Brian Manternach, D.M.
Dr. Brian Manternach’s voice students are actively pursuing performance careers from New York to Los Angeles and abroad. They have been cast in film, TV, national and international Broadway tours, Off-Broadway and regional Equity theatres, cruise lines, amusement parks, and commercials. They have earned top honors in vocal competitions at the local, regional, national, and international level.
As a teacher and scholar, Dr. Manternach was the recipient of the 2021 Faculty Excellence in Research Award for the University of Utah College of Fine Arts and the 2016 Voice Pedagogy Award from the National Association of Teachers of Singing Foundation. He has presented research, lectures, and workshops for the Pan American Vocology Association, Voice Foundation, International Physiology and Acoustics of Singing Conference, Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Fall Voice Conference, Interdisciplinary Society for Quantitative Research in Music and Medicine, Summer Vocology Institute, TEDxSaltLakeCity, University of Utah Health Performance Voice Conference, Utah Theatre Association, Idaho State Thespian Festival, and for NATS at chapter, district, regional, and national conferences. He has served NATS as Chapter President and District Governor and PAVA on the Board of Directors and as the Western Regional Governor.
As an author, he is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Singing—writing and editing “The Independent Teacher” column—and a regular columnist for Classical Singer magazine, which has published more than 100 of his essays, articles, and reviews. Additionally, his research and articles have been published in the Journal of Voice, VOICEPrints, PLOS Computational Biology, NATS Inter Nos, College Music Symposium, Music Theatre Educators’ Alliance Journal, Salt Lake Tribune, and theVoice and Speech Review, where he was co-author of “Voice Screenings for University Students: The Why and the How,” which earned the 2021 Forum Article of the Year Award. He is a contributing author to the book The Voice Teacher’s Cookbook and he recently served as peer reviewer for a special vocology edition of Revista de Investigación e Innovación en Ciencias de la Salud (Journal of Research and Innovation in Health Sciences), a refereed, scientific journal serving Latin America.
As a performer, Dr. Manternach’s staged roles range from Tamino in The Magic Flute to Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus to Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He made his European operatic debut as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail in St. Anton, Austria. For two seasons he served as apprentice-artist at the Skylight Opera Theatre (WI) and has made solo appearances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and Sinfonia Salt Lake, among others.
Dr. Manternach is a frequent music director and orchestra conductor for stage productions throughout the Salt Lake Valley, including Aida, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Annie, Anything Goes, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Crazy for You,Drowsy Chaperone, Footloose, 42nd Street, Funny Girl, High School Musical, Peter Pan, Once Upon a Mattress, Shrek the Musical, South Pacific, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and West Side Story.
He has taught at every level from middle school through graduate school and is currently an Associate Professor (Clinical) and Head of Singing Voice Studies in the University of Utah Department of Theatre and a Research Associate for the Utah Center for Vocology. He previously taught studio voice at the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University South Bend, directed the choir at Holy Cross College, and spent seven years as a high school teacher, directing choirs, teaching AP Music Theory, and music directing school musicals.
A native of Iowa, Dr. Manternach earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Saint John’s University/College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota, a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a Doctor of Music in Voice Performance and Literature from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He has completed all three levels of Contemporary Commercial Music training from the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia. He also became a UCV-trained Vocologist by completing the coursework of the Summer Vocology Institute.
He enjoys spending as much time outdoors as possible, exploring the Mountain West by hiking, skiing, camping, kayaking, and snowshoeing. He lives and dies (mostly dies) with Chicago Cubs baseball and University of Utah athletics. He and his wife, Erika, have two cats and serve as a kitten foster family for Best Friends Animal Society.
