Photo via Making Music Vocal Arts - Facebook
Making Music Vocal Arts - Youth performers
Making Music Vocal Arts vocal studio youth performers singing at 'Once Upon A Snowfall' at the Danceworks Youth Winter Concert (December 2025)
Making Music Vocal Arts (MMVA) is entering its third season of instruction and concerts and now offers two summer programs for youth and adults who love to sing. Rachel Maki, MMVA’s founder and artistic director, brings more than 15 years of teaching experience in addition to conducting, coaching and performing with multiple vocal ensembles throughout Southeastern Wisconsin. Previously she was with the Milwaukee Children’s Choir, four years as the artistic director.
The unique summer program packages intensive musical training, coaching, and performance preparation in a condensed period of time. The youth program is for students entering grades 7–12 and meets June 24 -26 and culminates in a performance on June 27. The Motif Chorale: Ladies Edition meets weekly on Monday evenings starting on July 20 and offers a performance on Friday, August 21.
The concerts are free and open to the public. All the instructions as well as the performances will be held indoors at the Conservancy for Health and Healing. The Conservancy, in Franklin, began as a healing garden for cancer patients and their families on land donated by the Kopmeier family in 1955 to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. It was expanded to include Kopmeier Lake and now has trails weaving through both woodlands and wetlands with scenic overlooks of the Lake and surroundings.
More Opportunities
“I was the director of the Milwaukee Children's Choir and familiar with nonprofits and the difficulties in arts funding,” Maki says. “I decided to form a vocal arts company with a different project-based design. The goal is to create more opportunities and easier time commitments while maintaining the same high quality I have shown the Southeast Wisconsin community for ten years.”
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Looking ahead to the next season Maki plans on offering similar programs and continuing education for all those who love to sing.
“My goal is to create meaningful opportunities for people to sing at a high artistic level regardless of age or experience,” she says. “Whether someone is looking for excellent vocal instruction through private vocal lessons, an artistic challenge through ensembles or theory courses, or simply a place to connect with others through music with our Uncorked Voices (a non-performing social singing group), I want Making Music Vocal Arts to be a welcoming home for passionate singers throughout Southeastern Wisconsin. I believe there are many talented singers looking for opportunities that combine artistic excellence with a supportive community and easier time commitments, and MMVA was created to fill that need.”
Making Music Vocal Arts’ Youth Showcase: 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June 27; Ladies Edition: 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21 at the Conservancy for Health and Healing: 7410 W Rawson Ave, Franklin.
Further information about enrolling in either the Youth Showcase or Ladies Edition Women's Choir can be found on Maki's website: https://www.mmvocalarts.com/
Information about the Conservancy can be found on their website: theconservancy.org
