The Low Down

The personal:

Joslin is the oldest of 4 kids, and her parents have been die-hard supporters of her vocal dreams since she danced down the aisle singing along to the hymns at the age of 3.

She is lucky enough to be married to the love of her life, and she and her husband live in the bucolic (and sometimes fragrant!) farmland of Delta, BC. They are generally happily owned by an assortment of chihuahuas. (Currently, we are dogless.)

• Our sweet Madison, on the right, the OG mascot of the JRD Voice Studio family, crossed the rainbow bridge on June 8th, 2021. She was a beloved member of our family, and at 17 years old, lived a long and very happy, spoiled life.

• Darling Fred, on the left, valiantly picked up the mantle set down by Maddie and soldiered on as the sole studio mascot here at JRD Voice Studio until he became very ill and then crossed the rainbow bridge on February 19th, 2024. He was a constant companion to Joslin and enjoyed hearing all the various studio mavericks who came into the studio to explore their voices. He left us too soon.

We miss them both every single day.

Oh, you want career deets?

Here you go!

The Singing Part:

Soprano, Joslin Romphf Dennis, holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice and a Master of Music in Opera from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA, USA. She is also a graduate of the renowned Lindeman Young Artist Development Program under the direction of Maestro James Levine at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. A native of Victoria, British Columbia, she made her début with the Metropolitan Opera covering Praskovya Osipovna and The Pretzel Vendor in Shostakovich’s The Nose. Joslin made her Carnegie Hall debut under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation in their annual song festival, On Wings of Song, and made her Canadian opera debut as Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo for Pacific Opera Victoria in Victoria, BC, where Paula Citron wrote "POV lived up to its reputation…the find for me was charismatic soprano Joslin Romphf Dennis as Elettra who is a spinto in the making.” Her Canadian orchestral debut came as soprano soloist in Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the Victoria Symphony in Victoria, BC, with whom she has also performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Joslin made her American professional debut with the Opera Company of Philadelphia as Giannetta in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore where she also performed in a critically-acclaimed Savonlinna Festival production of Verdi’s MacBeth.

Joslin has performed numerous other operatic roles including Female Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, where David Shengold wrote: “With crisp diction and a rich, penetrating soprano, Joslin Romphf Dennis’ Female Chorus furnished the most attractive and individual vocalism of the evening.”, Isabella in Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot, Elle in Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine, Fiordiligi and Donna Anna in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte and Don Giovanni, the title role in Samuel Barber’s Vanessa, Magda Sorel in Menotti’s The Consul, and the title role in Ned Rorem’s Miss Julie, where Sarah Feidt said: “the voice of Miss Julie (played by Joslin Romphf Dennis) was a shining high point of the opera. Crisp, clean, full, resonant, she navigated some startling vocal jumps and dives perfectly.” Under the direction of Marilyn Horne, Joslin performed the role of Madame Cortese in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Rheims for the Music Academy of the West’s 50th anniversary season. She has performed under the baton of James Levine, Mario Bernardi, Maurizio Barbacini, Jacques Lacombe, Ian Robertson and Valery Ghergiev.

Joslin was presented in her New York City solo recital debut with the Marilyn Horne Foundation. She has performed at the Marlboro Festival in Marlboro, VT, USA and was a member of the Young Artists Program at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, NY, USA. She has also been presented with Richard Epp at the International Voice Teacher’s Conference in Vancouver, B.C., with Mikael Eliasen for the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg, MB and with Andrew West at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, IL, USA as a member of the distinguished Steans Institute.

Joslin has received a Vancouver Opera Guild Career Development Grant, was the winner of the Young Canadian Mozart Singers competition at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, ON, and a finalist in the CBC/Radio Canada Young Canadian Performers Competition. She was selected as a semi-finalist in the Loren L. Zachary vocal competition and received grants from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Sosenko Foundation and the Rader Foundation, as well as awards and honors from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra Canadian Concerto Competition.

Joslin is the studio owner and lead teacher here at JRD Voice Studio and has been on faculty with the Vancouver Academy of Music since 2015 where she has taught 1:1 lessons and continues to teach college-level diction classes. She is the author of The Singers’ Aural Skills Drill Book For Teachers and is a member in good standing of the BC Registered Music Teachers Association, Richmond Branch (BCRMTA), the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators’ Association (CMFAA), and the Speakeasy Cooperative (SECO). Joslin is a fully certified teacher in Meredith Colby’s Neuro-Vocal Method for popular microphone styles and Vocal Function 101/Mechanics of Mix and Belt with Maddie Tarbox of Shenandoah University. She is a firm believer in continuing education for both teachers AND students!

She most recently reprised the soprano solo part in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in March of 2020 with the VAM Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Bach Choir under the baton of Leslie Dala for VAM’s 50th Anniversary concert at the Orpheum. Other performances of late include soprano soloist in Verdi's Requiem with Leslie Dala and the VAM Symphony Orchestra and soprano soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Pierre Simard and the Vancouver Island Symphony in Nanaimo B.C.

Joslin is a sought-after adjudicator and clinician at various Canadian music festivals, including the Richmond Music Festival, the Port Coquitlam Music Festival, the Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival, the Pacific Northwest Music Festival in Terrace, BC., the Lethbridge Music Festival in Lethbridge, Alberta, and the Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association. She was a member of the panel to adjudicate the McLellan Competition for the Winnipeg Women's Musical Club in March 2018 and 2020. In January of 2018, Joslin served as a judge for the 2017 Juno Awards.

Her adjudicating contracts for 2023 included returning to the Pacific Northwest Music Festival in Terrace, BC, and Lethbridge and District Music and Speech Arts Festival in Lethbridge, AB.

Are you interested in having Joslin come and adjudicate your festival/competition? She’d love to! Reach out via EMAIL to see about availability and rates. (Online and in-person availability, depending on schedule.)