The Space

Bainbridge Vocal Studio is the space where Nina Polachek, a professional singer and voice teacher, provides lessons to students of all ages and skill levels and also writes, rehearses, and records musical projects. Current students include experienced singers who want specialized lessons to enhance their vocal abilities and prepare for upcoming performances, recordings, and auditions, as well as beginners who are eager to explore their voices and learn how to sing with confidence and better technique. Wherever you are on your vocal journey, this space exists for you. Bainbridge Vocal Studio also exists to support the performance of new musical ideas through vocal education and collaboration in the arts communities of Bainbridge Island and beyond.

The Teacher

Nina has more than 20 years of professional musical training, performing, and teaching experience and is excited to bring it all back to Kitsap County, where she grew up until she was 8 and where opportunities to sing still abound. Her vocal journey started very early, often singing on stage with the inspiration of her mother’s voice, her father’s cello, and the various other musicians who performed with them. At 10, she found her first lead role in a children’s musical theatre production in Chicago. As a junior in high school, while taking voice lessons from a talented and dedicated teacher, she won 1st place in the high school division and 2nd place across all age divisions in a regional NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Vocal Competition in Central Florida. That summer, at 17, she made her international debut by special invitation to a 3-week reinassance and baroque music festival in South America, singing with orchestras across multiple cities as their guest coloratura soprano. Over the next 6 years, Nina studied music with a concentration in vocal performance at Florida Southern College, Rollins College, and Boston University. She received competitive music scholarships from each school, including the full-tuition Fine Arts Scholarship from Boston University School of Music. She is also a graduate of The Word on Broadway Young Artist Program, the Diverstá Opera New Artist Development Program, and the OperaWorks Advanced Artist Development Program. She is now continuing her interdisciplinary research in vocal performance at the Voice Study Centre and the Global Centre for Advanced Studies (GCAS)—College Dublin. Throughout her career as a singer and voice teacher, Nina has performed in numerous concerts, operas, musicals, and revues with a wide range of classical and musical theater organizations, including performances with the American Baroque Opera Company, Ocala Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Dallas Bach Society Orchestra and Chorus, Dallas Classical Singers, Texas Philharmonic Orchestra, Diverstá Opera Arts Company, OperaWorks Los Angeles, Trio Con Brio, Marbriago Trio, Verdigris Ensemble, Voces Intimae, Open Classical, Opera on Tap, Imperial Symphony Orchestra, The Villages Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Concert Lyric Opera, The Word on Broadway, Pro-Am Performing Arts, and KC Productions. Since returning to Kitsap County last Fall, she has performed at The Sound on Stage Awards Ceremony at Bainbridge Performing Arts, Kitsap Forest Theater, and Port Gamble Theater, where she co-founded, created, and directed the Rising Stars Musical Theatre Program for young artists and provided several vocal workshops and master classes. Before opening Bainbridge Vocal Studio, Nina continually taught voice in her studios in Boston, Orlando, and Dallas, as well as several music schools, including the Park Cities School of Music, the Lakewood Conservatory of Fine Arts, and the Mindful Music Center, where she worked especially with neurodivergent voice students.

The Method

With every student, Nina shares the knowledge and wisdom she has learned from her musical mentors, especially Irina Rindzuner, Richard Owens, Ann Baltz, Margaret Singer, Kevin Gray, Simon Estes, Curtis Rayam, Jodi Goble, Krystof Srebrakowski, Mark Landson, Julian Reed, Jennifer Glidden, and Eugenia Garrity. At Bainbridge Vocal Studio, Nina strives to continue their musical legacies as she inspires and guides her students to realize new possiblities with their unique voices. Nina’s teaching method involves specific technical and imaginative exercises to create the intricate mind-body connections that enable the singer to expand, focus, sustain, and ultimately free the voice. These exercises, along with repertoire to practice, are carefully selected and adjusted according to the vocal strengths, needs, and goals of each student. Through this method, Nina shows her students how to train their vocal instruments to their fullest capacities while helping them to discover and enjoy the elusive secrets of singing.