Mary Johnston Letellier

Dramatic coloratura soprano Mary Johnston Letellier studies at the New England Conservatory of Music for her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance with a Minor in Musicology. She received her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Opera Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She was a member of the Young Artist Program at Seagle Music Colony and has also studied at Flagstaff in Fidenza (Italy). In 2021, she won the New England Regional NATS Artist Award and the Anne Marie Gertz award at National NATS Artist Competition in 2022. 

She is currently a member of the voice faculty at University of Southern Maine, and 317 Main Community Music Center, as well as the Co-Founding Artistic Director of The Complete Voice, a summer workshop for aspiring professionals and motivated amateurs in both classical and musical theater performance. Ms. Letellier also runs her private vocal studio, MJL Voice Studio. 

Ms. Letellier has taken the Trans Voices Masterclass with Dr. Stephanie Weiss at Opera Programs Berlin, the Vocal Pedagogy Professional Workshop at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, the Acoustic Vocal Pedagogy Workshop at the New England Conservatory, Alexander Technique for the Audition Brain at The Empowered Musician, the Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Westminster Conservatory of Music, and many others. 

Ms. Letellier serves as President of the Maine chapter of NATS and has been an invited adjudicator at NATS New England. She is Founder and Co-Manager of the Maine chapter of Opera on Tap: Maine, and she remains an active member of the Society of Pi Kappa Lambda, the American Honor Society for Music. 

Opera roles include Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, Musetta in  La Bohème, Violetta in  La Traviata, Magda in  La Rondine, Peep Bo in The Mikado, Miss Pinkerton in The Old Maid and the Thief, The Sandman in Hansel and Gretel, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas and many others. The Boston Musical Intelligencer said of her performance of Magda: “Mary Johnston… gave the stand-out performance of the night… Her voice soared in her upper register and was clear and declamatory in the tessitura.”

She has performed the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, and Hadyn’s The Seasons. A sought-after recitalist, Ms. Letellier has recently been a featured soloist in programs with Lyric Music Theater, Opera Maine, Port City Blue, Biddeford City Theater, and others. She was particularly proud to lend her voice to the concert Still Dreaming: A Tribute to MLK at Milton Community Concerts, and to the Black Lives Matter Faculty Concert at University of Southern Maine. She is an active performing member of Opera on Tap: Maine (where she is also the Founder and Co-Manager), and The Portland Rossini Club.

In addition to classical music, Ms. Letellier frequently performs musical theater, enjoying such roles as Grace in The Christmas Bride in Concert, Conrad/Conradine in The Secret Princess, The Narrator in Mesmerized, Franca Nacarelli in The Light in the Piazza, andThe Ghost of Christmas past in The Christmas Carol: The Musical. Broadwayworld.com called her performance as Franca “one of the highlights of the show.”