PortraitFaculty
Sydney Wolaver
Voice
Sydney Wolaver is an accomplished mezzo-soprano whose artistry spans opera, musical theatre, sacred music, and contemporary performance. A two-time Kennedy Center Best Actress nominee and a NATS competition winner, she has performed on stages from Carnegie Hall to the Grand Ole Opry, appeared as a soloist with the North Carolina Symphony and North Carolina Opera, and traveled to Italy to perform in Puccini's Suor Angelica. She holds degrees in vocal performance and theatre from Meredith College and a Master's in Vocal Pedagogy from Belmont University. Sydney's journey with the Annie Moses Institute began at age thirteen as a Festival performer, a connection that grew over the years into family when she married Jeremiah Wolaver. Today she serves on the faculty of the Conservatory of Annie Moses, teaching voice and drama and performing in Packard shows like Annie Get Your Gun, where nothing delights her more than watching young performers shine.
Biography
On Sydney.
Sydney Wolaver's story with the Annie Moses Institute began when she was just eleven years old, a wide-eyed young performer at the Summer Music Festival. A decade later she returned, this time as an accomplished musical theater graduate drawn by Christian vision, community, and culture of excellence she encountered.
That connection only deepened after graduation, when Sydney moved to Nashville to earn her Master's degree in Vocal Pedagogy at Belmont University and married Jeremiah Wolaver, the youngest of the Wolaver family — weaving her own story permanently into the one she had loved as a girl.
Today Sydney is an accomplished mezzo-soprano whose artistry spans opera, musical theatre, sacred music, and contemporary performance, holding degrees in vocal performance and theatre from Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her vocal training spans a decade under distinguished instructors including Sherry Lee Allen, Michael Dixon, Dr. DeMar Neal, and Dr. Mark Whatley, and she has participated in master classes with Metropolitan Opera tenor Michael Fabiano, Stella Peruzzi, and Andrea Sari. Her competition record is equally impressive — she has won at the state level of NATS in both classical and musical theatre, and took first place at the regional level in musical theatre. She is also a two-time nominee for Best Actress by the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival, recognized for her portrayals of Laura in A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas and Beth in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along. On the operatic stage, she traveled to Italy in 2014 with the International Young Artist Project to perform in Puccini's Suor Angelica, and she has been featured as a soloist with the North Carolina Symphony, North Carolina Opera, and North Carolina Master Chorale, gracing some of America's most celebrated stages, including Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry.
A dedicated educator as well as a performer, Sydney built a thriving private studio teaching students of all ages in voice, piano, acting, and musicality. Today she serves on the faculty of the Conservatory of Annie Moses, teaching voice and drama, and performing in Packard shows like Annie Get Your Gun — a full-circle return to the home where it all began, where nothing delights her more than watching young performers step into the spotlight and shine.