Hayley Zavada Coughlin is so excited to be teaching voice at Act I Academy! She hails from Vilonia, Arkansas where her love for music began at a young age, participating in her high school band, choir, and musical theater programs. Hayley received her Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Arkansas at Monticello, her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Central Arkansas, and her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Vocal Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature from James Madison University.
Her most notable opera credits include Gretel (Hansel und Gretel), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Marguerite (Faust), Sister Rose (Dead Man Walking), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Suor Genoveffa (Suor Angelica), and Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro). Hayley has also been in numerous musical theater productions, portraying roles such as Lucy (You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown), Elizabeth Benning (Young Frankenstein), The Radio (Caroline, or Change), Cinderella (Cinderella) and Laurie (Oklahoma!). She has performed as a soloist in many concert works such as Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and A Ceremony of Carols and has presented new works and lecture-recitals on contemporary American women composers Libby Larsen, Valerie Saalbach, and Juliana Hall. Previously, Hayley served as the adjunct instructor of voice and diction at Washington and Lee University, James Madison University, and Sweet Briar College. Most recently, Hayley made her international debut as the role of Gretel in Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel at the Trentino Music Festival in Fiera di Primiero, Italy under the direction of Detlef Soelter (Opera Berlin) and Maestro David Jackson (The Metropolitan Opera).
Hayley is excited to become part of the Act I Academy team and looks forward to sharing her love and knowledge for music with the next generation of musicians!