Level up your vocal technique
Voice Lessons
In addition to career guidance, Dana offers voice lessons for advanced singers.
In the studio, Dana focuses on tailoring instruction for each individual, freeing the voice using a combination of vocal function exercises, overall technique work and body tension release. She has been influenced by the works of major pedagogues of the bel canto school including Garcia, Vaccai and Marchesi, as well as the philosophies of W. Stephen Smith, author of The Naked Voice.
Dana also has a close circle of hand-selected affiliate teachers that offer lessons through The Empowered Musician in jazz/pop, musical theatre and musicianship/music theory.
To receive detailed pricing information and availability, please fill out our prospective student form below. In this form, you can indicate the type of lessons you are interested in, and will receive more information about affiliate teachers if you select their specialty genres.
More about Dana
Founder and CEO of The Empowered Musician, Dr. Dana Lynne Varga brings extensive experience as a successful entrepreneur, artistic director, performer, voice teacher, lecturer and writer to her life's work of empowering classical musicians. A graduate of two intensive coach training courses through Graydin Coaching, Dana draws on her breadth of experience and deep industry knowledge to help musicians find and embrace their own authentic career path.
In addition to maintaining a full private voice studio for over 15 years, Dana served for seven years on the voice and opera faculty at the BU Tanglewood Institute, two years on the full-time voice faculty at UMass Amherst, and two years on the voice faculty at the New England Conservatory Prep school. Dr. Varga currently serves on the voice faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She is also Founder and Co-Artistic Director of MassOpera.
Dana regularly performs a wide variety of repertoire on the opera and concert stages. Recently she made her Carnegie Hall debut as the soprano soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with Mid-America Productions. Dana’s 2019 appearance as Pallas Athene in Gluck’s rarely heard Paride ed Elena with Odyssey Opera garnered critical acclaim. Other notable engagements include Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with The Cantata Singers, Beethoven’s 9th with the Wellesley Symphony and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with Coro Allegro. Favorite roles performed include Musetta/La bohème, Fiordiligi/Così fan tutte, Anna Maurrant/Street Scene, Rosalinda/Die Fledermaus, Micaëla/Carmen, Hanna Glawari/The Merry Widow, and the title role in Alcina.
Dana won the Second Place American Prize for Art Song and Oratorio in 2019 and was the First Place Winner of the professional division of the national Classical Singer Competition in 2016. She holds the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in Vocal Performance from Boston University, the MM in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory, and a BM in Vocal Performance from UMass Amherst.
Pedagogical Approach
In the studio, Dana focuses on tailoring instruction for each individual, freeing the voice using a combination of vocal function exercises, overall technique work and body tension release. She has been greatly influenced by the works of major pedagogues of the bel canto school, including Garcia, Vaccai and Marchesi, as well as the philosophies of W. Stephen Smith, author of The Naked Voice.