Alexis O’Donahue has been performing since before birth! Her mother was performing Shakespeare on stage while expecting, so you can truly say theater and music are in her blood!
Alexis holds a Level I, Level II, and Level III Certificate in Somatic CCM Voicework.
Singing
A few of her favorite opera roles– Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Lizzie in Bach’s Coffee Cantata, and Polly in The Bagger’s Opera. Alexis was trained as a scholarship student in the William Vennard Bel Canto classical technique by Maestra Carole Chardonnay (creator of the Three Penny Opera Company), a direct pupil of Professor Vennard. Under her tutelage, Alexis studied ear training, theory, solfeggio, conducting, vocal health, and vocal physiology and acoustics. Along with the art and science of singing, Maestra Chardonnay passed on the art of teaching. Her motto; “You will never understand something until you can successfully pass it on”.
A few of my favorite musical theater roles were– Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music, Aldonza in The Man of La Mancha, Mary in Jesus Christ Superstar, Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, and Cassie in Chorus Line.
Commercial music genre– Along with classical and musical theater, Alexis founded the band Just Girls, a pop-rock cover band, and was the lead vocalist in The Ricky J Grooves blues and jazz band. In addition, Alexis co-produced, cast, directed and sang in the Loopala variety show for the Children’s Hospital of Seattle.
Click above to hear how training helped Alexis’ voice soar over the choir as she sings a solo part in Jina La Bwana in 2009.
Voice overs/ audio books
Alexis is a featured audio book narrator for Open Book Audio and especially loves the Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland audiobook, on which she did every single voice!
Click to listen to a voice over demo
Click below to listen to an excerpt of the audiobook “O Pioneers”
Click below to listen to an excerpt of the audiobook “Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland”
Speaking
For five years Alexis was a VIP guide and a media rep (the only one in her class to graduate as a fully certified tour guide) for Universal Studios Hollywood, CA where she used her voice to inform and entertain guests from all over the world. Alexis is the creator of Vocal Mastery Training, a workshop for groups and companies who desire to feel more confident with their speech production, but need real-life, time efficient strategies that work in their busy lives. Alexis has learned from and worked with Tony Robbins, T.Harv Ekker, Mark Victor Hansen, Blair Singer, Richard Green, and more. These luminaries of the speaking world know the importance of keeping their most important tool, their unique voice, healthy and functioning at its best.
Vocal mastery training has been delivered at universities, corporations and Toastmasters venues. Alexis is an active Toastmaster and has served as an officer and director in the organization.
Click here to see a snippet from CNN in 1995 regarding VIP Tour Guides
Voice Coach
Alexis serves as a voice coach with Stanko Milov at the Global Organization for arts and leadership (click here to find out more about this organization). An organization dedicated to allowing “people from all layers of society to learn powerful leadership skills through established performance arts methodologies lifting their self-esteem enabling their personal and professional growth”.
Movement
Movement is essential to learning to sing, and as a former dancer, Alexis understands the blending of body movement and the voice to create a powerful and reliable instrument. Alexis was a professional dancer trained at Cornish Ballet in Seattle, WA and trained with the great Alan Howard, Richard Adama, Karen Irvin, Perry Brunson, and many others.