Dr. Todd Graber recently retired as a full Professor of Voice at the State University of New York - Oswego where he taught since 2002 and served as department chair from 2008 - 2016. While at SUNY-Oswego his teaching duties included applied voice/vocal coordinator, voice class, diction, vocal literature, opera, music theory, and Alexander Technique. Dr. Graber also held previous faculty positions at Baldwin Wallace University (Berea, OH), Nazareth University (Rochester, NY) and Missouri State University (Springfield, MO). In 2023 he joined Interlochen’s Summer Arts Camp as an instructor of the Alexander Technique.
A BGSU alum, Dr. Graber earned degrees in music education and vocal performance studying with Virginia Starr and Andreas Poulimenos. After completing his Master’s degree and two singing apprenticeships with Des Moines Metro Opera and Central City Opera, he sang the role of Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte in Biel, Switzerland, and later returned to sing Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro. His doctoral studies took him to the University of MI where he worked with Metropolitan opera star, George Shirley and continued to perform throughout the United States and abroad in various operatic and concert productions collaborating with conductors Gustav Meier, Robert Spano, Martin Katz, Grzegorz Nowak, Donald Schleicher, and John Moriarty.
Dr. Graber’s last appearance as Don Ottavio prompted Britain's Opera magazine to proclaim him "...a clear, even, unforced tenor singing as if Mozart sat at his right hand." He served as tenor soloist in Voices of Light - The Passion of Joan of Arc – featuring the Anonymous 4 and his Severance Hall debut took place in Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel. As recitalist, he frequently collaborated with pianists Russell Miller and Juan La Manna championing the music of Britten, Beethoven, Schumann, Poulenc, Purcell and others. For twenty years he performed as a member of the vocal quartet SATB, specializing in classical vocal chamber works and musical theatre. His professional recordings include that repertoire and both of Schubert’s seminal song cycles - Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise.
Former students have achieved success on Broadway with lead and supporting roles in Wicked, Hamilton, American Idiot, In the Heights, Pippin, Next to Normal, Altar Boyz and Rock of Ages. Others have gone on to work in national touring shows such as 42nd Street, Grease, Ragtime, and Porgy and Bess, singing on the operatic stage, or continued their education at schools such as Indiana University, Manhattan School of Music, Eastman School of Music, and Oberlin Conservatory.
