Musical Theatre Singing Lessons Chicago
Thoughtful Vocal Training for Musical Theater
Whether you’re a lifelong Broadway fan or a local performer looking for a creative home, we believe Musical Theatre is an art form that deserves its own technical focus. Find your voice in a supportive environment that values the songs you actually want to sing with instructors who teach Broadway-style vocal technique.
Photo by Erich Schlegel
Musical Theater, Taught like it matters
We believe that musical theater is a vibrant and demanding art form. At Cantabile, we bridge the gap between high-level technique and the specific needs of modern stage performance. You’ll gain a technical foundation that respects the genre’s unique requirements, all within the approachability of a neighborhood studio—building a voice that feels strong, healthy, and authentically yours.
The Theatre Faculty
Active Industry Professionals
Our mentors aren’t just teachers—they are active, working performers on Chicago’s most prestigious stages. They bring real-time industry insights and current technical standards directly from the stage to your lesson.
Voice Lessons
Pop, musical theater, commercial music, classical voice and songwriting
LJ BULLEN is a Jeff Award winning musical theatre performer currently based in Chicago. They grew up performing and have a BFA in Musical Theatre from Ithaca College, and spent several years in LA working professionally in the recording industry. They also have experience and training in classical voice, musical theatre, commercial music (pop/contemporary/folk), and songwriting. Their debut EP ‘I’m for You’ is available on all music streaming platforms, and they have another full album in the works.
Since returning from LA some of LJ’s favorite roles have included Twinkle the Elf in Eleanor’s Very Merry Christmas Wish (World Premiere), Kate in Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party (Jeff Winner: Best Supporting Performer in a Musical / Jeff Nominee: Best Ensemble Performance), Fay Apple in Stephen Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle, Adult Alison in Fun Home, Becca in Rabbit Hole, and is thrilled to be playing the upcoming role of the Emcee in Cabaret in fall of 2026.
LJ believes in a practical approach to singing and teaching voice; Exploring both proper physical techniques and vocal health, as well as the emotional color and acting beats within a song, and how they can be used to inform your interpretation/performance of the piece. Above all they believe singing should be both fun and enjoyable, technique giving the skill and foundation to explore emotion and creativity.
Voice Lessons
Beginning – Intermediate
Piano Lessons
ERICA SCHULLER is the founder of Cantabile School, and has been working as both a professional singer and private teacher since 2006. She has performed throughout the continental US and abroad, and holds degrees from The Eastman School of Music (B.M.- vocal performance and music education) and San Francisco Conservatory (M.M. – vocal performance). As the director of The Cantabile School of Voice And Piano, she has actively built an exceptional team of voice & piano teachers to best train our music students.
Erica’s teaching is deeply rooted in how the body moves naturally. Sound production should be released, coordinated and energized, never forced. By focusing on the intrinsic movements of the body, and shedding excess manipulation, students are able to increase their stamina, vocal range and innate musicality. Erica approaches each student as a true individual, and works with them holistically to help them achieve their desired goals in music making. Erica also offers lyric diction assistance, audition preparation and coaching as well as weekly lessons.
In addition to her work as a teacher and performer, Erica has held positions as a choral conductor, church music director and stage director. She has 20 years of experience as a pianist, and incorporates theory, ear training, sight reading and writing into all of her piano courses. Erica has been ranked as one of Chicago’s best voice teachers several years in a row by expertise.com. To learn more about Erica’s performance career, visit www.ericaschuller.com
Praised for her “crystalline soprano and admirable control and grace” (Opera Today), RACHEL BLAUSTEIN, a 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition Grand Finalist, is poised as a bright and up-and-coming artist, with a moving sensibility to drama and text. In the 23/24 season, she looks forward to performances as Gilda (Rigoletto) with Opera Delaware and Opera Baltimore. She appears in concert with Opera Omaha, in recital with Academy Art Museum, and as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. She returns to The Metropolitan Opera for her second workshop with the company, this time as Sarah Kavalier in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Mason Bates, composer; Gene Scheer, librettist). Rachel has also performed with Kentucky Opera, Florentine Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera NEO, Opera Santa Barbara, Chautauqua Opera and Fort Worth Opera.
A native of Olney, Maryland, Rachel holds a Bachelor’s degree in voice with a minor in drama from Hoftstra University and a Master of Music degree from The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University.
Voice Lessons
Piano and Voice Lessons
Composition
Theory and Aural Skills
As an educator, MATTHEW RECIO serves as adjunct faculty of Musical Skills for DePaul University and the Chicago School for the Arts and has previously served on faculty as theory instructor at Indiana University and composition faculty at the Luzerne Music Center. As a guest artist and lecturer he has been invited to work at Oberlin Conservatory, Cleveland State, Ithaca College and Stony Brook University.
Recio recently finished his post as the Vanguard emerging composer with Chicago Opera Theater, developing operas with Royce Vavrek and Stephanie Fleischmann. This past year he was asked to return as an aperture resident artist with West Edge Opera to further develop his new opera, “L’autre Moi: The Other Me”.Current projects include a commission from Chicago Fringe Opera for the Decameron Opera Coalition, a feature on American soprano, Laura Stricking’s CD “40×40”, a commission for LYNX amplify series, and a commission for Ryan Strand’s Letters for Jackie project, and a commission from the Ithaca College Treble Choir. Recent past projects include a commission for Chicago based professional choir, Stare at the Sun’s Fall concert “Returning”, and a commission for Queer In(n) dedicated to Chicago elder trans icon, Mama Gloria, featuring trans singer, Jalissa Spell, Chicago Fringe Opera’s City of Works series, Fourth Coast Ensemble’s SongSlam and wrote an interactive choral cantata “The Hollow” for Stare at the Sun. He was a winner of the IU Georgina Joshi Vocal Composition prize, the American Prize in choral writing and the first selected commissioned artist for the Cincinnati Song Initiative.
Recio has worked with organizations such as BMP, New Voices Opera Company, Cincinnati Camerata, NOTUS and The Crossing. He was a composer fellow at VIPA, IMANI Festival, Atlantic music festival, The Crossing and Norfolk Chamber Series. He studied voice and piano during his academic training, studying voice under Peter Volpe and actively performs as a choral singer today in the Chicago area.
ALEXANDRA BURCH is a soprano located in Chicago, IL. She holds duel Bachelor Degrees in Vocal Performance and Music Education from Viterbo University, and a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from DePaul University. Alexandra has been teaching piano and voice since 2018, both privately and with Reed Music Studios in Onalaska, WI. She has also worked as a recording artist for Choral Tracks LLC since 2017.
Alexandra is an experienced performer, with experience in both classical and musical theater genres. Roles of note include Monica in The Medium (Menotti), Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief (Menotti), the Princess in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Ravel), the Witch in Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck), and Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti (Bernstein). She has been recognized for her solo work in both the classical and musical theater genres – winning first, second, and third place awards at the NATS National Student Auditions, as well as two first place awards and a third place award at the Schubert Club Auditions. She is looking forward to performing as Lucinda in Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters at DePaul University this June.
With a background in both performance and education, Alexandra is uniquely suited to work with beginners and younger students under the age of 18. She focuses on providing a warm, encouraging environment for her students, allowing them to build fundamental musicianship skills at their own rate.
Voice Lessons
Beginning
Piano Lessons
Youth lessons
Students 12 – 18 years of age
