Ellen Winters

Ellen is an award winning Jazz singer, who has been performing for more than 25 years. She got her musical start at Whitefish Bay High School ( a suburb of Milwaukee) with amazing teachers like Randall Swiggum and Nancy McKinley Ehlinger. Ellen went on to the University of Minnesota, where she pursued a B.A. in English - while spending lots of time in the Music Department and studying privately with Noel Robinson and Dr. Clifton Ware. She was a featured soloist in the first collegiate performance of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass," and was also a member of the U of MN Opera Theater (Libby Larsen's "Claire de Lune" wordless quartet,) the Concert Choir and the original Vocal Jazz Singers, under the direction of Dr. Ron McCurdy.

During her summer before her final year at Minnesota, Ellen attended The Phil Mattson Vocal Jazz/Choral Workshop. It was at this time that Ellen discovered her love of and penchant for singing Jazz. Upon finishing her degree, Ellen packed up her life and left the Twin Cities for the wilds of Creston, Iowa. Ellen attended the School for Music Vocations at Southwestern Community College at the invitation of Mattson - who founded SMV. Ellen has often referred to her time there at "music boot camp" and her fellow musical comrades would likely agree. It was a fully loaded program, intended to help build the "complete" musician. Ellen, for the first time in her life, studied Classical/Jazz Piano, Music Theory, Choral/Vocal Jazz Arranging, Studio Recording, Big Band Arranging continuing to study Private Voice in both Classical and Jazz styles. It was here that Ellen earned her Associate's Degree in Professional Music. Ellen was also fortunate enough to sing lead soprano for Phil Matton's premiere vocal group, VoicesIowa from 1993-1996. As a member of VoicesIowa, Ellen was also on staff as a beginning Theory teacher, vocal coach and accompanist at the Phil Mattson Vocal Jazz/Choral Workshops around the country. In the summer of 1994, Ellen was now on staff at the exact same workshop she attended 2 years prior. The immense challenge of learning the language of Music from the very beginning was the foundation of the Phil Mattson program. The School for Music Vocations in Creston, Iowa is still the only Professional Associates Degree program for Professional Musicians and is now directed by one of Ellen's former SMV classmates: Grammy nominee, Dr. Jeremy Fox. A true testament to an amazing music program.

While singing, teaching and touring with VoicesIowa, Ellen had the fortune to meet and work with some of the most amazing musicians in the field. VoicesIowa recorded three recordings during Ellen's time with them - all available through Singers.com. The group performed at many fantastic locations: the National American Choral Directors Association headline concert (opening for The Real Group) in Washington, DC., The Montreux and North Seas Jazz Festivals in Europe, the Rocky Mountain Jazz Festival in Banff, Canada as well as the Monterey Jazz Festival Sea Cruise. After Iowa, Ellen moved to Kalamazoo, MI to pursue a Music Education degree at Western Michigan University. Ellen studied private Piano with Dr. Steve Zegree and sang in his award winning vocal jazz group Gold Company program for two years. While she left before finishing her music degree at WMU, Ellen really enjoyed her time there. All of these amazing experiences have shaped Ellen as both a musician and as an educator.

After several years working in the private sector and also in Broadcast Journalism (WKZO Radio and Metro Networks Milwaukee,) Ellen made the realization that Music was where she belonged. Ellen began teaching private voice at Hartland Music in August of 2006 and soon after, joined the Faculty at Columbia College Chicago as a Private Instructor.

Ellen is represented by Arica Pfirsch at Organized Chaos Music out of Cleveland. Ellen is a proud member of ASCAP, Chicago Cabaret Professionals, Jazz Education Network, both the American and Wisconsin Choral Directors Associations and the Wisconsin Area Music Industry. She lives in Milwaukee with her wonderful husband, Mark, and their two adorable dogs, Daisy & Scarlett. Show less