Meet Yvonne Frazier

Berlin based teacher, coach, trainer and classical, soprano soloist,  Yvonne Frazier draws from a rich well of over three decades of international experience on the opera, oratorio, concert and gala stages. For over twenty-five years, Ms Frazier has been teaching beginners and professional singers, choirs and public speakers privately, as a consultant and at the university level ranging from standard popular and classical styles with emphasis on the Italian bel canto school of singing.

Cornerstone Education & Influences

Ms. Frazier’s foundation in vocal training is rooted in seven years of study with Barbara and David Blair McClosky at Lowell University and in the greater Boston area maintaining life long relationships both professionally and privately. The McCloskys founded the McClosky Institute of Voice in Boston, Massachusetts, collaborated and wrote several books on vocal pedagogy and vocal therapy and taught at universities and conservatories in the U.S.. They re-established a voice therapy clinic at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, worked at the New England Medical Center, both in Boston, the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology in Chicago, as well as maintained studios in Boston and on Cape Cod. David Blair McClosky was vocal coach to U.S. Candidate and Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, famous actors, folk and opera singers.

From Lowell University  (today UMass Lowell), Ms  Frazier received a  Bachelors of Arts degree in music with a concentration in voice, performance and music education with secondary concentrations in art history and psychology. Subsequent voice and performance training was received at Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Seiji Ozawa and Leonard Bernstein; Boston Conservatory of Music; The Juilliard School of Music in New York; as well as extensive private study with teachers: Phyllis Curtin, Tangelwood and Yale University; Judy Oas Natalucci, New York and UCLA in Los Angeles; Ellen Repp, Manhattan School of Music; Issiah Lurry; Harold Parker; David and Nancy Adams all in New York City and Stan Unruh, Dusseldorf, Germany.

Stage director Robert Wilson, with whom Yvonne Frazier worked during three seasons in Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York, Rome, Italy, and in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Enschede in The Netherlands, has had a major impact on Ms Frazier regarding the Mind – Body – Voice connection. Mr. Wilson’s intense, yet, simple approach to body movement, command of the body and body intention, in addition to the study of the Alexander Technique as it applies to the voice, are two of the major influences, which fueled and helped to shape Ms. Frazier’s straightforward application of and attention to body movement, which supports and frees up the sung and spoken voice.

Yvonne Frazier Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMcsA-iLICk

Selected Experience

As a soprano soloist, Yvonne Frazier, has sung as resident soloist in German theaters, and guest soloist in International opera and concert houses in the U.S. and Europe. A link to her artist page is at the side bar.

Ms. Frazier has given vocal instruction and presentation coaching to second year master’s program Teachers In Training Seminars in Berlin -Kreuzberg  and Berlin-Friedrichshain, trained professors at the Evangelical Nursing School in Berlin – Zehlendorf and during 5 academic seasons at Bard College Berlin,  where Ms. Frazier has been instructor, voice teacher, speech coach and choral director to both students and professors building voices and performances at the private liberal arts university. Company clients include the Soho House Berlin membership management team, the team at Aussergewöhnlich Berlin as well as management at G+E Creative Films GbR.

As a result of extensive collaboration as voice teacher for soloists, choirs, ensembles and choral singers and in addition to university level ensemble and choral training and directing, Ms Frazier has built expertise and experience working with choral singers and choirs with a diverse spectrum of vocal abilities. Ms. Frazier has given vocal instruction (Stimmbildung) to Cantus Domus Chor, a successful, young, Berlin choir since 2005. Cantus Domus has competed against choirs in the same size category at the Berlin and German national level competitions, which yielded first and third prizes respectively.

Through concept concerts and ambitious programming, Cantus Domus has made a name for itself and has collaborated with a number of orchestras, including Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin. The choir has toured all over Germany, in Belarus, Nicaragua and Poland and has been featured in and has supported a wide range of events including  appearing with Damien Rice in concerts for Amnesty International in Paris, France and Berlin, Germany; The Helene Fischer TV Show,  The Magnetic North, Stargaze, and the internationally acclaimed, German violinist and recording artist, David Garrett.

Client Silhouettes

Client profiles range from amateur to professional opera, classical, pop and musical singers to stage and film actors, actresses, professors and instructors, private and public speakers such as lawyers, journalists, doctors as well as anyone who needs or wants to improve their ability to effectively project and support their voices, improve posture, performances, presentations and productivity.