Registration Info
July 22–26, 2024 | 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Kathy Price & guests
About the Voice Pedagogy Institute
Westminster’s Voice Pedagogy Institute is a focused, intensive program for singers, voice teachers, coaches, conductors and other professional voice users who wish to become better teachers. Evidence-based teaching with practical applications of voice anatomy/physiology and acoustics, vocal health with voice health professionals, technical work in both classical and musical theatre genres, yoga as it applies to singing, lifespan voice, self-care for voice teachers, interactive look-in lessons with master teachers, and, typically, hands-on use of the Presser Voice Lab are all part of this fascinating week.
The Westminster Summer Voice Pedagogy Institute 2024 is offered as both a fully virtual and a fully in-person week! Our faculty will be on campus as will our participants who prefer to come to Lawrenceville, NJ for the in-person experience. At the same time, we welcome participants from around the country and the world to attend virtually. We put “everyone in the room together” with various innovative uses of technology and people-power! A faculty member will maintain the chat at all times, a large in-room screen will be included for virtual participants to feel more physically in-person, and the in-person folks will have access to all things virtual as well.
The theme of this year’s Institute is “The Languages of Teaching.” Together, we explore the ways we use physical, spoken and sung language to be more effective teachers. We are delighted to announce our 2024 guest faculty: Christopher Arneson (Westminster Choir College of Rider University), Amanda Flynn (Pace University) and Kittie Verdolini Abbott (University of Delaware). Our regular faculty of Kathy K. Price, Jonathan Price and Mark Moliterno will be on board, as well.
The Voice Pedagogy Institute may be audited or taken for graduate credit. Certificates of completion of the Institute will be awarded at the end of the week.
If you have any questions about the program, please email program director Kathy Price.
Session Topics
2024 Faculty
Christopher Arneson
Christopher Arneson is a professional voice trainer and vocologist on the faculty at Westminster Choir College of Rider University where he is Director of Voice Pedagogy and teaches Pedagogy, Literature, and Speech for the Actor. In 2016 he also joined the faculty at Princeton University.
Dr. Arneson enjoyed success in opera, concert and recital. His operatic repertoire ranges from Baroque to contemporary, with performances of works by Handel and Lully, John Adams and Phillip Glass. His formative training was with the Tri-Cities Opera where he debuted as Silvio in I Pagliacci, at the age of 22. In Europe, Dr. Arneson appeared at the Netherlands Opera, the Paris Opera, and the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. Many of Dr. Arneson’s most significant successes occurred in Mozart operas, with acclaimed performances as Don Giovanni, Figaro, Count Almaviva, and Guglielmo. He has appeared with the Opera Orchestra of New York in works of Donizetti and Boildieu, and as Figaro in the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s production of The Barber of Seville. He appeared with the New Jersey Symphony singing the Old American Songs of Aaron Copland and in performances of Strauss’ Zigeunerbaron with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Kurt Mazur.
Dr. Arneson holds both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Opera degrees from Binghamton University, completed post-graduate studies at Cornell University where he studied with renowned Verdi scholar Roger Parker, and earned a Doctor of Music degree from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University where he studied Seventeenth Century Venetian Opera with Dr. Irene Alm.
Amanda Flynn
Amanda is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Program Head of Musical Theater at Pace University and is the owner of a private studio with clients performing on Broadway, Off Broadway, national tours, international tours, regional theatre, as well as pursuing their recording careers. Amanda was the Production Vocal Coach for The Lightning Thief and Be More Chill, both on Broadway. She also served as a Vocal Consultant for the regional premiere of Love in Hate Nation at Two River Theatre and has worked on several films as the Vocal Coach. As a Singing Voice Specialist, she frequently works with injured singers, collaborating with laryngologists and voice therapists in NYC. As a performer, Amanda was an original cast member of the LA company of Wicked, part of the Las Vegas company of Mamma Mia, and toured the country on the national tour of the Broadway revival of Oklahoma. After initially studying voice at Baylor University, Amanda began performing professionally before finishing her BS in Liberal Arts at The New School. Amanda holds a MM in Vocal Performance with a Musical Theatre concentration as well as an Advanced Certificate in Vocal Pedagogy, both from NYU. She completed the Vocology Mentorship at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, the Distinguished Voice Professional certificate from NYSTA, her Certificate in Vocology from NCVS, and is a PAVA-Recognized Vocologist. A recipient of the Van Lawrence Fellowship, Amanda is an active voice researcher. She has served on the Board of Directors for NYSTA, PAVA, and is on the NATS/Rowman and Littlefield Editorial Board. Her first book, So You Want to Sing Musical Theatre, Updated and Expanded Version, was published in 2022. amandaflynnvoice.com
Katherine Verdolini Abbott, PhD, CCC-SLP, MDiv
Katherine Verdolini Abbott, PhD, CCC-SLP, MDiv, is Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Delaware. Her clinical master’s degree in speech pathology was completed at Indiana University (1983), and she completed her PhD in experimental psychology at Washington University (1991). Her primary clinical and research interest is voice and voice disorders. Her interest in voice stems from her own prior career in vocal performance, which spanned a variety of genres from classical to musical theatre, folk rock, and Renaissance music.
Her research history includes inquiry into effects of hydration on voice, emotions and voice, cognition and motor learning in voice, wound healing, exercise physiology, spirituality, and clinical trials in voice therapy. Current research centers on cognitive and physiological mechanisms in pediatric voice therapy for children with vocal fold nodules. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1997.
She currently advises PhD students in her lab, as well as post-doctoral researchers and a variety of doctoral students in less formal capacity around the world. In addition to her work in communication sciences and disorders, Dr. Verdolini Abbott completed a Master of Divinity degree at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and is an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches.
Kathy Kessler Price, Program Director, soprano (M.M., Ph.D.) and Professor
Kathy Kessler Price (M.M., Ph.D.), soprano and Professor of Voice at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, teaches voice pedagogy courses and applied voice and also directs both the Presser Voice Laboratory and the annual summer Westminster Voice Pedagogy Institute. In 2018 she was awarded the Rider University’s Distinguished Teacher of the Year. A long-term member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Dr. Price is currently the Governor of the New Jersey Chapter of NATS.
Dr. Price has performed as soprano soloist at The Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, The National Museum for Women in the Arts, in a solo concert tour of the Czech Republic, and she has sung and conducted at The White House. She has been a frequent performer at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C. Her opera/operetta roles include the title roles of The Merry Widow, Naughty Marietta, The Bartered Bride, and Rusalka as well as principal roles in Mozart’s The Impresario, Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, and Larsen’s A Wrinkle in Time, among others. For twelve years she sang in the opera chorus of The Washington National Opera, six of which were under the direction of Placido Domingo.
On several occasions, Dr. Price has enjoyed being a guest artist and Master Class clinician at The Academy of the Arts in Osejik and Zagreb, Croatia. She has frequently adjudicated the Lav Mirski International Voice Competition and hosted faculty from Osejik at Westminster. Dr. Price served as a soloist and clinician at the Festival Internacional de Música de Campina Grande in Brazil, and has participated as a distance guest lecturer and judge for numerous musical events in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Azerbaijan.
Her current research interests include lifespan female singing voices focusing on menopausal vocal transitions, the aging voice, voice assessment procedures for colleges and universities, primary voice transitions in male and female voices singing in both Classical and Musical Theater styles, historical vocal pedagogy with particular emphasis on female pedagogues, and the role of voice teachers in interdisciplinary voice habilitation and rehabilitation. She has presented numerous times at the Voice Foundation Symposiums, National Association of Teachers of Singing Conventions, International Physiology and Acoustics of Singing Conference, the Phenomenon of Singing International Conferences, the Music Educators Association National Conferences, and various regional and state chapters of the American Choral Directors Association. Her writings have been published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, The International Journal of Research in Choral Singing, and the NATS Journal of Singing. She co-authored the books The Anatomy of Tone and Intonational Solfege, and contributed a “recipe” to The Voice Teacher’s Cookbook. She is a co-author of a chapter of the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Voice Pedagogy.
Jonathan Price, Assistant Director
Praised by Opera Wire for his “effortless” and “ringing” tenor, Jonathan Price has performed leading roles in opera and concert throughout North America and Europe. Most recently, Mr. Price returned from a touring production of Bizet’s Carmen with Opera Pannonica in cooperation with the Jeunesses Musicales organization in the Istria region of Croatia. Other professional credits include: Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Boheme, Lenski in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Jeník in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, and False Dmitry/Grigory in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. He has appeared with companies such as Washington National Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Bronx Opera. Jonathan has presented his “crossover” concert, featuring vocal selections from western classical art song to pop-influenced musical theater, for multiple University Voice and Theatre departments.
Jonathan is a sought-after New York City based voice teacher and pedagogue. Jonathan’s clients have appeared in lead roles in the Broadway, National, and International Touring companies of a wide variety of shows from Dreamgirls and Waitress to Mack and Mabel and West Side Story. He holds voice faculty positions with Rider University and Marymount Manhattan College. He is the Assistant Director of the Voice Pedagogy Institute at Westminster Choir College and president of the New Jersey chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Jonathan also serves as a lecturer, focusing primarily on musical theater voice pedagogy and crossover singing and has presented master classes and pedagogy lectures for Georgia College and State University, the University of North Georgia, the Stilson Institute, and the Loyola Voice Symposium. Jonathan holds a Master of Music degree and Performance Studies Certificate in Voice Performance from The Boston Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.
Mark Moliterno, MM, E-RYT500, C-IAYT, YACEP, POLY
Mark Moliterno, is an award-winning professional opera singer, voice teacher, yoga and somatic awareness mentor, IAYT-certified Yoga Therapist, workshop leader, and author. He is considered a thought-leader in the area of 21st Century vocal training, a master teacher of both singing and classical yoga, and a specialist in helping people understand and connect to their authentic voices.
Mark holds the BM and MM degrees in Voice and Opera from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where his teacher and mentor was the famous vocal pedagogue, Richard Miller. His extensive performing career has taken him to many countries in a variety of leading operatic roles and as a concert soloist and recitalist.
Mark has consistently practiced yoga since 1985 and has over twenty years of experience in yoga teaching and yoga therapeutic mentorship. He is the Creator and Founding Partner of YogaVoice®, a unique personal transformation technology which combines several traditions of Yoga with Systematic Voice Technique, to develop wellness in the art of vocal communication. Mark presents workshops at professional conferences and gatherings internationally. He has published articles in YogaLiving Magazine and The Journal of Singing, is a co-author of The Musician’s Being and The Musician’s Breath, and is the author and featured instructor of The Musician’s Breath Yoga DVD.
Mark serves on the part-time faculties at the Mannes College of Music in New York City and at The College of New Jersey. He was a Priority Associate Adjunct Professor of Voice at Westminster Choir College of Rider University from 2005-2022 and has been a regular faculty member of the Westminster Vocal Pedagogy Institute since 2013. He maintains private voice and yoga therapy practices in New York, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and remotely.
Mark Moliterno is a past recipient of the prestigious Patrick D Kenan Award for Vocal Health and Wellness from the Duke Voice Care Center (2019). He is an active member of The International Association of Yoga Therapists and is a continuing education provider for YogaAlliance.
