Meet the Teachers
ELFI Studio was established in 2018 by Emi Lee Frantz in Chicago Illinois. Since then, the team has grown as well as our ability to better serve the music students in this area. At ELFI Studio we aim to inspire self-confidence, embrace individuality, and pursue excellence.
Emi Lee Frantz (she/her/hers) is a singer, voice teacher, and music director in the Chicagoland area. Emi received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance at Christopher Newport University and University of Kentucky, respectively. Emi has performed with the Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, AlphaBet Soup Productions, The Cabaret Project, the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, and the Beverly Arts Center. She has recently started to focus more of her efforts on the artistic LGBTQ community through Pride Films & Plays and volunteering at About Face Theatre.
Emi spends most of her time teaching humans of all ages voice, piano, and ukulele. She started ELFI Studio in 2018 teaching only voice and piano lessons. Over the years, it has grown into a studio with 5 teachers and over 70 students! Emi strives to create an atmosphere of acceptance and confidence at the studio. She is honored to be teaching you and your children!
Raised in a musical household in Flagstaff, AZ, Alice has music in her veins! She grew up attending the symphony orchestra and spotting her mom among the violinists and jazz concerts to find her dad behind the keyboard. She is happy to be following in her mom’s music teacher footsteps! Alice performed in her first stage-musical, ANNIE, at eight-years-old and immediately caught the theater-bug. She was soon in choirs, private voice lessons, dance classes, and on every stage she could find. Alice sang, danced, and acted her way to the University of Utah, where she graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre.
Alice continued her classical voice education at the U, studying vocal pedagogy, music theory, and private voice. She discovered her love of teaching while working at theatre camps. Since then, she has worked in numerous childcare facilities, theatre for young audiences, privately with individual families, and online teaching English as a Second Language to kids across the globe.
Alice is passionate about teaching and performing and loves combining these passions in her voice studio. She aims to help students grow into the best versions of themselves and strives to provide a safe space where they have opportunities to make mistakes, try new things, and play! Alice is a professional singer and has worked and performed in Arizona, Utah, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois.
Alice loves dogs, crafts, dance, and strawberry ice cream. She can’t wait to sing with you!
Mary-Helen opened her artistic sights to acting in college, graduating with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Acting from the University of Utah. She continued her musical education at the U through piano lessons, singing classes, and private voice, as well as teaching classes to children ages 8-18 at the same summer camp she attended, Youth Theatre at the U. She also studied pre-Occupational Therapy in college, taking courses in childhood development, psychology, and anatomy. These classes have played a huge role in her passion for teaching through research-based practices.
Growing up in her Los Angeles childhood home, Mary-Helen was raised to the soundtrack of her parents’ diverse musical tastes, from composer Bach to rock band Queen. Inheriting a love of music from her family, she was very quickly introduced to piano in elementary school. She spent the next 10 years in lessons exploring that same variety of music her parents introduced her to, playing everything from The Beatles to Rachmaninoff.
In her piano teaching, Mary-Helen loves to pull from her varied artistic training and teaches through a holistic approach of building musical instincts, learning through games, and finding the autonomy that comes with musical independence. Music brings so much joy to Mary-Helen’s life, and she aims to pass on to those of all ages how to rock out to Beethoven, contemplate jazz, and sing one’s heart out to Broadway.
Gina Montalvo is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Chicago. She was a performer in musical theatrical productions from 2012 to 2020 but has shifted towards Stage Management, Teaching Artistry, and Music Production. She is currently in her final year at DePaul University studying Directing and Music Recording, has formal vocal training, is a self-taught ukulele and piano player, and has been writing songs consistently for 7 years. Within the past year, she has worked for Free Street Theater as a Stage Manager and Teaching Artist, Noble Street College Prep as a Music Director, Navy Pier, Destinos Theater Festival, and devised/sound designed for a show featured in the Steppenwolf Lookout Series. She recently released her first single “Lovely” on all streaming platforms and is excited to get started teaching for ELFI Music Studio!