Your Instructor, Guest Lecturers, & Clinicians

Michael J. Pitman MD is Chief of the Division of Laryngology at Columbia University Medical Center. He serves as Director of the Voice and Swallowing Institute of ColumbiaDoctors, the faculty practice of CUMC.

Dr. Pitman is a recognized expert in voice restoration, conservation and care of the professional voice as well as in the care of swallowing and airway disorders. These areas include such illnesses such as vocal fold paralysis, cricopharyngeal dysfunction, spasmodic dysphonia, laryngopharyngeal reflux, chronic cough, laryngotracheal stenosis, vocal fold polyps, nodules and cysts.

Dr. Pitman received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he graduated as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He completed his otolaryngology residency at The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and was a fellow in Laryngology and Care of the Professional Voice at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He previously served as Director of Laryngology at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and as the Laryngology Division Leader across the Mount Sinai Health System.

Dr. Pitman has been voted by his peers as one of the “Best Doctors in America”, as well as to New York Magazine “Top Doctors” and New York Times “SuperDocs”. Dr. Pitman has received numerous grants for pioneering research in the field of Laryngology. He has authored many articles for peer reviewed journals as well as book chapters, and he lectures extensively both nationally and internationally.

Arbender Robinson is currently the Musical Theatre Coaching Associate at New York Vocal Coaching, and Co-Director of New York Acting Coaching. No stranger to the stage, Mr. Robinson has appeared in ten (10) Broadway musicals. He made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award winning production of Hairspray; where he covered the role of Seaweed. In the original cast of Disney’s The Little Mermaid he covered the role of Prince Eric. He also served as the Dance Captain and Swing for the Broadway revival of Hair and appeared in the Broadway revival of Ragtime. His credits continue with Disney’s The Lion King, one of Broadway’s longest running and all-time highest grossing show. Later, he was in the original cast of Beautiful- The Carole King Musical and the 2014 revival of Les Miserables and as the cover for Marius. He is also the first African American to ever play Marius on Broadway. Arbender was also in the original cast of Shuffle Along and performed with many Broadway Legends including Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell. The list of legends continue with Director George C Wolfe and Choreographer Savion Glover.

Arbender spent 4 years as a studio session Vocalist for the Disney Organization. He was a featured Vocalist with Royal Caribbean Cruises as well as a vocalist for numerous Disney productions at Walt Disney World. Arbender has also performed extensively in theaters all across the US and abroad. Some highlights include: Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Five Guys Named Moe, Sweeney Todd, Jesus Christ Superstar, Aida, Ragtime, Secret Garden, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Songs for a New World, Parade, Miss Saigon and Into the Woods.

As a teaching artist, Mr. Robinson has worked with many organizations around the world and has honed a very unique teaching style that’s accessible to all ages and talent levels. He has discovered a wonderful calling for coaching actors and his mastery of the acting craft as well as the NYC audition process has brought his students a very high success rate performing professionally in New York and all over the world. Arbender also sits on the admission team for a number of college training programs and has successfully helped students gain admission to some of the country's top universities. His motto is “Dream big - because sometimes these things come true”. Arbender’s great passion is for mentoring up-and-coming artists at New York Vocal Coaching and passing his expertise, experience, and wisdom to a new generation of stars.

Maví is a voice teacher, singer, guitarist and songwriter from Brazil. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from FAAM (Faculdade de Artes Alcântara Machado) and a Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of São Paulo. He is also a certified voice teacher through New York Vocal Coaching (2021).

His work as a musician covers genres such as Samba, Bossa Nova, MPB (Brazilian Popular Music) and Jazz. His first album “Numa festa que imagino”, featuring original songs, was officially released on digital platforms in 2018. Maví has performed in cities such as São Paulo, Lyon, Paris, Lisbon (selected as part of the Cultural Promotion Program of Brazil's Department of Culture, 2013) and Tehran (concerts and masterclass at the Tehran Conservatory of Music, 2014).

In the past years he has been teaching Bossa Nova, Samba and other Brazilian genres online for students all over the world with focus on singing and guitar. To learn more about Maví please visit mavimusique.com/lessons or contact him at lessons@mavimusique.com

Marcelo Saldias O’Hrens is a Chilean Speech-Language Pathologist specialized in voice therapy and voice training. He graduated from the University of Chile in 2008. He completed a specialty diploma in Vocology and a specialty diploma in Research Ethics in Humans at the University of Chile (2016 and 2019, respectively). Currently, he is a Ph.D. student of the Doctoral Program of Vocology at Tempere University, Finland, with Dr. Anne-Mari Laukkanen as his advisor.

Research His line of research is related to the vocal economy in Contemporary Commercial Music technique. This line of research emerges from the lack of information about how economical are the exercises currently used to train CCM singers, and the need for counting with specific training methods in order to achieve the unique vocal demands of singers in a healthy way. He has published several scientific articles on this topic and is currently working on the research project “Contribution of twang to vocal efficiency and economy in contemporary commercial music singers” at the University of Chile.

Additional Training Also, Marcelo has been certified in the voice therapy programs developed by Dr. Katherine Verdolini-Abbott (Lessac-Madsen Resonant Voice Therapy, Casper-Stone Confidential Flow Therapy, and Adventures in Voice). In terms of vocal performance, Marcelo completed the Voice Teacher Training Program at the New York Vocal Coaching Studio in New York City, with Mr. Justin Stoney as his mentor. Professional Affiliations In 2017, he became an Authorized VIP Instructor (Vology in Practice). Later, from December 2019 to March 2020, he served as a board member of Vocology in Practice. Currently, Marcelo is a member of PAVA (Pan American Vocology Association) and The Voice Foundation.

Current Work In Chile, Marcelo works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Chile. Additionally, he is a Clinical Professor of the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Chile, where he supervises SLP undergraduate students in the Vocal Academy of Chile and the Clinical Hospital of the University of Chile.

Andrea is a music director, arranger, composer, and voice teacher with a focus on developing new work. She served as Music Director, Music Supervisor, and Additional Arranger for the critically-acclaimed Broadway musical THE BAND'S VISIT, which won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. She is also the Music Director, Music Supervisor, and Vocal & Incidental Arranger for TOOTSIE, which opened on Broadway in April 2019 and won two Tony Awards. Her other music directing credits include several productions at the Public Theater, two new musicals in Central Park with Shakespeare in the Park, and premieres at Tony Award-winning regional theaters like the Yale Repertory Theatre, Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, Dallas Theater Center, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Andrea's compositions include the full-length musical Strange Faces and several songs for The Civilians' Let Me Ascertain You series. Her music has been performed at Joe's Pub, Le Poisson Rouge, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Andrea came to the NYVC Voice Teacher Training & Certification course in 2015 and discovered a love for vocal technique and voice teaching. Since then, she has been proudly teaching students of all levels and all musical tastes, maintaining a holistic perspective on singers’ needs as vocalists, musicians, and human beings. She loves helping her students both achieve their dreams and discover a love for the practicalities that lead there!

Andrea graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Princeton University, where she majored in Music and minored in Theater. She holds a Master's degree with Highest Honors in Musical Theatre Music Directing from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Andrea is a regular guest artist at Princeton, where she teaches workshops on various music direction-related topics, and also loves teaching music theory, ear training, and sight-reading.

Samyukta was trained in classical South Indian vocal music starting at age 8. She had begun singing in the South Indian music circuit by age 13, and just a few years later had given invited solo concerts at a number of historic venues across the region. Since then, her experience as a classical Indian singer has been bolstered by an active performance career that included several cities in South Africa and the United States.

While she was a graduate student at Columbia, Samyukta had the chance to collaborate with and learn from some of the amazing talent the New York City has to offer. She has found herself thriving in this nexus of different musical styles, ranging from classical South Indian to out-and-out rock. In recent summers she's worked and performed with her band Electrik Buddha (www.electrikbuddha.com) here in the city. Staying true to her roots, she spends the Carnatic music season performing back in India.

Samyukta came to New York Vocal Coaching to learn how to incorporate vocal technique in to her own style of singing and to begin a career as a vocal teacher of Carnatic Music. She is excited to share what she has learned with students, in India, the United States, and thanks to modern technology, all across the world. Her belief is that modern developments in western vocal techniques as taught by New York Vocal Coaching can be effectively adapted and brought into the realm of Carnatic music. Crucial advancements in technique, she believes, will bring increased longevity, stamina, quality, and vocal awareness, to what has been an art form that has been primarily taught "by feel". She is happy to work with a range of singers, from professionals, recreational singers, to young children.

Andy King is a Senior Voice Teacher Associate at New York Vocal Coaching. He specializes in voice technique for Musical Theatre, Pop/Rock/R&B, and Classical. Mr. King’s clients range from professional Music Theatre actors to Professional Pop/Rock/Singer-Songwriters and sacred singers singing professionally in NYC churches and synagogues. He also accompanies and coaches a Musical Theatre class at New York Vocal Coaching. His clients have been seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, on National Tours, and Regional Theaters.

Mr. King holds a Master’s of Music in Musical Theatre from The Boston Conservatory, where he studied voice and vocal pedagogy extensively with the award-winning Kevin Wilson. He also graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with his Bachelor’s of Music in Classical Voice Performance and Musical Theatre Performance.

Before joining the staff at New York Vocal Coaching, Andy has held positions at both colleges and leading vocal studios as a Voice Teacher, Vocal Coach, and professor of Audition Technique and Performance. Aside from his work as a Voice Technician, Mr. King has worked as a professional singer and Music Director in theaters in the US and internationally. Some of his credits as a Music Director include Urinetown, Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson and two productions of the new musical Kingdom Come. Performance credits include the National Tour of CAMELOT, Austin in I Love You Because, and Curly in Oklahoma. He also has a background in sacred music and gospel music and has performed and directed in churches and cathedrals internationally as well. He has also taught masterclasses on Vocal Technique, Audition Technique Acting The Song.

Andy is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, has participated in the NATS-NYC Mentorship Program with some of the leading voice pedagogues in NYC, and has also completed the NYVC Voice Teacher Training and Certification program in New York City under Justin Stoney. Andy’s passion is to share his gift of teaching voice to students all around the world, to inspire them to develop their music careers and to share their own unique gifts though music.

Yogaku Lee received a Doctor of Medicine from Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan in 2012. He is an otolaryngologist specializing in Logopedics and Phoniatrics. He has recently been working in the Department of Otolaryngology at Kyushu University Hospital. His research and clinical interests include voice science, the singing voice, vocal pedagogy, and the care of the professional voice. He has presented his research at national and international meetings, including the United States of America. He received the Research Encouragement Award at the Kyushu Regional Meeting of the Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan.

Singer, singing voice researcher, and above all, teacher, student and lover of vocal pedagogy.

For years Nicolás has specialized in vocal distortions and extreme voices, which has led him to have international recognition by being accepted in different congresses and entities such as PAVA and The Voice Foundation, among others.

Founding member and vice-president (2021) of APROCAN Chile Founding member of PAVA Chile Vocals/Screams in Nous (Chile)

Marko is a professional singer and vocal coach based in Germany. He founded Rock Voice Vocal Coaching as well as the Voice Teacher-Network ProVoice. Having his roots in Classic Rock Music, he studied Classical Singing and Pedagogy with an emphasis on Learning Psychology. With further education in CVT, Voice Therapy, and lectures in the scientific field of Vocology by Dr. Ingo Titze, he acquired a method-independent teaching style, which perfectly cooperates with NYVC’s method of teaching. Recently, Marko has completed research on vocal effects and established the #ScreamSmart program.