Elena, born and raised in Raleigh, began singing in chorus in the 4th grade and continued throughout high school. In high school, she decided to become more serious about singing and began studying vocal performance at 15. Elena holds a degree from Meredith College in Theatre with a Musical Theatre concentration and Biology with a Music minor.
Throughout her studies, Elena regularly competed at NATS, placing in both the Musical Theatre and Classical categories state-wide and regionally. She can often be seen performing in and around the Triangle area as either a vocalist or an actress. Some of her favorite past roles include Jo March in Little Women: the Musical, Kay in George and Ira Gershwin’s Oh, Kay!, Gussie Carnegie in Merrily We Roll Along, Dido in Dido and Aeneas, and Virginia Poe in Strange City of Edgar Allan Poe. In addition to acting, Elena has also sung as a soloist with several Triangle area ensembles including Raleigh Symphony Orchestra, Cary Community Choir, and Raleigh Community Orchestra.
In teaching, Elena’s first goal is always to build confidence in her students and create a safe and encouraging environment to learn. The second is to build a strong and healthy technical foundation so that they will be able to have an enduring singing career, whether that student just wants to sing in the shower or is working toward Broadway. The third goal comes from the ever-present acting question: “Why are you singing?” to always focus on the driving action of a song so that the singer can emotionally connect with the material to deliver a moving performance.
