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 at a higher level 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 and where opportunities to sing still abound. Her vocal journey started very early, often singing on stage with the inspiration and guidance of her mother’s voice, her father’s cello, and the many 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, after several years of 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. 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 4 cities as their guest coloratura soprano. Over the next 8 years, Nina studied classical music (concentrating in vocal performance) and philosophy (concentrating in the aesthetics of music) at Rollins College, Florida Southern College, and Boston University, while performing multiple roles in the opera theaters of each school. She received 5 competitive academic and music scholarships to support her education, including 3 full-tuition awards—the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship and both the Fine Arts Scholarship in Music and Dean’s Fellowship at Boston University. Nina is also a graduate of The Word on Broadway Young Artist Program, the New Artist Development Program at Diverstá Opera Arts, and the Advanced Artist Development Program at OperaWorks and was a semi-finalist in both the Stephen and Jeannie Foster Vocal Competition of the Florida Federation of Music Clubs and the Lois Alba Aria Competition of the Soma International Foundation. She is now continuing her studies in vocal pedagogy at the Voice Study Centre (University of Essex) and the Global Centre for Advanced Studies (College Dublin). Throughout her musical journey, Nina has sung in numerous concerts, operas, musicals, and revues with a wide range of classical and musical theatre organizations. Just since returning to Kitsap County last Fall, she has performed at Port Gamble Theater, Kitsap Forest Theater, and The Sound on Stage Awards Ceremony at Bainbridge Performing Arts. This past summer at Port Gamble Theater, Nina co-founded, created, and directed the Rising Stars Musical Theatre Young Artist Program, in which she also provided 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 delights to share 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 reperatoire to practice, are carefully selected and adjusted according to 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.