John Proft is a voice teacher and singer committed to the transforming power of music education. He came to teaching after a decade of professional singing took him around the country to perform with choirs and chamber ensembles in Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Miami, Tucson, and Santa Fe. He began singing professionally while in undergrad at UNT, where he got his Bachelors of Music Education in 2006. After graduating, John was based for four years in Boston. During this time, he began traveling to perform with ensembles like Austin’s Grammy award-winning Conspirare, Miami’s Grammy-nominated Seraphic Fire, and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. As a soloist, he has performed with the Harvard Collegium Musicum and with the Boston Early Music Festival in Dido and Aeneas. He has worked with world-renowned conductors Harry Christophers, Ton Koopman, and Craig Hella Johnson, and with Evan Rogister and Stephen Wadsworth at the Santa Fe Opera. He has recorded with the labels Harmonia Mundi, CORO, and Clarion, among others. In 2013, John received his Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from Southern Methodist University, where he was the founding conductor of SMU’s select women’s ensemble, Diva Dolce. In 2015 he received his 200-hr Yoga Teacher certification with an emphasis on Yoga Therapy and trauma-informed yoga from the Yoga Seed Collective in Sacramento, California. He enjoys incorporating these holistic practices with his classical training in his private lessons. Having taught voice for 8 years at Westlake High School and for two years each at Concordia University and Austin Community College, he is very excited to be with the Trojan Choirs!