Alicia Wallace

As a native of the Rochester area, Dr. Alicia Wallace, soprano, began her studies at the Eastman School of Music’s Community Education Department (now ECMS), receiving a Diploma in Voice in 2000. There, she studied voice with Patricia Alexander and Dale Moore, piano with Patricia Hanson, and music theory with Margaret Henry. Dr. Wallace holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Opera, as well as a Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Musicology from the University of North Texas. She also studied abroad at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland during her time at Eastman in 2002.

Before moving back to the Rochester area, Dr. Wallace served as Assistant Professor of Voice at Southeastern Oklahoma State University from 2018-2021, where she was nominated two years in a row for the Faculty Senate Excellence in Teaching Award. At SOSU, she was the Vocal and Music History Area Coordinator in 2020-2021. She taught applied voice instruction, undergraduate and graduate music history courses, and all lyric diction courses. She was the Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance Advisor from 2020-2021. She has also served on the voice faculties of the University of Texas at Arlington and Tarleton State University.

As a performer, Dr. Wallace has sung internationally at the Teatro Sanzio (Italy), the Castel Frontone (Italy), the Xi’an Conservatory of Music (China), and the Alexander Gibson Opera Studio at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She has sung operatic roles, such as Countess Almaviva and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Alice Ford in Falstaff. She has performed with the Fort Worth Opera, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Dallas Chamber Choir, the Metroplex Opera Company, and the Dallas Wind Symphony. She has sung extensively as a featured soloist in recitals and oratorios throughout the US. She has also sung professionally in musical theatre productions with Lyric Stage (TX) and WaterTower Theater (TX). While at the Eastman, she played Jane Austen in the world premiere of Pride and Prejudice written by Amanda Jacobs and Eastman’s Opera Instructor Lindsey Baker.

Dr. Wallace’s research focuses on the Lieder of German and Austrian Jewish composers whose works were banned by the Nazi Regime in the 1938 Entartete Musik Exhibition. She has presented lecture recitals on The Forgotten Lieder of Franz Schreker at the 2018 Texoma National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Regional Conference Artist Series and at the University of North Texas.

She has been an adjudicator for many NATS student auditions in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Oklahoma Chapters. She has been a clinician in masterclasses at Graceland University (Iowa) and at Tarleton State University (TX). She was a regular adjudicator for the University Interscholastic League of Texas All-State Choir Auditions and the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools Vocal Solo Contest. Dr. Wallace currently holds memberships with the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), the National Association for Music Education (NAFME), and the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA).

Dr. Wallace currently teaches vocal music and theatre, directs choral ensembles and musicals for the public school system. Her students have gone on to voice and theater programs at the Interlochen Arts Academy, Rice University Shepherd School of Music, the University of North Texas College of Music, the University of Pittsburgh, Southern Methodist University, Sam Houston State University, Beaumont University, Abilene Christian University and Dallas Baptist University.

Dr. Wallace believes in teaching the Italian bel canto (beautiful singing) technique that allows the singer to be in control of the airflow, using appoggio (support or balance) to achieve a long, musical line with a beautiful tone. Her techniques also involve relieving the stress of singing, so that students better engage with their truest potential. Throughout her own educational experiences at ECMS, community theatre, college, and professional development, she understands the psychological stressors that students feel. She strives for her students to know that they are in a safe learning environment, which most often inspires success in the studio.