Our Vocal Coaches
Voice Academy NYC Founder – Teaches Pop, Rock, R&B , Singer/Songwriter style
“Teaching in New York City for twelve years, I have had quite a unique experience working with professionals, aspiring pros, amateurs or beginners of all ages, including architects, lawyers, brain surgeons, ambassadors, social workers, pilots and many more. I love the diversity this provides every day and watching the joy which people share with their voices, while strengthening their inner voices. This is why I created Voice Academy NYC.”
Swedish-born Katarina Nolfe studied voice technique, song performance and music theory at New School University, and has worked as a singer, songwriter and vocal coach for the better part of the last two decades. She began performing as a child and through her teen years furthered her professional training, including at Kulturama, one of the most reputable music academies in Sweden.
Privately, Katarina studied voice under the world-renowned voice teachers Dr. William Riley and Don Lawrence (whose collective client base is a who’s who list such as, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, and Usher to name a few).
Prior to founding Voice Academy NYC in 2006, Katarina worked as a singer and songwriter and collaborated in recording studios with various musicians and producers such as Catalyst (Lady Gaga), Stargate (Katy Perry, Rihanna, Selena Gomez) and guitarist Willie Brown Jr (Alicia Keys). While coaching different singers in the studios of NYC, she discovered her gift for showing others the fundamentals of singing.
On September 27, 2017, Rachel Platten (Fight Song) joined Katarina and Rob as a surprise guest vocal coach as they jointly coached eight cancer survivors as part of Ford’s Warriors in Pink, More Good Days Tour. (see more at AMNY.com and CBSNEWS.com)
Click here to book lessons with Kat
Take a Listen to Katarina’s voice from the Harmony Sky EP
*Written and produced by Rob and Katarina.
Matthew Lee Robinson – Teaches Musical Theater, Originals, Classical , Pop and Rock (with piano accompaniment) AVAILABLE FOR ONLINE CLASSES ONLY BETWEEN DEC 1-27
An Australian performer and songwriter, Matthew has been a vocal coach for the FOX television series The Singing Office, for Broadway Dreams, Open Jar Institute NYC, and Musical Theatre programs across the globe. As a performer, Matthew has starred in three Opera Australia productions at the Sydney Opera House: My Fair Lady, A Little Night Music and The Pirates of Penzance. Beginning his career as an original Australian cast member of Mamma Mia!, he also went on to play the title role in Pippin, and perform his original songs at Carnegie Hall, Ars Nova and Broadway’s Future Songbook Series.
As a songwriter, Matthew has written for the Emmy-nominated television series Dance Academy, the U.S. national tour stage adaptation of The Magic School Bus, and his original work ATLANTIS, directed by Tony-nominated director of Rock of Ages, Kristin Hanggi.
Matthew’s previous students have appeared on The Voice, in School of Rock on Broadway, the U.S. national tour of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder and studied in Bachelor and Masters programs from New York University to Mountview, London. Matthew’s drive as a vocal coach is to empower singers to find their voice and pursue it with passion and wellness.
Click here to book lessons with Matthew
Jonna Christensen – Teaches Pop, R&B, Soul, original music
Jonna is a singer, songwriter, recording artist, dance teacher and a vocal coach from Finland. Jonna has been teaching private voice lessons since 2006 and worked as a dance teacher (commercial, hip hop, jazz, musical theater, latin) in various dance schools since 1996.
Jonna’s music career took of in 2002 when she was selected to be in the first Popstars band in Finland (a reality TV-format which was the inspiration for the Idols franchise). Jonna stayed in the band for only a short time before becoming the first singer and songwriter to combine American R&B sounds with Finnish lyrics and paving the way for a new era of pop music in Finland. Jonna released 3 solo albums with Sony Music, received multiple nominations at the Finnish Music Awards, booming radio play and top hits on the Finnish charts.
Jonna has been a TV host (Voice Out!, TV2), is a three-time Finnish “show dance” champion, has worked as a dancer in 2 different dance companies (StepUp dancers, Cat People show dance company) and she was a Finnish National semifinalist for the Eurovision Song Contest with her song “Puppets” in 2011.
Jonna has performed in musicals such as “Hair“, “Grease” and “Hello Dolly!” and she recorded the theme song for Disney’s Kim Possible in Finnish, among other voice over and studio work that she has done over the years.
Jonna got her Bachelor’s degree in pop and jazz vocal performance from Metropolia University in Helsinki, Finland and she also studied jazz vocals for 1 year at the Royal College of Music (Kungliga Musikhögskolan) in Stockholm, Sweden.
Jonna crowdfunded, produced and released an independent album “Sound Mind” in 2015 and after touring with the album in Europe, she relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area. After 2 years in California and touring the west coast, Jonna moved to NYC in 2017. For the past year, she has been performing her music regularly at different music venues in NYC and while continuing to write new music and pursuing her own music career, she is very excited to start teaching voice lessons at the Voice Academy NYC.
Jonna’s over 20 years of experience as a performer gives her a unique set of tools in coaching new talent not only in singing but also in the art of performing.(/ but in all aspects of performing).
Click here to book lessons with Jonna
Azudi Onyejekwe– Teaches Pop,Rock, R&B, Singer/Songwriter, Originals and Musical Theater
Azudi is a Brooklyn based actor, singer-songwriter and educator. As the last born of six, to two incredible Nigerian born parents who immigrated to America in the 1970’s, infectious melodies, soulful basslines, African diasporic rhythms, and a transnational consciousness have permeated his existence for as long as he can remember, leading to a lifelong love affair with music.
Azudi is an honors graduate from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he double majored in Theatre and Africana Studies, but also trained extensively in voice and music theory. His voice teacher throughout his time at NYU was renowned vocal coach Dr. Pamelia Phillips. As an actor, Azudi has performed in dozens of productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway and at multiple Tony award-winning regional theatres across the country. He is a member of the original Broadway casts of the critically acclaimed Broadway musicals “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” (featuring 4 time Grammy nominee and multi-platinum recording artist Josh Groban) and “Violet” (featuring Grammy nominee and 2 time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster).
As a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Azudi has also performed at venues all around the city including 54 Below, Joe’s Pub, Pete’s Candy Store, The Parkside Lounge, The Shrine in Harlem, and Carnegie Hall. He is currently at work on a debut EP of his original music, to be released in early 2019. He has been a member of the Faculty of Molloy College-CAP21 since the 2015-2016 school year and also teaches acting and vocal performance privately.
Fun Fact: Talented Azudi has performed 300+ in Off-Broadway and 300+ on Broadway! Impressive!
Click here to book lessons with Azudi
Sean Quigley – Teaches Musical Theatre, Songwriting, Pop and Rock and
Piano/Guitar Accompaniment.
Originally from London, England, Sean initially trained as an actor at RADA and later in Musical theatre at The Royal Academy of Music (RAM).
Whilst at RAM, Sean was primarily under the tutelage of Mary Hammond – renowned music industry vocal coach for Chris Martin (Coldplay), Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine), Matt Bellamy (Muse) and Tom Odell to name but a few.
Alongside his theatrical experience both on the West End of London (Rat Pack Live, Blues Brothers) and Off Broadway (Shoemakers Holiday, Neil Gaimen’s Neverwhere), Sean has worked as a backing vocalist for Elton John and shared the stage with various Broadway Stars such as John Owen Jones, Hadley Frasier and Fra Fee.
Sean is also a keen musician and songwriter playing the piano and guitar, and released an EP in 2009 with his former UK-based band Fooled By Chance with whom he toured the country in support of various major bands.
Check out a great article about Sean in Broadway World!
Click here to book lessons with Sean
Tate Chu – Teaches Musical Theatre, Opera/Classical, Pop voice styles and Piano.
[Available weekends starting in September]
Tate is a professional opera singer, vocalist, performer, and voice/piano instructor from beautiful San Diego, California. Classically trained, she has sung the great soprano roles from Musetta (La bohème) and Gilda (Rigoletto) to her upcoming performance as Nedda (I Pagliacci) with Opera New York. Tate has performed in musicals such as Phantom of the Opera (Carlotta), Grease (Rizzo), and Once on This Island (Mama Euralie) and stage directed multiple productions as founder of her company The CoOperative. She has sung alongside Andrea Bocelli (Hollywood Bowl), Kathleen Battle, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and recorded with various labels including SONY Classical Records.
Tate received her Bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from California State University Fullerton, where she was educated by great performers and directors such as Deborah Voigt, Frederica von Stade, and Tito Capobianco. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in opera performance at Manhattan School of Music.
When paired with her extensive dance and acting background, students benefit from a well-rounded and thorough knowledge of performance as well as music theory and aural skills. Tate believes that music has the power to bring empowerment, hope, and motivation to all walks of life and could not be more thrilled to be teaching voice and piano at Voice Academy NYC. She looks forward to working with music lovers of all ages and uncovering the power of music in your life!”
Emma Larsson – Teaches Jazz and piano (piano accompanist)
I am excited to have joined the amazing team at Voice Academy NYC and to be working with all the wonderfully diverse voices this city brings.
Emma is a vocal coach and singer from Sweden. She holds a Master of Education in Music degree from Pitea school of Music in Sweden, and a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from the prestigious Sibelius Academy in Finland. She has also received a Diploma from the Complete Vocal Institute in Copenhagen. She spent seven years in Finland educating future vocalists and vocal coaches at conservatories and colleges.
A strong desire to focus more on her own art as well brought her to New York City, where she’s now part of the jazz scene. As an artist, Emma has released four albums as a leader, and performed around New York city at the Blue Note Jazz Club, Smalls Jazz, Zinc Bar etc, and also Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta as well as a recent tour in Japan.
Since moving to NYC in 2010, Emma has also been developing her piano teaching skills; reconnecting with her roots as she started her musical path playing piano. Being as passionate about making music as coaching new talents, Emma loves working with students; finding their voice and personal expression in music. She’s specializing in jazz and improvisation (scat) and she also loves soul and funk.
Fun fact: Emma loves salsa dancing.
www.emmalarsson.com
Click here to book lessons with Emma
Rob Nolfe – Bio
Available to teach only in Long Island
Born in Alabama and raised in New Orleans, Rob Nolfe took up guitar at age 10 and has been playing, writing and recording music ever since. From Hollywood to New York, Rob has worked in business management for major recording artists including The Rolling Stones, Sting, and David Bowie and included stints at MTV, Fox Family Channel and Beyond Music.
In college, while getting his two degrees (Economics and MBA), he honed his performance skills singing and playing regularly in rock, pop and blues bands and as a solo acoustic artist as well. He also ran live sound for bands and opened a small recording studio where he produced local bands and radio spots. After college, Rob relocated to Hollywood where he worked in the music divisions of Mary Tyler Moore Productions and Fox Family Channel and for an artist management company and record label Beyond Music/Left Bank Management who handled the likes of the Bee Gees, Blondie, Motley Crue, Meatloaf, Lucy Pearl, and many more.
While in Hollywood Rob continued playing in bands, producing demos and as a recording engineer. He produced a modern world music release which was distributed by Sony/BMG and followed by a promotional tour at Borders Books & Music stores and live shows, including CBGB’s in NYC.
Rob and Katarina are currently producing music for various artists and projects including Harmony Sky at Voice Academy’s recording studio, writing songs and developing young artists in addition to teaching and leading workshops on singing, performing and producing/recording.
Simon Ng – Bio
Available in Asian territories including Singapore and China.
Simon is a professional music producer in Asia, celebrity, vocalist, orchestra conductor, composer and arranger. He currently serves a group CEO in an edutainment company based in Asia with head offices in Singapore and China. He received his music education from Berklee and London College of Music. A few years ago, he won the “top 100” and “successful entrepreneur” award.
As a performer, he has appeared alongside famous artists and celebrities in Asia. He plays the drums, bass guitar, ocarina, saxophone, synthesizer, piano, guitar, percussion, etc.
As a producer, he has been a judge in various talent contests and produced albums for established singers. He also composed and arranged four new age instrumental music albums for local airport lounge published by Warner Music and a vocal album on the Ocean Butterflies label. He has also written a few original theater musicals. Simon has groomed many young artists for music festivals, contests and live and TV performances.
He is most happy to be affiliated with Vocal Academy NYC, one of the top vocal schools in the USA and will be representing Asia to further its potential.
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Please contact Voice Academy NYC at any time to find out more about what we do and how we can help you achieve your ambition of professional singing…. So always remember that dreams do come true if you work hard and practice.
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