American baritone Justin T. Swain serves as an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Classical/CCM/Musical Theatre Voice & Lyric Diction within the School of Music and Faculty Fellow within the Center for Learning, Teaching, and Assessment at Ohio University (Athens). Swain is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Master of Music in Vocal Performance, a Master of Arts in Vocal Pedagogy where he was awarded “Most Outstanding Graduate Associate,” and was a student of both Dr. Scott McCoy (author of Your Voice: An Inside View) and Dr. Robin Rice (author of Great Teachers on Great Singing). Justin served for two years as the vocal performance area’s administrative assistant and taught applied voice as a graduate teaching associate within the OSU School of Music working with music majors and contemporary voice students.

Prior to completing his graduate studies in music, he completed a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at Ohio State, and an Associate of Arts degree at Columbus State where he assisted in the piano lab and was awarded the prestigious “Man of the Year” award for his contributions to the campus through his volunteer work and with various student organizations. Justin has studied and performed piano for over a decade with notable teachers Rose Zuber, Dr. Maria Staeblein, and Dr. Sekyeong Seong.

A Columbus native, Swain has served as a teaching artist for Opera Columbus, been featured in concert with the McConnell Chamber Orchestra, Backstage at the Lincoln, the Columbus Italian Festival, Harmony Project Columbus, New Albany Symphony Orchestra, Opera Project Columbus, and has performed numerous times with Opera Columbus in productions of Vanqui, Fellow Travelers, Gianni Schicchi, Ophée et Eurydice, La Traviata, and La Bohème, as well as a member of their touring Outreach programming in Opera On The Edge, The Voice of Freedom, and productions of Little Red’s Most Unusual Day and The Magic Flute. Swain has also appeared with the Denison University Wind Ensemble, The Ohio State University Wind Symphony, Chorale, Symphonic Choir, and Lyric Opera Theatre, Ohio Wesleyan Chamber Ensemble, and as a soloist with the Clintonville Chorus and Trinity United Methodist Chancel Chorus.Swain’s most recent engagements include a solo Cabaret of Gender Bent Musical Theatre selections in Athens, OH, and the premiere of Roy Swanson's Journey to the Birth of Jesus in Cincinnati, OH. Swain’s upcoming engagements include the televised performance of I, Too, Sing America: Part Two with Opera Project Columbus in June of 2023, and will appear as the bass soloist in the Mozart Coronation Mass with the Cappricio Chorus in Worthington, OH.

As an academic, Justin owns and maintains the free database of phonetic transcriptions website, IPA Resource Center (IPAResourceCenter.com), has contributed the full breadth of digital transcriptions of vocalises for Dr. Robin Rice’s book, “Great Teachers on Great Singing,” available through Inside View Press (VOXPed.com), has guest lectured at The Ohio State University working with students of Prof. Ed Bak and Dr. Laura Portune, and has served as a clinician in the Central, OH region of choral programs of area middle and high schools.

A strong advocate of the art of the song recital, Justin has performed several solo recitals and is a champion of the vocal music of Afro-English composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

Mr. Swain maintains an active performance career in the Central Ohio region and maintains studios in both Columbus, OH and Athens, OH.