ABOUT
ARISA KUSUMI SULLIVAN
Japanese-American arts multi-hyphenate, ARISA KUSUMI SULLIVAN has spent 20 years honing her craft as a performance coach and voice teacher after enjoying a 27-year stage career singing opera, classical, jazz, and musical theater. In 2022, at the age of 49, she unexpectedly began a side career as a model and actress, appearing on HSN, television commercials, print ads, and an Emmy-winning PSA (2023).. She wholeheartedly believes in paying forward all of the dedication and energy that was bestowed upon her by her mentors, so she is committed to teaching and coaching students in this phase of her life. Her students have gone on to win international voice competitions, attend top conservatories, and have successful professional singing and performing careers. After her own singing career was interrupted in 2023 by a diagnosis of laryngeal dystonia, a neurological voice disorder, Arisa began research in the field of mind-body practices and performance anxiety with The Voice Study Centre/UWTSD, and has become a specialist in mind-body therapies and performance coaching for both performers and business professionals. Her passion and experience in the arts has led to a natural progression of leadership roles and advocacy for causes she supports. In 2018, she founded and directed the nonprofit music series Howey Music Series, which has become a solid mainstay in the Central Florida live music scene. For the NATS organization that helped launch her career, she served as Central Florida NATS president, NATS Florida District Governor, and eventually Vice President of NCNATS. After moving to North Carolina in 2023, she continues to performance coach and teach voice virtually and in person, as well as act and model. In her free time, she loves to cook and has a food blog on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram. She also enjoys spending time with her husband, two children, and two dogs by traveling, hiking, kayaking, and doing yoga and qigong.
ABOUT ARISA'S STAGE CAREER
Arisa's singing career began at the age of 23, when she was hired right out of her undergraduate studies at Eastman School of Music to debut at the Vadstena Akademien Opera (Sweden) and the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg (Germany) Festivals. Her hundreds of performances around the world included a fest contract at the Chemnitz Opera, San Francisco Opera Center as a Resident Artist, the Halle and Osnabrück Operas of Germany, the South Carolina Opera, Xalapa Orchestra in Mexico, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Marlboro Music Festival, Villecroze Festival (France), and Verbier Festival (Switzerland). She has been featured on multiple magazines, podcasts, radio, and television broadcasts on PBS, Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk (MDR), WTKS - Orlando, and Inspiration Network (US), and social media, among others.
As a young artist, she was awarded the Verbier Festival’s Prix de L’APCAV for best singer, and a prize in the International Robert Schumann Lied Competition in Zwickau, Germany. Her voice teachers included: Carol Webber, Benita Valente and Marni Nixon. Further education included studies at Münchener Singschul of the Bavarian State Opera, Tito Capobianco’s Portland Opera Performing Institute, Ravinia Steans Institute, and the Goethe Institut. Ms. Kusumi Sullivan has taught on the voice faculty of Rollins College and has led masterclasses and judged competitions at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of South Florida, the Schmidt Vocal Competition, Stetson University, University of Central Florida, and Vienna Summer Music Festival.