Maria Nockin worked at the Metropolitan Opera in New York while attending Fordham University across the street from Lincoln Center. At the same time, she studied voice, piano, and violin privately. For many years she taught English as a Second Language as well as courses in Art and Theater at New York City and Hauppauge Long Island schools. She has also served as soprano soloist at Long Island's Cathedral of St. Agnes. She spent summers working at the Salzburg Festival where some iof her reviews were translated and read on Austrian Radio. Upon retirement from teaching, she moved to the warmer climate of the Southwest United States where, in winter, she writes about opera and classical music in the major cities of Arizona and California. In summer she covers operas and concerts in Santa Fe New Mexico. In summer 2014, Maria taught Music Theory at the Institute for Large Dramatic Voices. One of her students was Jonah Hoskins, a 2020 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions.