Wagner College's Music Department is pleased to announce that Beth Johanning has joined the adjunct faculty as a voice instructor and the conductor of the Treble Concert Choir.
"Beth is a fine teacher and a brilliant conductor, to which anyone who has heard her work with Voyces or Richmond Choral Society Youth Chorus can attest," said Wagner College Choir director Roger Wesby. "Beth is a really fine conductor who will do great things with our women's choir."
Beth Johanning is the music director and founder of Voyces, a 20-voice chorus based on Staten Island dedicated to the study and performance of Renaissance and Baroque vocal music.
A native of Canton, Ohio, Johanning attended the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati on an opera scholarship, where she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in voice performance. In addition to her education as an opera soloist, Johanning gained valuable experience studying and performing early music with choral conductor Earl Rivers as a member of the CCM Renaissance Consort.
After completing her formal education, Johanning made her mark in an array of operatic roles in theaters throughout Germany, beginning with her debut in 1990 as Diana in Cavalli’s "La Calisto" at the Muenster Stadttheater. In 1995, she was awarded a stipend to the Bayreuther Festspiele for her portrayals and recordings of Siegfried Wagner heroines.
Since returning to the United States, Johanning has worked extensively with young singers as choral director and voice instructor of the performing arts department of Moore Catholic High School, Staten Island, from 1998 until 2011, as well as music director and founder of the Christ Church Community Youth Choir. She has been music director of Richmond Choral Society Youth Chorus since 2006 and has led the young singers in works by such composers as John Rutter, Benjamin Britten, Bach, Vivaldi, Pergolesi, Monteverdi and Lassus.
A resident of Staten Island, Beth Johanning has performed with the Staten Island Symphony -- now the Staten Island Philharmonic -- and in a number of opera concerts and vocal recitals for the "Serenade" concert series.