Lyric Mezzo-Soprano Alejandra Garrido has performed with various opera companies throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including Rutgers Opera, Pineda Lyric, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Stony Hill Players, Center Stage Opera, The Opera Project, and Opera at Florham. Stage credits include Violetta -La Traviata, Mimi - La Boheme, Susanna - The Marriage of Figaro, Leila -Les Pecheurs de Perles Yum-Yum -The Mikado, Madam Silverpeal -The Impressario, Nedda - Pagliacci, Lola - Cavalleria Rusticana, and Dido, Belinda, Second Woman, First Witch in Dido & Aeneas.
Equally at home in concert repertoire, Miss Garrido has performed as the soloist in Haydn’s Paukenmesse and Lord Nelson Mass, Brahms’ Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Schubert’s Mass in G, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Bach Magnificat, and Mozart’s Coronation Mass.
Alejandra received her Bachelors in Music, vocal performance, from Rutgers University (Mason Gross School of the Arts) and her Masters in Opera Performance from New Jersey City University. Always looking to improve her craft, she has taken opera acting classes with Richard Crittenden and has studied baroque ornamentation with Julianne Baird.
Alejandra has a private voice studio in Hunterdon County, NJ and also teaches voice lessons at Lafayette College. Ms. Garrido is a Director at Large for the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
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Ms. Jen is a singer/actress/dancer who has been nurturing and inspiring young performers for nearly 25 years. She is excited to team up with lifelong friend and colleague Alex Garrido to provide online performing arts instruction to young artists everywhere.
Ms. Jen specializes in Musical Theatre and her strengths include developing the chest voice (safe belting), dance technique, audition preparation, building confidence, fostering camaraderie between performers, encouraging a positive self image and providing a warm,“family-like” environment where young artists are safe to express themselves. Ms. Jen works with all levels of singer, but is an especially ideal choice for the younger or beginning singer.
From 2003-2018, Ms. Jen managed a successful private voice studio which blossomed to over 25 singers. She has also taught jazz, ballet, tap, hip hop and musical theatre voice at Kathy’s Dancenter and Triple Threat Performing Arts Center (now Fusion Center for the Arts). Ms. Jen is certified to teach music for grades K-12 and has done so in the Collingswood and Bellmawr School Districts. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Rowan University where she attended on a vocal scholarship. She studied under two wonderful teachers, Marian Stieber (classical voice) and Art McKenzie (musical theatre voice).
As a performer, Ms. Jen is an Actors Equity Membership Candidate who has performed extensively with professional and semi-professional theatres in the Philadelphia and South Jersey areas. Career highlights include understudying and performing the roles of “Abuela Claudia” in In the Heights and “Mexican Woman” in A Streetcar Named Desire, both at the Walnut Street Theatre. Ms. Jen has also appeared at the Arden Theatre, in the World Premiere of the musical Touchtones, understudying film and TV veteran April Ortiz in the role of "Teresa.”
In 2013, Ms. Jen was cast as "Diana" in the Pulitzer Prize winning Next to Normal which won her the Kelsey Theatre Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical. Other favorite roles include the title role in Evita, "Fritzie/Fraulein Kost" in Cabaret, "Giulietta" in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspects of Love, "Aldonza" in Man of La Mancha, "Baker's Wife" in Into the Woods, both "Morales" and "Maggie" in A Chorus Line and "Anita" in West Side Story.
She is a proud member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the New Jersey Music Educators Association. She is grateful for the chance to share her knowledge and talents with the next generation of performers!
