Joan Ellison
Lecturer in Voice
M.M.T., B.M., Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Joan Ellison, M.M.T., B. Mus. in Voice Performance, Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Member: International Voice Care Network, Actors’ Equity Association. Voice study with Leon Thurman (belting technique and pedagogy) and Daune Mahy; piano study with Robert McDonald.
In 2005, Ms. Ellison made her Severance Hall debut in “To Broadway with Love” with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, opposite Broadway baritone William Michals, and returned as their headliner on New Year’s Eve the following year. She has appeared as Julie Jordan in Carousel (Kalliope Stage), Lizzie Curry in 110 in the Shade (Kalliope), Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (JCC Theatre), Claudia in Nine (Cain Park’s Alma Theatre), Rapunzel in Into the Woods (Cain Park), Flora in The Turn of the Screw (Des Moines Metro Opera), and as a featured performer in A Grand Night for Singing (Kalliope) and The Music of Jacques Brel (Kalliope).
She is the co-creator and musical arranger for Circa 1939, specializing in historical performance of American popular songs, which she performs with her husband, Mark Flanders, and pianist Jennifer Heemstra. Recent engagements include an extended three-week run of the cabaret show, “Broadway Melodies of 1939,” at Stages at the Cleveland Play House and regular appearances at Nighttown. They are currently recording their first CD and developing an all-Gershwin show (circa1939.com).
Ms. Ellison has also music-directed over 25 theatrical productions in Minneapolis and Cleveland, served as the musical supervisor for Kalliope Stage in its award-winning debut year and the vocal coach for Great Lakes Theatre Festival’s production of Private Lives, and has presented numerous workshops and master classes on musical theatre vocal styles.
Email: jellison@bw.edu .
275 Eastland Rd.