LIOBA

grunow

Singer. Voice Professional. vocal Coach.

What’s in a voice?

Identity. History. Power. Resistance.

I'm a Berlin-based artist working with voice in all its dimensions - as a singer who performs, a coach who trains, and a researcher who investigates. My work exists at the inter- section of performance, pedagogy, and politics. I explore how voices are shaped by experience, how they're silenced or cele-brated, and how vocal expression can become liberation. This is where I create, teach, and think.

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Vocal technique without context is just mechanics.
My artistry and my teaching aren't separate—they're the same inquiry.
Voice work is body work is justice work.
True vocal freedom requires unlearning what you've been taught to perform.
Voice carries trauma. Voice carries joy. Voice carries revolution.

hi, i’m lioba

I'm a singer. That's the core of who I am.

I've spent my life on stages, in studios, collaborating with musicians across genres -French chanson, jazz, musical theatre, pop, trip hop, vocal improv. As a polyglot, I'm fascinated by how voice is never separate from the language it inhabits - each language carries its own melody, vocal quality, and cultural identity. I'm the daughter of a singer and a pedagogue. My formal voice training started at the age of 4, and was just as much shaped by peeking through the door slot watching my Dad teach voice, and sitting cuddled against my Mom while she sang to her kindergarten groups.

I love the process of making music, the vulnerability of performance, the way voice becomes a vehicle for emotion, storytelling, culture and connection. Singing is how I express myself, how I make sense of the world, how I feel most alive.

My formal training reflects that commitment: a B.A. in Popular Music (University of Paderborn), conservatory training in Musical Theatre (New York Film Academy), lots of courses in acting and dance. I've approached my craft seriously, studied it academically, and performed it professionally. Voice has always been my primary artistic medium.

But over the years, something shifted.

The performance industry, for all its beauty and excitement, began to feel constricting. There was pressure to fit certain molds, to make my voice serve commercial expectations, to perform in ways that felt increasingly disconnected from genuine expression. During my training at NYFA, I encountered many conversations about voice as something deeply personal and political, but I rarely heard it discussed in the real world of performance - it was all about technique and marketability, about being the ‘right type’ and rarely about truth or identity.

I found myself questioning whether I could stay in this world. For some time, I considered shifting gears and moving into anti-discrimination work, something that aligned more directly with my values and my commitment to social justice.

Then I realized: Voice is that work.

“It's an artist's duty to reflect the times in which we live” - Nina Simone

Voice isn't neutral. It's shaped by identity, experience, power and culture. The way we sound, the freedom or restriction we feel when we sing or speak, the voices that get amplified versus those that get marginalized - all of it is political. And suddenly, everything I cared about converged: art, activism, inquiry, expression.

Now, my practice has expanded beyond performance alone. I still sing - collaborating on creative projects, exploring new sonic territories, performing when the work feels meaningful (or simply for fun!). But I've also become a vocal coach and a researcher. I work with singers on craft while investigating the deeper dimensions of voice, touching on voice psychology and vocal identity: how discrimination shapes vocal expression, how we can find authentic sound, what liberation actually means in a vocal context.

I'm currently enrolled in the CPD Award Scheme for Voice Professionals with the Voice Study Centre UK, continuing to deepen my understanding of voice science and pedagogy,. But my real education comes from constantly asking questions: How does voice carry identity? How do societal expectations silence us?

How can vocal expression become a form of resistance, healing, or transformation?

This work - performing, teaching, researching, collaborating - is all interconnected. I'm not just a vocal coach who happens to perform. I'm an artist who thinks critically, a performer who teaches, a researcher who creates. I love the creative process, the exchange of ideas, the ways music and voice can build connection across difference.

I’m excited about exploring, learning and discovering what's possible when we approach voice with both skill and consciousness, technical precision and radical care.

let's work together

Here’s how we can work together

Whether you're preparing for auditions, exploring vocal technique, working on stage presence, or just want to understand your voice better - I bring technical skill, creative insight, and a commitment to helping you find authentic expression.

for singers

I work with vocalists at all levels on technique, song interpretation, and finding your authentic sound. We might focus on breath support, expanding range, genre-specific skills, acting, the right balance between tension and relaxation or the deeper work of connecting your voice to your identity.

For performers

Stage presence, performance anxiety, embodied expression - I bring my background in musical theatre, acting, and movement to help you feel confident and connected on stage. We work on how you inhabit your performance piece, how you use your body, and how to navigate the vulnerability of performance. This is about the whole performer, not just the voice.

For Public Speakers & the Vocally Curious

You don't have to be a singer to benefit from voice work. I support people who want to speak with more confidence, understand vocal health, or explore how their voice reflects who they are. This work can sometimes be more about unlearning rather than learning. We might work on breath and projection, or dig into the psychological patterns that shape how you use your voice - the hesitations, the habits, the ways you've learned to take up (or not take up) space with sound. If you're curious, let's talk.

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Here’s what i create

This is the work in action. I perform, I make music, I share vocal insights, and I write about the deeper questions of voice.

LISTEN

Recent recordings from Pop to Musical Theater and French & German Chanson on Soundcloud. More here

READ

Essays and longer-form thinking on vocal politics, pedagogy, and practice on Substack. More here

watch & follow

Vocal coaching tips, clips on voice and identity and behind-the-scenes moments on Instagram. More here

2025 broke something in me that resistance used to protect. It turned me into someone I don't recognize—withdrawn, guarded, a homebody by necessity rather than choice. Not because I wanted solitude, but because the world outside became unbearable. It started with hope. It turned into the brutal realization that I am powerless to stop what men do to my body, my peace, my sense of safety. The men who harassed me on the street. The man I dated. The men who wouldn't let me exist at the beach. The men who turned a simple walk into a gauntlet. And beyond my own experience—the constant drumbeat of male violence everywhere, relentless and inescapable. This isn't feminist fatigue. This is living in a patriarchal dystopia where my body is never fully mine, where violation and exploitation aren't possibilities but inevitabilities I can't control or prevent. The question that haunted me: How do I heal in a system that has no interest in my healing? Being told I'm making myself a 'victim' and 'acting from a scarcity mindset'...when I was just too exhausted and desillusioned from resisting. This year was raw survival. If you saw me functioning in public, consider yourself lucky. I still showed up where I could. I still poured my heart into emowering others in using their voice. But I'm learning. I'm building something now. Self-love, self-trust, and self-respect—these are becoming my foundation, the only real protection I have in a system designed to break me. Resilience. Strength. I'm my own compass. And that's what I'm standing on now. I finally have found energy to take care of my health again, and for the first time ever starting to see results through a changed lifestyle. I see the world so much clearer now, I see myself clearer and am more focused and confident in my path than ever before. I'm starting 2026 with a simple word: ME. Here's to the better moments of 2025, with friends, my Amoracuya birthday cake, my parents in Berlin, my first tattoo, dancing semba in Lisbon, singing, the endless intake of noodle soups, getting back in front of the camera, my dad as an effervescent source of joy and positive masculinity, and those wholesome moments in the water.

Have you felt your voice hiding this year too? I coach others to embrace, feel and trust their voice. To feel confident in being seen through their voice. To let go of the idea of a 'perfect' voice - because what would that even be? ✨ Truth is, for most of this year, I struggled with my own voice, my urge to speak and sing. So many things were done to me, that made me want to hide. Physically, emotionally...and vocally. In the end, vocal expression is always physical and emotional expression! Living in a body that is subject (or object) to so much patriarchal violence makes it hard at times (or often) to choose expression over protection. ✨ But if anything makes me want to sing again, it's probably Christmas. Festivities like Carnival and Christmas to me are still the foundation of musical expression within my culture and the base of communal singing. Where singing and listening to music is not about style, not about being good or well versed in a certain genre, not about showing off skills or ego. It's about celebrating a season or cultural event through song; sung, felt or listened to in community. Maybe just the first verse, maybe just the chorus, maybe just humming the melody, or sensing the vibration of the music in our body - this is where people come together in unison. One voice. ✨ Recording this little winter song with one of my best friends, during one of my favorite times of the year, and seeing how my voice does its job despite fighting a bad cold, is honestly the epitome of joy and evidence to my vocal and emotional endurance. ✨ Thank you for pushing through with me, although we were both so sick @martinacollimusic ♥️ 🎹@martinacollimusic 🎵 by Anderson/Parish #singer #vocalcoach #voiceteacher #vocalhealth #healthyvoice #performer #voice #empowerment #voiceempowerment #christmas #christmassongs🎶 #caroling #artistlife #voiceteachersofinstagram

After sharing some experiences of everyday s*xual harrassment in the streets of Berlin a few days ago, putting this in stories just doesn't cut it anymore. S*xual harrassment and v!iolence are not cultural phenomenons, they are a systemic problem. Worldwide. And especially now during summer here in Europe, the incidents are going through the roof. It's been a rough summer emotionally, and I've spent a lot of time inside. Every time I go outside to find some peace, do selfcare or simply want to live 👏🏼my👏🏼life👏🏼 outside, I am confronted with this type of behavior by men. I am tired. I am exhausted. And I am fucking furious. Men, do your work. Start with yourself: how have you and are you contributing to the objectification and s*xualization of women and female bodies? How are you treating the women in your life? How can you act differently? Do you maybe think you're not part of the problem, because you're 'sensitive'?* Then, look around your circle: what toxic mechanisms exist between and among your bros and other men in your life? Are you maybe a self-proclaimed 'feminist' who still falls into these patterns whenever it's convenient for you, or when you're looking for friends' approval? Have you called your bros out? Why not? Start calling out your bros. Be firm. Hold them accountable. But hold yourself accountable first. * Yes, you are still very much part of the problem. It's great that you don't subscribe to traditional masculinity in all forms, keep doing that, but you are still part of the system. And your behavior still affects women.

I told my parents they're the love of my life. I got several messages telling me I'll be an auntie again - to the kids of wonderful friends. I faced a man in court who sexually harrassed me. And, for the first time, saw justice - and the incredible healing force it is. I learned that love is a verb. And a decision. I started to set boundaries. And lost people during that process. And loved the growth it created in the relationship with others. I spent more time by myself - and liked it. I was angry a lot. At men. How men act in this world and how they treat me and others. I also got more empathy for them. And urge men more than ever to heal, for themselves and for the people whose lives they impact. I cried less. I got diagnosed with PCOS, leading to and explaining big physical changes. Changes I will have to learn how to live with next year and the years after. I submitted a grant application to start my research on voice and discrimination. I got my heart broken again. And decided to do a full recalibration of my love compass. I got into a mentoring programme. I vocal coached a number of great people and learned so much more about the connection between our voice and our soul. I got back on my feet financially. I followed the Pélicot case closely, with so many emotions, hoping that, finally, 'shame will change sides'. I read 3 books. Yay. In hindsight, 2024 was maybe more eventful than it felt. But it was hard and I struggled so, so much. My happiest time was this Christmas, with so much love, so much warmth, so much family... I ended the year sick, but with my heart filled to the brim with loving. ❤️‍🔥 Photo in front of our ever-magnificent Christmas tree🎄

Here's the reason why I've been singing for exactly 30 years: my Dad - singer, theologist, philosopher, educator, funny guy, trickster, emotional dude and lover of whipped cream - started giving me voice lessons when I was just 4 years old. And whenever he had other voice students over, I would peek through the door he left ajar because I was so incredibly curious to see what he was doing with all these people who were coming to our home to learn how to sing. He knew. Sometimes he winked at me when they didn't look. We recorded this little song in our native 'language', Kölsch, that is so simple and sweet and happy in our beautifully green garden in the summer. My Papili has always brought the joy of song to our home. When I was still full of energy at bedtime, I would use him as my personal juke box and requested one song after the other. 5, 10, 20 songs he would sing to me until I was finally ready to go to sleep. My parents met through the power of music, and I think in my childhood I often took for granted how special it was that my birthday songs were sung in harmonies, that they found songs to sing to me and my brother about the saints we were named after, and would host little concerts at our home with other musicians. It's my Dad who gave me my name. Lioba, the whoman who is love - because he wanted me to walk through this world with a strong and loving heart. I can't believe he's entering his last year before his 70ies today. And after what we've been through the last year and a half, I am happier and more thankful than ever that this gem of a person is my father. Happy Birthday, Papili ♥️ 🎶: Ming eetste Fründin - Bläck Fööss #singer #fatheranddaughter #dadsofinstagram #vocalcoach #singing #kölsch #family

Vibrators are not just great toys for seggs, but also a great tool to include in your vocal hygiene routine! ✨ I was surprised when my speech therapist in New York presented me with several vibrating friends and told me : 'No worries, they're for your voice - and other things too, if you want.' 😏 ✨ Whenever I feel jaw or tongue tension now, or come home from a very voice-intensive day, I use these vibrators to help relax my muscles. It's similar to using a muscle gun on the rest of your body when you feel sore after workouts (please DO NOT use these on your face!!). ✨ This is definitely one way to make seggs toys tax deductible for singers. ✨ Try it out and let me know how it feels in the comments!! #singer #vocalcoach #toy #voiceteacher #healthyvoice #vocalhealth #voicelessons #presence #publicspeaking

testimonials

"Working with Lioba has been an incredibly valuable and grounding experience for me as a performer. Through her guidance, she helped me refine my German pronunciation and develop a clearer sense of tone and rhythm. Her acting warm-up techniques gave me practical tools to stay centered, present, and emotionally available in my performances. I feel a real sense of happiness and satisfaction with the progress I've made under her coaching. Her support has helped me find more confidence and authenticity in my character work. I'm deeply grateful for her precision, patience, and the way she brings both structure and warmth into her teaching"

Coreena Brown | Vocalist, Performer, Producer
"I had the pleasure of working with Lioba, and particularly appreciate her ability to convey emotions authentically. She has a gift for bringing songs to life and telling stories in a compelling way. Her stage presence is touching and approachable – an artist who has truly reached my heart."

Martina Colli | Pianist, Composer & Performer
"I’ve been working with Lioba for a few months and I absolutely love her lessons. Lioba is patient and compassionate, and she comes with a wealth of knowledge of performance and singing techniques. She customizes the lessons to fit my needs while providing a sound structure. I was always shy about my voice when I was younger. Lioba has helped me to find confidence in my voice, not just with performance and singing, but also in everyday situations where I need to speak up. I walk away from our lessons feeling inspired."

Kim Esparza | Stand-Up Comedian
"During my several vocal coaching sessions with Lioba, I was very impressed by her warm personality. She immediately creates an atmosphere of trust, is extremely attentive and listens with great presence. She provides valuable inspiration to help you find your own way towards your voice. The tools she teaches are simple, very effective and help you reconnect with yourself. This had a direct and positive impact on my self-confidence as a singer, as well as on my relationship with other musicians and the audience."

Nadia Lafi | Singer

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Let’s talk voice!

I'm here for conversations. Whether you're looking for vocal coaching, want to collaborate musically, or just want to talk about voice and identity - let's connect!