Janet Alcorn earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Music degree in Voice and Voice Therapy from Boston University. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Studio and the New York City Opera and sang major roles with the opera companies of Cleveland, Dallas, Philadelphia, Frankfurt and Manilla. She appeared as soloist with many symphony orchestras including Philadelphia, Cleveland and Cincinnati. She was on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music for many years, and retired from Iowa State University as Associate Professor Of Voice and Director of the Opera Studio with Emerita status. While in Iowa, she was district director of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions. She was on the faculty of the Hartt School of the University of Hartford from 2000 to 2003 and of Birmingham Southern College from 2003 until 2007.
Now retired from singing, her primary interests are vocal health and rehabilitation and musicians' health. She is on the faculty of the McClosky Institute of Voice, where she trains other teachers in vocal health techniques. She has also studied extensively in somatics, body mapping and the Alexander Technique. She is a certified Andover Educator, teaching courses and giving workshops such as "What Every Singer (Musician) needs to know about the Body".