Background
MM, Northwestern University
Theresa Brancaccio, mezzo-soprano, is a Professor of Instruction at Northwestern University, where she has taught voice and vocal pedagogy since 1999. Her students perform throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia in venues including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera Chicago, Covent Garden, Santa Fe Opera, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Daegu Opera House, Opera Theater St. Louis, Merola Opera Program, Sarasota Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Dresden Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Opéra Comique, and more. Her students have been recipients of prestigious awards from the Richard Tucker Foundation, Marilyn Horne Foundation, Neue Stimmen International Competition, Palm Beach Opera, and George London Foundation, as well as finalists in the National, Regional and District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. At Northwestern, Ms. Brancaccio trained internationally acclaimed singers Amanda Majeski, soprano and Kangmin Justin Kim, counter-tenor.
Ms. Brancaccio's voice was praised by the Chicago Tribune as "cushiony and appealing from top to bottom." She has performed in concert, opera, and recital throughout the United States and was a soloist with Chicago's Grant Park Symphony for six consecutive seasons, performing works including Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Choral Fantasy, Leonard Bernstein's Candide Suite, Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, and a program of Rodgers and Hammerstein. She has performed in major works with the St. Louis Bach Society, Sacramento Bach Festival, Chicago Youth Symphony, Northwest Choral Society, Colorado Mahler Festival, Elgin Symphony, the New Oratorio Singers, Apollo Chorus, Evanston's Bach Week, and the North Shore Choral Society. Ms. Brancaccio was a soloist in Mendelssohn's Elijah under the direction of John Nelson for Soli Dei Gloria and sang the rarely performed Schumann Requiem and Bruckner Mass in F Minor for Chicago Master Singers.
In recital, Ms. Brancaccio has performed works including Schumann's Frauenliebe und-leben, Schoenberg's Brettl-lieder, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, and songs by Joseph Thalken. She has sung live broadcasts for WFMT radio. Ms. Brancaccio sang the world premiere of Frank Ferko's Ulysses and the Siren at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall as well as the Midwest premiere of John Rutter's Feel the Spirit with the Northwest Choral Society. She has also performed as a featured vocal soloist with the ensemble Cathedral Brass.
On the opera stage, Ms. Brancaccio has appeared as Stephano in Romeo and Juliette, Siebel in Faust, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Fiona in Brigadoon, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Second Lady in The Magic Flute, Pitti-Sing in The Mikado, and both Carmen and Mercedes in Carmen with such ensembles as Central City Opera, Madison Opera, DuPage Opera Theater, Light Opera Works, Chamber Opera Chicago, and Chattanooga Opera.
Beginning her career as a soprano, Ms. Brancaccio interpreted many roles, including Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Micaela in Carmen, Mimì in La bohème, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Adina in The Elixir of Love, the Widow in Argento's The Boor, and Yum-Yum in The Mikado. Her orchestral performances as a soprano included Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder; various cantatas and passions by Bach; and concert works of Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart. Compact disc recordings include The Music of Max Janowski, Cathedral Brass Chicago, Symphony No. 8 by Gustav Mahler with the Chicago Youth Symphony, and Frank Ferko's Ulysses and the Siren.
In addition to teaching applied voice, Ms. Brancaccio teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Vocology/Vocal Pedagogy and oversees the Voice Lab, which features VoceVista Pro software. She serves as faculty supervisor for the Undergraduate Honors Program and the student organization Bel Canto Ballet.
A teacher for the Lyric Opera Chicago Chorus Voice Lesson Program, Ms. Brancaccio is also an active adjudicator, having judged competitions for the Luminarts Foundation, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Bel Canto Foundation of Rhode Island, the Kleinman Foundation, and the American Opera Society, among others. She has also led master classes and workshops for organizations including Chicago Master Singers, Chicago NATS, the Apollo Chorus, Northwest Choral Society, and Midwest Young Artists.
Ms. Brancaccio was selected as a Master Teacher for the 2021 NATS Intern Program and was the inaugural recipient of the William Vessels Master Teacher Award. Her professional service has included leadership roles as Vice President of the Chicago Singing Teachers Guild, Director of Workshops for Chicago NATS, and membership on the NATS National Mentoring Initiative Committee.
Ms. Brancaccio is a strong advocate for vocal health as it provides the foundation for building excellent vocal technique. In 2017, she was awarded the Provost’s Digital Learning Fellowship to create the Singer Savvy Mobile/ Web App, which instructs users on how to test their vocal function and tracks all vocal activity, water intake, and more. The app creates a daily voice use budget and has information on vocal pacing, speaking well, and other voice-related topics. It can be accessed for free at: www.singersavvyapp.com with a detailed tutorial on YouTube.
She is a recipient of an N.XT EdTech Funding Award supporting her research on vocal fatigue and the quantification of vocal load. In collaboration with Dr. John Rogers, internationally recognized for his pioneering work in engineering and wearable medical technologies, her team is developing the first wireless voice dosimeter system, designed to reduce the risk of vocal fatigue and injury while expanding possibilities for clinical voice care and research. In 2026, this project was chosen as one of six to be supported by the new Querrey-Simpson Institute for Translational Engineering for Advanced Medical Systems .
Ms. Brancaccio is a co-author of “Wearable system for feedback-enhanced control over vocal intensity across a range of ambient noise levels,” published in the journal, Device in 2026 and “Closed-loop network of skin-interfaced wireless devices for quantifying vocal fatigue and providing user feedback,” published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2023.
She has contributed articles to Inter Nos, the newsletter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and Voice Prints, the journal of the New York Singing Teachers’ Association. She has also written on vocal health for the College Music Society, including To You and Your Students’ Good Health: Q & A Column 2023. Her early voice-tracking system is additionally featured in Karen Brunssen’s book, The Evolving Singing Voice: Changes Across the Lifespan.
Ms. Brancaccio has shared her work at numerous professional conferences, including the 2024 NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) National Conference in Knoxville, where her poster, Voice Savvy: First Compact Wireless Voice Dosimeter and App System, was featured. Other appearances include a virtual presentation for France Voice Day in 2024, the 2020 NATS Virtual Conference, the 2018 NATS National Conference in Las Vegas, the 2017 Central Region NATS Conference in DeKalb, Illinois, and Northwestern University’s 2019 TeachX Conference.
Ms. Brancaccio’s collaborative work also extends to initiatives that use singing and breath to support children’s health. She is a team member of the Heartsong Project (formerly the Fontan Choir Project), a collaboration with cardiologists at Lurie Children’s Hospital developing a program to improve lung function, vocal strength, and quality of life for children with single-ventricle heart defects. She was also part of the team that launched the Music for Child Wellness Initiative (formerly Trauma, Music and the Breath), a Buffett Foundation-funded project exploring how music, singing, and breathing practices can promote the health and wellness of elementary-aged children worldwide.