Dagmar Apel began practicing Zen Buddhism in 1970 with Roshi Philip Kapleau at the Rochester Zen Center, and she has since been deeply involved in meditation practice. She studied with Jiddu Krishnamurti and was an assistant, co-teacher, and close friend of the late Toni Packer of the Springwater Center.
She originally trained as a classical singer, and toured extensively with the a cappella group “Collegium Vocale Köln” performing contemporary and Renaissance music. In the 1980s, living in New York, she performed in several music and experimental theatre productions. She then developed a strong interest in teaching voice, both singing and speaking. She received her Master’s degree in Functional Voice Training from Antioch University in 1990, and is also a certified Feldenkrais practitioner. She has worked as a voice and speech coach with several repertory theatres, including the National Theater Mannheim, and has taught actors and singers of all genres in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. For more than a decade she was on the faculty of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. She currently works as a voice coach and lives with her husband in New York.
Her specific approach to voice teaching led her also to specializing in vocal damage prevention and support for singers and speakers in demanding professional circumstances.