy foundation for future pursuits at top conservatory and college programs. In addition to private instruction of both voice and theater majors, Teresa teaches weekly performance classes, masterclasses, and special workshops.

She produces and programs all Voice Major performances throughout the year. Teresa has found particular affinity and joy as an Opera Director, producing fully costumed and staged one-acts each year, featuring all voice majors and showcasing their individual strengths. Teresa is devoted to finding one-act operas appropriate to the vocal level and stamina of teenage singers, in thoughtful support of their stage of training and development. In response to the lack of female-dominant casts in traditional opera repertoire, Teresa has applied her creative skill to adapt several works. Most recently, she wrote and premiered a brand new libretto and adaptation of “Fortunio’s Song,”(Le Chanson de Fortunio) a largely forgotten Offenbach gem featuring 7 sopranos and 1 tenor. She is known as an enthusiastic, organized and efficient leader who regularly collaborates across departments and majors. She often features a select group of Dance Majors in the opera, recruits Visual Artists for program design and lobby-gallery displays inspired by the opera, and includes Film/Media Arts students in various aspects of the production on and off stage.

As Campus Lesson Coordinator, she hires and supervises 7 adjunct voice faculty and 3 adjunct piano instructors, and handles all aspects of studio assignments, and lesson scheduling for all on-campus lessons in voice and piano. In this way, she also supports all voice majors (who have 1 voice lesson, 1 voice coaching, and 1 piano lesson each week), all theater majors (voice lessons), composition majors (piano lessons), as well as additional students of any major taking lessons as an elective. She works closely with both the Music Faculty and Theater Faculty in her role. She is especially passionate about supporting a student in all aspects of their development, with sincere compassion for their vocal, mental and emotional health. She has successfully advocated for Voice Lessons to be mandatory and included in the Theater Curriculum, which has contributed to more confidence and consistency in healthy singing that meets the high demands of the Theater program.

With vocal health at the forefront of every aspect of her teaching, she has forged relationships with several local Voice Care providers. Tufts Vocal Care Clinic offers free yearly voice screenings for all voice and theater majors on our campus. Teresa is dedicated to educating student singers about matters of vocal health and hygiene, supporting them through the high demands of their curricula, helping to destigmatize vocal injury, and providing additional vocal health support for any singer in need. She also devotes much time to coordinating campus nurses, the counseling team, and off site providers, and communicating with all curricular faculty so that students are supported and nurtured through any recovery period.

She also has made a commitment to offer programming to students beyond Walnut Hill through her collaboration with Boston Lyric Opera (High School Audition Workshop), and a Public Master Class both attracting students from all over New England to participate. She is a particularly energetic and inspiring Masterclass presenter, bringing her teaching to local schools, and students from all over the country at the yearly CS Music Convention.

Teresa also serves as a student advisor, and has been on committees for student programming, and faculty searches.

Private Vocal Instruction

Teresa is a highly sought-after vocal instructor in the greater Boston area, devoted to helping singers build their voices and unleash their unique and personal artistry. Private students in her home studio, as well as at Walnut Hill, consistently matriculate to top college and conservatory programs to further pursue voice or theater. Those programs include: Curtis, Juilliard, Oberlin, Eastman, New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Boston Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Northwestern, University of Michigan, Cleveland Institute of Music, Harvard, and more. Several have been recognized in the Fidelity Young Artist Awards, including one semi-finalist, and two finalists who were featured in a performance with the Boston Pops. Multiple students have earned top prizes at the National Level in competitions such as YoungArts, Schmidt Vocal Arts, NATS and CSMusic. Students are consistently cast in lead roles in their high school and summer program productions. See more about Student Achievements here. Teresa is also an experienced competition adjudicator, who is known for offering constructive feedback that is clear, kind, encouraging and helpful.