Molly Johnson, soprano, is Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Opera and Music Theatre at The University of Texas at Tyler. An award-winning singer and actress, her performing credits include opera and musical theatre roles with Opera East Texas, Baton Rouge Opera, Asheville (NC) Lyric Opera, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Music Theatre of Wichita and Nebraska Theatre Caravan in addition to frequent concert, recital, and oratorio appearances.
More recently, she has added the role of Artistic/Stage Director to her repertoire. Credits include full-length musicals Ghosts (Midwest Premier), Bye Bye Birdie, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Little Women, Godspell, chamber and one-act operas Dido and Aeneas, The Old Maid and the Thief, I Can't Stand Wagner, A Game of Chance and The Stoned Guest; opera workshop productions of Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel, the children’s opera Anniversary Tales (co-directed with students) and numerous scenes programs.
In the summers of 2007-2010 Dr. Johnson was on the staff of the Martina Arroyo Foundation program Prelude to Performance® in New York City, where she served as Administrative and Assistant Administrative Director, Assistant Stage Director and Stage Manager. Upcoming events for spring 2012 include the role of Mrs. Pearce in the Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre (CityRep) production of My Fair Lady and Artistic/Stage Director for Rodger and Hammerstein’s Carousel at UT Tyler.
College and university teaching areas include undergraduate and graduate applied voice, diction, pedagogy and musical theatre survey/history. Her students have sung on Broadway, at New York City Opera and with other regional opera and music theatre companies, won state and regional vocal competitions, been awarded numerous talent scholarships and assistantships and been admitted to undergraduate and graduate music programs across the United States.
She and her husband, tenor Mark Johnson, are frequent concert collaborators and have appeared in duo recitals and revues for arts organizations in NC, TX, OK, VA, LA and more. They are co-directors of Da Capo Studios in Tyler, TX, a private voice studio specializing in classical and musical theatre and have released two recordings of sacred solo and duet music.
An active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Molly currently serves as President of the Dallas-Ft.Worth Area Chapter. She holds the BM degree in Vocal Performance from Oklahoma City University and the MM and DMA degrees in Vocal Performance from Louisiana State University. The Johnsons have two wonderful daughters – also performers – and two cats, who have yet to be on stage but are exceedingly dramatic. 