An Audience with Nicholas Perna 

Nosey Knows 

April 13th, 7 pm – 8:30 pm UK TIME

Praised by the Houston Chronicle for his “impressive sound,” Nicholas Perna has performed with Opera Mississippi and was a finalist for the American Prize for Men in Opera. His versatile stage credits range from Don José in Carmen to Ravenal in Show Boat, alongside symphonic appearances in Das Lied von der Erde and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

A leading vocal cross-trainer, Perna’s students have appeared on Broadway (Wicked, Waitress), national tours (My Fair Lady, Shrek), and won prestigious competitions like the Lotte Lenya Foundation Grand Prize.

Dr. Perna is Associate Professor and Director of Vocal Pedagogy at the University of Colorado Boulder. There he runs the Berton Coffin Voice Lab and supervises graduate theses and dissertations in voice pedagogy. Perna is the 2025 Van Lawrence Fellowship Winner, for research focusing on velopharyngeal opening in treble musical theater singers. He has publications in Journal of Singing, Journal of Voice, and VOICEPrints. A Presser Music Foundation awardee he has presented research on four continents at events such as the Voice Foundation’s Symposium, the Internation Congress of Voice Teachers, NATS National Conference, and Physiology and Acoustics of Singing (PAS). Dr. Perna’s research areas include voice acoustics, nasality and the singing voice, online voice teaching, and vocal cross training.

Dr. P is the creator and co-host of the VocalFri Podcast, http://www.vocalfri.com. He holds graduate degrees from the University of Miami & the University of Houston. Previous faculty positions include Mississippi College, West Virginia University. Additionally, Perna has been a voice research associate at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He has previously served on the faculty of notable continuing education programs such as Donald G. Miller’s Singing Voice Science Workshop and the Acoustic Vocal Pedagogy Workshop. Perna is currently Vice President for Outreach for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (2022-2026).