Our Story

LyriCo Conservatory began not as a grand plan, but as a response to sudden stillness. When the pandemic closed opera houses across the country, we—Cooper and Lori—found ourselves, like many artists, abruptly without a stage. We turned to what we knew best: teaching. From the living room of our home in Gainesville, we began offering voice lessons under the name Gainesville Voice Studio, assuming it would be temporary and unsure whether our rigorous, professional-level instruction would resonate beyond a few students.

But word spread. Hundreds of students came—through referrals, through friends, through sheer momentum. What we thought might be a short-term solution became a calling. We discovered a real hunger in Gainesville for high-quality, disciplined fine arts education. So we grew. We added instruments, brought in exceptional faculty, and expanded to three locations, always maintaining the standard that had brought those first students to our door. We expect the same from every student and teacher as we do from ourselves: show up, work hard, and get better every day