Yixuan Han said there are myriad of reasons why people traverse the flight of stairs to get to HanOpera Music Academy in east Plano, including young children starting out on their music education journey and adults who are life-long singers desiring to join like-minded individuals.

“Children and teenagers really like musical theater and pop songs,” Han said. “The adults really like the choir—specifically solos.”

Han opened HanOpera Music Academy in 2019.

The set up

Han, who earned a doctorate degree in musical arts from University of North Texas, said she trains all HanOpera teachers to instruct in the teaching method she has developed over 20 years.


“HanOpera is totally different from other music academies because I use my teaching system and teaching philosophy ... which is science-based vocal training,” Han said. “[The teachers] match the same concert concepts, skills and techniques—then we teach them.”

In-person group and individual voice lessons, ranging from vocal fundamentals to competition levels, are taught at HanOpera. Online singing classes are also available. Classes are offered for children ages 4 and older. Han said currently, the oldest HanOpera student is 60 years old.

Performances are scheduled throughout the year and are held offsite at nearby performance centers.

What else?


HanOpera students perform songs in a variety of languages including Italian, German, French, English, Japanese and Chinese. Han said most songs have an International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA, which allows singers the ability to sing in their non-native language. However, one language lacked this useful tool.

“One of my achievements with my doctoral degree—I am the first person to create a new version of the Chinese IPA for singers,” Han said. “I send our singers this IPA marked [music] ... and they are singing it correctly. As a classical singer, it was always in Italian, German, French and English, and never Chinese, because they said Chinese is hard. Now it's not hard.”

The backstory

Han opened HanOpera in her Plano home in 2019. In 2024, she made the leap from home business to a brick-and-mortar location when she moved the academy to the current location on K Avenue. She said her students were instrumental in making her dream a reality when they bought pianos and chairs for the new location.


“My students have been with me for a long time. They always say, ‘Dr. Han, you are not a business woman, you are just a musician. But that's why we love you',” Han said. “But I only think of one thing—I want my students to have a big space to do rehearsals and performances.”

Quote of note

Prior to opening HanOpera Music Academy, Han taught voice at universities in both China and America. Sometimes her former university students ask why she teaches kids.

“I'm a voice teacher, not a university vocal major teacher,” Han said. “That's why I learned vocal pedagogy ... to teach all my students different voice types so they shine on the stage. This is my job.”