Background
Samantha is a classically trained operatic soprano. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Music Business from Northwestern University and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Stony Brook University. Her professional career has included engagements with The Metropolitan Opera — as a full-time chorus member under Maestro Donald Palumbo — as well as The Glimmerglass Festival, Syracuse Opera, Opera New Jersey, Opera on the Avalon, and Ash Lawn Opera, earning along the way a reputation for her “pure, sweet-sounding soprano.”
Her honors include recognition in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition, The Gerda Lissner International Voice Competition, The Giulio Gari Competition, The Jenny Lind Competition, The Elaine Malbin Competition, The Marcella Sembrich Competition, and Career Bridges.
Teaching today
In 2022, Samantha moved to Carbondale, Pennsylvania and shortly afterward opened Electric City Voice Studio, working one-on-one with singers of every age and experience level. The studio took root quickly — today she works with a roster of 47 active students and maintains a waitlist for new enrollments. She also serves on the voice faculty at Marywood University and as Music Director for St. John Vianney Parish in Scott, PA.
Her approach is grounded in the bel canto tradition and in physiological awareness of how the voice actually works. “There are no gimmicks or magic tricks,” she tells her students. “Hard work and understanding how to use your instrument will allow you to find your voice.”
Why PPAC
Through the studio, Samantha got to know dozens of young singers and their families, and she saw what she’d watched her entire life — the spark of a kid who’d just discovered they could sing, or move, or transform on stage. And she saw something else: that those kids deserved more than a 45-minute voice lesson once a week. They deserved a stage. A community of peers. Full productions to be part of. A clear path of growth in the performing arts that didn’t require leaving the region to find.
That recognition became the Pioneer Performing Arts Center. PPAC channels a lifelong love of music and theater — and years of teaching experience — into something bigger than any single studio can offer: a home base for performing arts education in Carbondale and Northeastern Pennsylvania, built around the talent that’s already here and the families who want more for them.
Beyond the stage
When she’s not in the studio or in rehearsal, Samantha is [hobbies, family, community involvement — to be filled in].
When a young person finds their voice on stage, it changes everything about how they show up in the world. That's what we're here to build.