Melissa Treinkman, DMA
singer · voice teacher · voice researcher
About Melissa Treinkman
Melissa serves as an assistant professor of musical theatre vocal performance at the University of Southern California where she teaches applied voice and vocal pedagogy. She also has a vibrant vocal studio in Venice, California and teaches online lessons to singers worldwide.
Melissa has also given workshops on the speaking voice to CEOs from around the world and has worked with the management teams of Orange Theory Fitness.
Mezzo-soprano Melissa Treinkman has sung with opera companies throughout the US, including LA Opera, Sarasota Opera, Utah Opera, Opera North, Chicago Opera Theater, and Cedar Rapids Opera Theater. She can be heard as part of the Featured Ensemble on the GRAMMY award winning recording of The Ghosts of Versailles. Also with LA Opera, she has sung the role of the Vendor in Carmen, a Noble Page in Tannhäuser, and is a regular member of the LA Opera Chorus. A champion of new music, Melissa recently sang the role of El Ángel in a workshop performance of the newly commissioned opera by Carla Lucero, Las tres mujeres de Jerusalén. She also sang the role of Dulcinea in the world premiere of Juan Colomer's opera Dulcinea XL with the LA Grand Ensemble. Other highlights include the role of Clytemnestra in a concert version of The Intuition of Iphegenia by Nathan Wang and the world premiere of the dance opera, Beyond the Waterfront, produced by the Heidi Duckler Dance Theater and LA Opera.
RESEARCH, PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
Melissa's scholarly papers have been published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Singing, the Journal of Voice, and the Musical Theatre Educators' Alliance Journal. She has presented her research at conferences given by the Voice Foundation, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Association for Popular Music Education, Northwest Voice Conference, The Fall Voice Conference, and the Pan American Vocology Association. Melissa was the 2020 recipient of the Voice Foundation's Sataloff Award for Young Investigators and she was the first researcher to win the award in the category of vocal pedagogy. She currently serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Singing, where she is the author of "The Vocal Point" column.
EDUCATION & ADVANCED TRAINING
Melissa received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California, a Master of Music from DePaul University and a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University. She won a fellowship to participate in the 2019 NATS Intern Program, the premiere voice teacher training program in the US.
