Trainer Profile

Mary McDonald Klimek has been a professional musician and voice teacher for almost 50 years. She holds degrees in Music Education (B.S.) from Skidmore College, and Voice Performance (M.M.) and Speech-Language Pathology (M.S.) degrees from Boston University. Mary taught voice in high schools, a college, community music schools, and her private studio. Much of her performance career was centered in the Boston area where she appeared as soprano soloist with some of Boston's premier choruses and performed in several operatic productions (“Donna Anna” in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, “Susanna” in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, and “Mary Warren” in Ward’s The Crucible). She was an active recitalist and chamber musician and was awarded a Vocal Chamber Music Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival where she worked with Adele Addison and Jan De Gaetani. Her wide-ranging musical interests included study of Electronic Music and participation in multiple Revels, Inc. productions celebrating traditional song, dance, story-telling and seasonal rituals from cultures around the world. Mary’s association with Jo Estill began in 1990 with a workshop at Wellesley College. In the years that followed, Mary attended as many Estill workshops and courses as her schedule would allow. In her travels with Jo, Mary became a research subject in several of Ms. Estill’s videoendoscopic studies with Dr. Eiji Yanigasawa in New Haven, CT, and was featured in “The Laughing Larynx” video. In 1994, she traveled to London with Ms. Estill to intern and present at courses for the British Voice Association and Central School for Speech and Drama. In 1995, she became a Speech-Language Pathologist. She specialized in the treatment of professional and performing voice users and worked at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston for nearly 14 years. She was among the first group authorized to present Estill Voice Training® to the public, and, in 2004, became a founding partner in Estill Voice International. She served as its Vice-President until July of 2020. She is an Estill Master Trainer and Estill Mentor and Course Instructor with Service Distinction and Advanced Testing Privileges. Mary has taught Estill Voice Training® courses and presented on Estill topics across the United States as well as in Austria, Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Italy, Scotland, and Spain. In January 2017, Mary and her EVI partner, Kimberly Steinhauer, released their book, The Estill Voice Model: Theory and Translation. While she is in "pre-tirement", she will continue to teach, coach, mentor and serve EVI as a Creative Consultant.