TESTIMONIALS

I am grateful to my students for sharing their experiences of working with me!

Note: These reviews are from 5-star public reviews on Yelp. Some reviews here have been shortened in the interest of space. No reviews have been altered (grammar corrections excepted). 

To read full reviews, please visit my page on Yelp.

"I took trial lessons with several voice teachers in the area before deciding to work with Katya.  I had specific vocal technique issues I wanted to address, that I had been unable to resolve previously.  What really stood out was Katya's thorough follow-up with an assessment of where I was, possible approaches and solutions going forward, and lots of detailed info on additional local resources and people that could be helpful to me in the pursuit of my singing and performing goals.  Since then, Katya has helped me make great strides in developing a functional approach to breath support, singing with the appropriate weight for my voice type, and eliminating tongue tension.  As a result, I've been more competitive at auditions and have been getting cast in more roles by more companies."

- Kathryn B.

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"I heart Katya. She works patiently with her students, customizing her lessons to what they need most. Also, she records every lesson and at the end of the lesson, she saves it onto students' USB so they can listen to it and practice at home. There are many other pluses to being her student. She will notify students of opportunities to perform--she'd sometimes set up student recitals or invite students to sing at various events. If you have another voice teacher (for example, because you're an actor and voice is part of your curriculum), she'll work with what you've learned in that class so that your ideas about voice aren't conflicted."

- Jessica C.

"Katya is a thoroughly accomplished professional vocalist and instructor and will improve all aspects of your voice, from public speaking to Broadway show tunes, karaoke and popular music to serious opera, all supported in a fantastic bel canto style. There is no escape here -- she can zero in immediately on any problem and immediately reverse it and I am seeing slow but steady improvement. The lessons are fun and she does record those for review and practice at home. If you want to work with a stellar voice instructor, you'll get it here.   She is the total package -- a brilliant and patient teacher who will get results you want as long as you put the time and energy needed to build talent and ability into practice."

- Chris G.

"I began singing at a later point in my life and have been studying with Katya for around 4 years. I can't say enough about the excellent coaching I have received from her. She has a knack for hearing and spotting vocal issues at all phases of development.  Since being with Katya, I have gone from karaoke singer to winning several local singing contests to a Western US NATS regional championship.  I am now in my third production with Opera San Jose. I still have a long way to go to be the singer I want to be and I feel that I continue to improve weekly with Katya's help. She has not only been a great teacher but also a great supporter having come to many performances of mine (including once to a karaoke bar!). I highly recommend her."

- Ken C.

"I started taking lessons with Katya around four [years] ago. At the time, I had come from a two year singing hiatus and had developed a lot of bad habits. Katya is a very sensitive and encouraging teacher who spent a lot of time making sure that I had as many resources as possible to get my singing voice back in shape. I really appreciate her detailed attention and her willingness to connect me to her vast network of other helpful coaches, accompanists, teachers and choirs. I also appreciate how Katya is constantly working on herself and lets her students witness her own growth, whether it is immediately applying something she learned in a workshop or letting her students come to her own coaching sessions. As a voice teacher myself, I am constantly learning and improving thanks to Katya's thoughtful and incisive attention."

- Masumi H.

"I came from a background of Cantonese Opera, but I always wanted to develop my voice for Western opera, musical theater, and art song.  Katya is an amazing teacher who guides and leads by example in all aspects of singing and performing.  She critiques without being discouraging, and she always has great insights for interpreting music.  I'm very happy with the growth that I've made, and I'm so happy that I found Katya!"

- S. and E.

"There is no doubt in my mind that Katya is a talented and caring instructor, and my children improved greatly as a result of her teaching.  Through her teaching of voice and breathing exercises, Katya was able to hone each of my children's musical technique and bring out each child's unique artistic qualities. Additionally, she made the lessons fun and useful, so both children always loved learning from her.  As a parent, I appreciated how much hard work and effort she put into each child's musical training, and how much each child grew while they learned from her."

- Usha N.

"My goal was to entertain and sing for the seniors in retirement homes and assisted living facilities as a volunteer. At that time, I felt that my voice was flat and thin and it was not good enough to sing before an audience. I wanted to have a fuller and more colorful voice.  Katya immediately understood my needs.  She helped me draw parallels between my speaking voice and my singing voice, and worked with me on techniques to improve the quality of my tones. After only 2 lessons, I was already noticing richer and more resonant tones in my singing. I performed for the first time for the seniors at Lytton Gardens after 10 lessons with Katya.  That performance came much sooner than I had hoped for, and I have been singing at least twice a month for the seniors since then. What a fun and rewarding experience it has been singing for the seniors! I am grateful to Katya for helping me achieve my goal sooner than I had anticipated. Katya helped me understand and improve on various components that have an impact on the delivery of a song. She is fully present to every nuance during my lessons. She would spot issues immediately and come up with different ways to help me overcome the problems before they become bad habits or serious issues. On the artistic side, Katya has helped me understand what it means to be a true singer/performer. I had thought that all it takes to become a singer is a good voice, and boy was I wrong! Thanks to Katya's coaching, I am experiencing the importance and value in integrating my whole being into a performance. In gradually learning to integrate facial and body expressions with the technical, mental and emotional aspects of singing, I am becoming much more at ease with my singing. I am finding that my tone production is improving and I am feeling a much closer connection with my audiences. I also want to thank Katya for helping me 'break out of the mold', and helping me develop my full potential as a singer.  I had envisioned myself to be a 'serious singer' and only wanted to do specific types of songs. Katya encouraged me to sing "Surrey with the Fringe On Top" from "Oklahoma" for the seniors.  It is a song I would have never picked because it does not 'fit the mold'.  She helped me with the artistic expressions in addition to the technical requirements in singing the song.  I performed it for the seniors at Lytton Gardens a few weeks ago and it was very apparent that the audience loved it.  I am loving it too, as I will be doing more of these funny, up-tempo songs for my audiences. In summary, I am very grateful to have Katya as my voice teacher.  I know that I am on the right path and I am on my way.  If you are as passionate about singing as I am, I highly recommend that you enlist Katya to help you with your singing."

- Philip H.

"When I first started with Katya, I had experience singing, yet not completely under formal instruction. Katya was great from the beginning, improving my voice and range. In addition, she helped me understand through lessons on posture and breathing techniques how posture affects the vocal quality, which has always been a weakness in my singing. She is one of the few teachers who I have met who focus on these aspects as well, and it is such a useful concept to take into account. I have only been learning from Katya for a few months, but I always enjoy going to class and taking one step forward towards fine tuning my voice. I recently performed at a school function, and I knew I could not have done it without Katya's help! Even my relatives who have heard me sing before said that something has clearly changed in my voice and my attitude in singing, and I owe that to Katya. I truly appreciate everything she's done for me! I would definitely recommend her as a great voice teacher.

- Esha R.