Who we Are
Welcome to McDaniel Music Studios. McDaniel Music Studios is a private voice studio , founded in 1996, that is the home to one full-time voice instructor, a Tony Award Winning Artist-in-Residence, a part-time piano accompanist, and two part-time instrumental instructors. As a whole, the McDaniel Music Studios Staff has over 56 years of experience in stage performance and helping to successfully educate musicians.
Our teaching philosophy is simple. We look at each singer/student as an Olympic Athlete, whether they are a beginner who wants to develop their talent, or they are an experienced professional continuing to hone their craft. No matter where they are on their path, our goal for our students is the gold medal, . Whether the dream has just manifested in them, or it has been a part of their lives since birth. We will get them there, they just have to do the work...while we show them the way.
Instructors & Staff
Crystal McDaniel | Owner & Head Voice Instructor
Crystal McDaniel has performed extensively, both nationally and internationally. She has been a featured soloist in venues including The Royal Albert Hall (England), the Sydney Opera House (Australia), Carnegie Hall (New York), and The Crystal Cathedral (California, Nationally televised). She earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Vocal Performance from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and has studied with Neil Semer (Germany and New York City) for the past 20 years.
She continues to perform regularly, utilizing a variety of styles including Opera, Musical Theater, Country, Jazz, Pop, and Adult Contemporary Christian. Her CD "One True Love" was released nationally by Lamon Records in 2007. In 2009, Crystal performed to a sold out crowd, with the Hendersonville Symphony in their season opener celebrating the composer Irving Berlin. In October 2010, Crystal performed in the Asheville Lyric Opera's production of "The Magic Flute," by Mozart. She appeared in recital with Tony award winning Baritone Eugene Brancoveanu Dec. 4, 2010 on the campus of Gardner-Webb University, again on Mar. 20, 2011 at Hoyle Memorial UMC, and also in Black Mountain, NC in Nov. of the same year. Additionally, Crystal was invited to perform a special recital in May 2011 for the Asheville Lyric Opera, and also starred in the role of "Nettie" in ALO's 2013 production of Carousel. In May of 2018 Crystal was privileged to be asked to do the role of Patsy Cline, for the production of “Alway, Patsy Cline,” with the Foothills Players of North Carolina.
Crystal is the 2009 recipient of the " Best of Cleveland County," for local musicians. In the present, Crystal continues to teach, audition and perform. Her students are highly successful and win competitions Locally, Regionally, and Nationally. She hosts a weekly masterclass with her friend Tony Award Winner, Eugene Brancoveanu via Zoom. Crystal is no stranger to video conference teaching, as she has been working successfully with students coast to coast for 10 years. Crystal has students performing professionally all over the country.
Mara Johnson | Personal Assistant & Studio Practice Coach
Mara Johnson has been a student with McDaniel Music Studios since May of 2014. She began working for the studio as technical assistant and as personal assistant to Ms. Crystal McDaniel in Summer of 2016. Mara was named McDaniel Music Studios practice Coach in 2022. Mara helps to keep communication open between the studio and students, assists in studio with lessons, as well as helping students develop healthy practice skills.
Mara has also won various competitions as both singer and songwriter. Notably, she earned a golden, first round ticket, for American Idol’s 2017 season. She also won the first Onebluestringhubcity singer/songwriter competition in Spartanburg SC. Most Recently, Mara won first place in Adult Commercial Music in the Mid-Atlantic Region of National Association of Singing (2022). She is currently working with her band, LiveWire, playing out regularly and continuing to write original songs.
Sherry Young | Studio Accompanist
Sherry Young is getting ready to begin her 30th year as a music educator in North Carolina. She is employed by Cleveland County Schools at Kings Mountain Middle School where she teaches Chorus and Piano. She received her Music Education degree from Gardner-Webb University with a major concentration in piano, studying with Dr. Carolyn Billings and a minor in voice. The Kings Mountain Middle School choral groups have consistently received Superior/Excellent Ratings at State Music Performance Adjudications for performances and sight-reading. KMMS has been fortunate enough to have had choral students consistently chosen to participate in the North Carolina Middle School Honor Chorus and Sherry has been blessed to have been able to serve as the accompanist for this NC Honor Chorus on several occasions over the years as well. She has served as the accompanist for the Cleveland County High School All-County Choral Clinic for the last 21 years and has also accompanied the Cleveland County Elementary Honor Chorus. She regularly fills in as guest organist/pianist in several Shelby/Cleveland County area churches and is pleased to work with the instructors and students of McDaniel Music Studios.
Eugene Brancoveanu | Artist in Residence
Eugene Brancoveanu, returns this fall to bring to life some exciting projects with Opera San José. As a 2019-20 member of OSJ’s resident company, Eugene appeared as Eisenstein (Strauss’s Die Fledermaus), the Father (Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel), and Count De Luna (Verdi’s Il trovatore). Other roles performed for OSJ include Stubb (Heggie and Scheer’s Moby-Dick), Leporello (Mozart’s Don Giovanni), Stanley Kowalski (Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire), and Escamillo (Bizet’s Carmen.)
Other recent engagements for Mr. Brancoveanu include Older Brother in Jabri’s Cities of Salt with Opera Movie NY, and serving as Director and performing the role of Pasha Selim in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio with Livermore Opera. In Freiburg, Germany, he appeared as Falke in J. Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Darcy in Mechem’s Pride and Prejudice, and Escamillo in Carmen, and performed the title role in Don Giovanni in Warsaw, Poland. Other international performances include appearances at Heidelberg Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Salzburg Music Festival, Munich State Opera, Berlin Opera, Pesaro Teatro Rossini, Piccola Scala di Milano, Macerata teatro di opera, Romanian National Theater, Tokyo Opera House, Matsumoto Opera, Montreal Opera and Opera Theater of Tel Aviv.
After his successful apprenticeship with San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, he was awarded the position of Adler Fellow, where roles performed included Tomski in Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, Riccardo in Rossini’s The Italian in Algiers, the title role in Don Giovanni, the Pilot in Portman’s The Little Prince, Belcore in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, Enrico in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Tarquinius in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia.
Other career highlights include receiving the Tony Award for his role of Marcello in Puccini’s La bohème, and his performance in the title role of Shostakovich’s Orango with the Los Angeles Symphony under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen and Peter Sellers, which was recorded for Deutsche Grammophone. Mr. Brancoveanu graduated both the Academy of Music in Transylvania, Romania and the Mozarteum in Salzburg Austria.