Bio

Rachel Staples is OperaMouth, and she can sing, spit, scat, and scream.

Rachel is a performer, musician, composer, songwriter and teacher. Her life is a science experiment of otherworldly sounds set to operatic jazz with a southern drawl, and she is always looking for more OPERAtunities.

Rachel teaches all levels of students, and she has a very unique approach to vocal coaching that intertwines classical technique with a fun, modern day approach with physical movement similar to movement that one one may find in yoga.

Rachel was born in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, achieved her BA in Music and BS in International Affairs from Florida State University, and has been living in Los Angeles for the past 6 years.

Rachel has performed in a wide variety of settings from the classical stage, to musical theatre, to film soundtracks, to small underground venues around the world. For example, Rachel graced the operatic stage in Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Bizet's Carmen with the Opera Company of North Carolina, with the Florida State Opera in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Vacci's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and with a Los Angeles based modern opera company called ElectrOpera, just to name a few. Rachel opened the 2009 Downtown Los Angeles Fashion Week Runway show with an operatic performance on the runway, and she received studio credit through Yoav Goren's Immediate Music project called Globus which has tracks on Spider Man 3.

Through the distinct use of her classically trained voice, the didgeridoo, harmonium, and piano, Rachel's unique style of experimental, post-millennial operatic jazz has mesmerized audiences from coast to coast.

Rachel has produced 2 albums with Punch Pro Productions called, Maiden Lane and HollyWierdHiphOperaTunities. Rachel is currently working on her the foundations of her third album.

Rachel is the owner of OperaTune Vocal Studios in Canoga Park, and she works in Admissions for The American Musical & Dramatic Academy with campuses located in Los Angeles and New York City. Rachel was also the Director of the Los Angeles Women's Music Network in 2008 and 2009.

Rachel is ready to expand her audience by sharing with YOU everything she knows about & embodies in performance, training the voice properly, and working in the music industry!

Education

Florida State University 2004

Bachelor of Arts in Music

(concentrating in Vocal Performance)

Bachelor of Science in International Affairs

(concentrating in Political Science and Modern Langauge)