Instruments: Voice
Styles: Contemporary, Classical, Rock, Pop, R&B, Jazz, Country, Blues, Musical Theater, Folk, Foreign Language
Ages: 13+
Specialties: Vocal technique; Speech for stage, Public speaking & voice-overs; Vocal repair & rehabilitation; The Aging voice; Songwriting coach; Recording producer; Career guidance; Author: The Vertical Voice Vocal Training Method – Vocal Foundations:
- Building & aligning strong, balanced, healthy voices
- Song interpretation; exploring unique artistic expression
- Recording techniques; recording & vocal production
- Career & artistic development
- Vocal performance skills; stage presence
- Overcoming stage fright; building performing confidence
- Audition preparation; college application & contest preparation
With a rich and varied background in classical vocal technique and a prolific career as a pop/rock/theatrical/classical vocalist, Diana has thousands of recording, performance, production, coaching, and teaching credits, providing a unique perspective on the use of the voice in artistic expression.
Through her technique, The Vertical Voice® Vocal Training Method, Diana has helped thousands of vocalists and speakers develop breath support, healthy tone production, stamina, creative and connected expression, self-confidence, stage presence, repertoire, performance/audition preparation, proper key-setting, microphone & recording technique, good practice habits and offered valuable and effective career guidance to those seeking a professional or amateur career in music, the performing arts, the theatrical or public speaking arenas.
Having arrived in the Twin Cities by way of New York, Paris, Los Angeles and Miami, Diana Grasselli has lent her shimmery sound to major recording artists such as Dionne Warwick, Luther Vandross, Cher, John Waite, Bonnie Tyler, Alice Cooper, Belinda Carlysle, Phoebe Snow, G.E. Smith, The Smithereens, Chynna Phillips, Bonnie Spector, Paul Stanley, Meatloaf, Desmond Child and Prudence Johnson. Ms. Grasselli recorded two albums for Capitol Records with the popular East Coast recording group, Desmond Child and Rouge. Their Top 50 Single, “Our Love Is Insane”, with its funky bass beat and Diana’s soaring lead vocal rocked the air waves and dance floors throughout the East Coast.
After a successful national tour and appearances on several contemporary television shows including Saturday Night Live!, Diana appeared with Rouge members, Maria Vidal and Myriam Valle in the hit Broadway show, Gilda Radner – Live From New York at the Wintergarden Theatre, where Diana and Rouge sang and performed comedy sketches with Gilda and cast. The show was adapted to film by director, Mike Nichols and titled, Gilda Live!, and is a now a regular on The Comedy Channel. She has appeared as a backing vocalist on Late Night with David Letterman and on several film soundtracks, including Disney Pictures, Sister Act.
Diana has performed with some of the Twin Cities’ top artists including Prudence Johnson, Gary Rue, Michelle Kinney, Jacqueline Ferrier-Ultan, Jelloslave, Tony Axtell, Chris Lomheim and Laura Caviani at the Southern Theatre, Acadia, Nautilus Music Theater, The Fine Line, and many others. She has appeared in the Women of Substance Series at O’Shaunnessy Auditorium with Prudence Johnson, Gary Rue, Laura Caviani, Joan Griffin and Michelle Kinney in A Girl Named Vincent, and at the Southern Theatre in the Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht inspired, The Last Days Of Weimar with Prudence Johnson, Dan Chouinard and Ari Hauptmann.
Diana was a founding and producing member of Chronofon with Bradley Greenwald, Prudence Johnson and Dan Chouinard – a Twin Cities’ based theatrical concert ensemble that creates original concert chronicles of influential musicians, composers, time periods and places including: Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht: The Berlin Years; Jacques Brel: When We Have Only Love; ’66: Talkin’ Bout My Generation; Dear Lenny: Bernstein’s Life in Songs & Letters; When The Shark Bites: Hauptmann & Brecht, Lenya & Weill; A Night in Paris: An Evening of Popular French Song; and Viva La Roma!: An Evening of Italian Song.
As a composer of original music, Diana has written hundreds of songs, has collaborated with many talented writers, and has had several successes including a gold-selling single in the Far East for Vaze Publishing. Diana has offered songwriting classes and mentoring through her Twin Cities Vocal Studio, Chanson Voice Studios.
Diana has performed and taught many styles of music, including pop, classical, rock, R & B, hip-hop, reggae, blues, Latin, country, folk, ambient, theatrical, new music and jazz in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Norwegian, Hebrew, German and Finnish in recording studios, churches and on stages around the country.
While maintaining her work as a vocalist and songwriter, Diana studied dance and voice with many very fine dance and classical vocal teachers in New York City and has offered dance and vocal instruction and coaching in Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis through her own Chanson Voice Studios, as well as at Walker West Music Academy in St. Paul and the Minnesota Valley School of Music in Richfield, Minnesota.
Diana founded, owned, and operated Chanson Voice Studios for 22 years, Chanson Voice & Music Academy for 8 years, and has written and produced her own vocal method: The Vertical Voice Vocal Training Method Audio Series – Volume I, available for purchase at www.TheVerticalVoiceMethod.com and Amazon.com.
She also has conducted children’s class seminars through the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s CONNECT Program, Children’s choirs at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and the Walker West Music Academy and has been on the roster of the COMPAS/WAITS Program (Writers and Artists in the Schools), Minnesota. She has served on the review board at the Perpich Center for the Arts High School for prospective students.
Diana has mentored thousands of young singers, actors, speakers, performing artists and voice teachers all over the country, many of whom have gone on to prestigious college programs or professional music, teaching and performing careers. Diana has produced dozens of professional concerts in the Twin Cities for herself, students, and colleagues in top Twin Cities’ venues, enlisting the expert talent of the best of the TC’s local musicians and technicians. She offers Voice Teacher Training through www.theverticalvoicemethod.com.
Ms. Grasselli reunited with Desmond Child & Rouge to perform in the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in NYC, at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park in a tribute concert for talented songwriting legend, Laura Nyro, Michael Feinstein’s 54 Below and in LA and Nashville for several soon-to-be-released recordings.
Lesson pricing:
Single lessons:
30 min. – $60
45 min. – $80
60 min. – $100
75 min. – $120
90 min. – $140
4-pack of lessons:
30 min. – $57.50 ea. (total of $230)
45 min. – $76.25 ea. (total of $305)
60 min. – $95 ea. (total of $380)
75 min. – $113.75 ea. (total of $455)
90 min. – $132.50 ea. (total of $530)
8-pack of lessons:
30 min. – $55 ea. (total of $440)
45 min. – $72.50 ea. (total of $580)
60 min. – $90 ea. (total of $720)
75 min. – $105 ea. (total of $840)
90 min. – $120 ea. (total of $960)
12-pack of lessons:
30 min. – $52.50 ea. (total of $630)
45 min. – $68.75 ea. (total of $825)
60 min. – $85 ea. (total of $1,020)
75 min. – $97.50 ea. (total of $1,170)
90 min. – $110 ea. (total of $1,320)
16-pack of lessons:
30 min. – $50 ea. (total of $800)
45 min. – $65 ea. (total of $1,040)
60 min. – $80 ea. (total of $1,280)
75 min. – (upon request)
90 min. – (upon request)
24-pack of lessons:
30 min. – $47.50 ea. (total of $1,140)
45 min. – $61.25 ea. (total of $1,470)
60 min. – $75 ea. (total of $1,800)
75 min. – (upon request)
90 min. – (upon request)
48-pack of lessons:
30 min. – $45 ea. (total of $2,160)
45 min. – $57.50 ea. (total of $2,760)
60 min. – $70 ea. (total of $3,360)
Studio Policies:
Working with Diana is a unique and rewarding experience as her approach is direct, hands-on, and completely individualized to each student’s specific needs, goals, gifts, and desires. Bringing a lifetime of experience and wisdom, there is not a voice she cannot improve, nor a career she cannot assist.
Initial lessons are usually an hour long as there is much to explore in our first lesson together. All lessons and packages are paid for in advance through Venmo, CashApp or check by mail and are valid for one year from purchase. Payment for initial lessons is required in advance.
As Ms. Grasselli commits 100% to her students, she expects students to be respectful and professional and to recognize their responsibility for their time together. Though exceptions are accommodated for illness or emergencies, cancellations made later than 24 hours before lesson times will be charged.
Online teaching only: Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm (Central time zone)