Dr. Melissa Holm-Johansen is a lyric soprano and voice teacher based in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. As a performer, her passion is to promote art song, especially new works. She is a regular participant in the annual Source Song Festival and its Song Slam event; and in 2025 she sang the title role in the world premier of The Temptations of Veslemøy, a song cycle by Norwegian composer Kjell Habbestad. The work was a commission for the Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota’s 2025-2026 Season. A recording is planned for January 2027.
In 2025, she presented “The Golden Age of Danish Song” for The Nordic Landscapes Festival at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. In 2024, she was a featured soloist in “Crossings: Now We Belong” with the Minot Chamber Chorale, a commemoration of the 200th anniversary of organized migration from Norway to the U.S.
In 2020, she released the CD recording Edvard Grieg: Songs from the Heart with pianist Stephen Swanson, on the Norway House label. Featuring fresh translations by Dr. William Halvorson, it’s the first known professional English-language recording of Grieg’s art songs.
An ensemble singer as well as a solo artist, Melissa sang on the Dale Warland Singers’ 2003 grammy-nominated recording of Walden Pond by Dominic Argento. She enjoys workshopping new choral works with J. David Moore’s First Readings Project; and she has sung in the Bach Roots Festival, The Singers – Minnesota Choral Artists, the Minnesota Beethoven Festival Chorus, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Chorale, the Oratorio Society, The Saint Olaf Choir and the Norwegian Youth Choir.
A native of Halden, Norway, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts, with an emphasis in vocal pedagogy and performance (2007), from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Holm-Johansen graduated cum laude from St. Olaf College (1998). She serves on the voice faculty at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.
Dr. Holm-Johansen maintains a vibrant private studio, working with professional singers, emerging theater professionals, avocational singers and aspiring young singers. A longtime member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), she is a recipient of the NATS Independent Teacher Award. Her students often advance at state, regional and national levels of competitions with NATS as well as the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).
Dr. Holm-Johansen is looking forward to residency in fall 2026 at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
Melissa Holm-Johansen 