Summary
CJ Greer joined the music and Musical Theatre faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno to develop and implement a new musical theatre degree program. An active performer as well as an academician, during the 2023 -2024 academic year semester, CJ will also be embarking on the Broadway National Tour of Stephen Sondheim’s Company (coming to a city near you!).
CJ found her passion in vocal performance and instruction. She possesses both an MFA and MM in musical theatre and classical performance and pedagogy from Penn State University and a BME (instrumental and choral education) from the University of Illinois/Champaign-Urbana. She has performed around the world from theme parks to Broadway to Carnegie Hall. She is a singer, actor, teacher, and conductor with an undying love for storytelling through music. CJ has received national acclaim for her acappella vocal arrangements and has arranged and developed revue shows for cruise ships, and cabaret shows. She has been honored with multiple Helen Hayes nominations in performance. She recently completed a teaching certification in Open Source Forms (OSF), a dance-based tension-releasing method incorporating meditation techniques addressing the nervous system, and is currently exploring fusing this work with vocal and performance training for vocalists of all genres. CJ was an invited participant in the prestigious NATS Internship in 2021, studying with renowned mentor teachers from around the country. She created a one-woman cabaret/concert show - Lost and Unknown Tunes of Kander & Ebb, with John Kander’s permission and blessing, which she has performed in Reno, Las Vegas, and is scheduling bookings for 2024.
CJ has published in VASTA’s Voice and Speech Journal with her article “Finding Grace – A Singing Teachers Journey with Her First Transgender Student” (available upon request). Greer frequently presents papers at regional, national and international conferences (NATS, MTEA).In 2022 and 2023, she presented research on incorporating theatrical intimacy principles into the voice studio – "“HOW” – Bringing ‘Hands-On Work’ into the Vocal Studio.” She has been an invited guest for the nationally recognized podcast, The Visceral Voice with Christine Schneider, as an expert in vocal cross-training in which she discusses training Musical Theatre singers, and again as a panelist for Broadway singers and teachers in which she addresses vocal injuries. In 2019, CJ was highlighted in Classical Singer magazine as the featured artist in the article From Mamma Mia! To Mozart (May issue) as a flourishing cross-training performer. In 2021, she contributed to two additional CS articles in Christy Turnbow’s “Crossover Corner” comparing Musical Theatre and Operatic performance and preparation requirements; “Acting for the Singer: Opera vs. Musical Theatre, Volume 1 – Before Rehearsals Begin” (Sept), and “Volume 2 – Rehearsals and Performances” (Nov). CJ is a member of the Musical Theatre Educators Alliance (MTEA), the New York Singing Teachers Association (NYSTA), the Voice and Speech Teachers Association (VASTA), and the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).
CJ is involved in varied ongoing interdisciplinary research projects. She is collaborating with in speech-language pathology, physical therapy, neuroscience-imaging, and cardiac-pulmonary medicine to explore the healing power of science and singing. She has had students ‘Singing in the MRI’ to visually identify characteristic features of the vocal tract in a variety of voice qualities and has plans to explore singing as rehabilitation for extended post-intubation patients with the Sierra Veterans Hospital (NV).
As an instructor, CJ maintains a private studio offering lessons and workshops, in person and via Zoom, on various topics relating to vocal technique and performance, progressive repertoire selection, arcing the audition, industry business, etc. CJ has been a guest performer and instructor at Boston Conservatory, Shenandoah Conservatory, CAP21/NYC, Univ. of Wisconsin/Milwaukee, Winthrop Univ., Texas State Univ., Univ. of Central Florida, Clarke University, The University of Utah, and Sul Ross State performing and leading masterclasses for musical theatre majors. She was an invited vocalist for the “Otolaryngology Performer’s Voice” conference in Salt Lake City (2019) and is invited faculty for ‘Bel Canto Can Belto' - an experiential weekend workshop introducing musical theatre vocal pedagogy to classical voice teachers and singers. She regularly serves as a mentor for voice teacher peers exploring the differences between musical theatre and classical voice pedagogy.
CJ strives to re-define vocal performance expectations by passionately teaching singers awareness of their body (OSF, Laban), breath (Fitzmaurice), and speaking voice (Berry, Rodenburg, Lessac) in order to more fully connect with material in auditions and on the stage. Most recently she traveled internationally to teach at the Trentino Music Festival in Mezzano, Italy where she taught group and private voice and created, directed, music directed, and staged the two 90-minute outdoor concerts. She is a vocal instructor for "The Broadway Artists Intensive" - a three-week summer training program in Florida for pre-professional musical theatre performers and previously served as vocal coach for the Heartland Ballet Company in Dubuque, Iowa.
In performance, she has been described as “warm, lovely, powerful, emotional,” and “her beautiful voice makes her big numbers…worth the ticket price alone.” CJ performs regularly with the Bonita Springs and Naples Concert Bands in Naples, FL and was a recent guest of the Shoals Symphony Orchestra and Reno Philharmonic on their Holiday Pops concerts. Internationally, she spent a year in Japan performing in both English and Japanese, closing Walt Disney’s longest-running revue show “The Diamond Horseshoe Revue.” Broadway/National Tour credits: Company, Sister Act, Les Misérables, The Producers, Ragtime, I Love A Piano, The Buddy Holly Story; Opera: La Bohème (Mimi), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina), Die Zauberflöte (First Lady); Regional Credits: Mamma Mia (Donna/Casa Mañana), Annie* (Grace Farrell/Olney), Chess (Florence/NC Raleigh), Camelot* (Nimue/Olney), Grease (Rizzo/Casa Mañana), The Happy Time* (Laurie Manon/Signature Theatre), Saving Aimee / Scandalous (Signature Theatre), Crazy For You (Arvada), She Loves Me (Ilona Ritter), The Addams Family (Morticia), Into the Woods (Witch, Baker’s Wife), Guys and Dolls (Sarah Brown), West Side Story (Maria), Man of La Mancha (Aldonza), The Secret Garden (Lily, Martha), and more.
*Helen Hayes Nominee
Education
- OSF Teacher Certification
- MFA, Penn State, 2016
- M.M., Penn State, 2016