Professor Janice Chapman FGS AUA OAM

Australian born singer/teacher Janice Chapman is regarded as one of the UK's leading teachers of singing at international level with clients from all over Europe who regularly come to London for lessons.

Her own career as a singer spanned over 35 years, with engagements as a principal soprano in all the major UK companies and in many European countries. In Australia Janice won major competitions including the Sun Aria and the ABC Concerto & Vocal Competition. Shortly after commencing her studies at the Royal College of Music, she won the coveted Kathleen Ferrier Competition. 

While a student at the London Opera Centre she was invited to sing Miss Jessel in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw during the English Opera Group’s tour to Russia, conducted by the composer. There followed a contract as a principal soprano with Sadler’s Wells Opera where, during the following decade, she sang many roles including The Countess (The Marriage of Figaro): Electra (Idomeneo); Gertrude (Hansel and Gretel); and Leonora (The Force of Destiny).

Janice also sang regularly at the English National Opera, the English Opera Group, Welsh and Scottish National Operas and abroad. At the Royal Opera House she created the role of Mrs. Julian in the world stage premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave.

In 1975 she combined her singing career with teaching when she was invited to join the London College of Music where she worked for eight years before leaving to concentrate on her private practice. She became a member of the founding committee of the Voice Research Society (subsequently the British Voice Association), and served the committee over many years. 

Janice has presented papers, workshops, masterclasses and courses in the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and in Europe during the past 25 years. Many of her singing clients are internationally recognised opera, recording and concert artists. Janice also works in close collaboration with laryngologists and ENT surgeons in the rehabilitation of damaged voices. She was appointed a Research Associate of Sydney University and regularly visits Australia to work with singers, teachers and in the field of research. Her consultancy and workshop clients have included the London Symphony Chorus, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the BBC Symphony Chorus, the Friends of Covent Garden, the British Voice Association, the Association of British Choral Directors and Opera Australia.

Janice is the author of a best-selling book, Singing and Teaching Singing: A Holistic Approach to Classical Voice, published in 2005, which has been adopted as a textbook in many universities worldwide. 

In the Australia Day Honours 2004 Janice was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia "for service to music as an operatic singer and teacher of voice, and as a contributor to research into human sound production and vocal health." In 2010 Janice was made a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music &  Drama.

She is currently a member of the Vocal department at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.