Elizabeth Benson

About Me

Dr. Elizabeth Ann Benson is recognized as a dynamic scholar, pedagogue, and performer. Her book, Training Contemporary Commercial Singers is hailed as “a remarkable and long-awaited contribution to the world of voice pedagogy” (Journal of Singing). She has published research in Voice and Speech Review, The Journal of Singing, and American Music Teacher and has presented her research at conferences for the International Congress of Voice Teachers, the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance (U.K. and New York City), the Pan American Vocology Association, the Voice Foundation, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and the Association for Popular Music Education. A passionate collaborator and advocate for singing voice rehabilitation following voice impairment, Elizabeth is among only a handful of practitioners in the world who have earned three certifications through Vocal Health Education (U.K.): Voice Rehabilitation Specialist, Vocal Habilitation Professional, and Vocal Health First Aid. She also holds the Recognized Vocologist designation from the Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA-RV). She has been a livestream guest speaker with national and international organizations including the Grammy Awards MusiCares Program, NATS Chat, Institute for Vocal Advancement, Voice Study Centre, Vocology in Practice, Vocal Health Education, and more. She is an invited plenary speaker for the 2026 National Association of Teachers of Singing conference, where she will speak on voice rehabilitation in tertiary settings as part of an international interdisciplinary panel on voice heath.

Elizabeth’s current research examines issues of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging within the voice studio. Along with Dale Cox, she is co-editor of the forthcoming collection, Voices of Belonging: Inclusive Practices in the Voice Studio (Routledge), for which she is also co-author of four chapters. She co-authored the first fat liberationist articles for the Journal of Singing and Voice and Speech Review (with Kate Rosen), and the first anti-racist article on singing voice pedagogy for Voice and Speech Review (with Trineice Robinson-Martin and Marisa Lee Naismith. In 2024, that article was selected by Routledge to be part of a special collections book titled Voice and Identity (edited by Rockford Sansom). She sits on the editorial boards of Australian Voice, the Journal of Voice, and the Voice and Speech Review. She has delivered guest lectures on her research for New York University, Loyola University (Chicago), Shenandoah University, and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and has appeared as an invited guest for national and international podcasts including Wholehearted Voice Pedagogy, VocalFri, and A Voice and Beyond.

Elizabeth is a Professor of Musical Theatre Voice at Auburn University, where she teaches applied voice for musical theatre majors and class voice in singing fundamentals. She regularly serves as vocal director and vocal health consultant on university theatre productions, working to safeguard and empower student voices during periods of heavy vocal load. Recent highlights include Sweeney Todd, Violet, and Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. She is the owner of Benson Music Studios LLC, specializing in singing voice rehabilitation, teacher mentorship, and voice lessons for musical theatre, popular, and contemporary styles.

As a master class clinician, Elizabeth has presented for the Singapore Performing Arts Academy in Singapore, The New York Singing Teachers’ Association (NYSTA), Colorado-Wyoming NATS, and at universities and theatre companies around the country, including The University of Colorado in Boulder and Queensbury Theatre in Houston, among others. She specializes in versatile vocal function, with stylistic applications spanning from opera to musical theatre to rock singing. She is trained in Somatic Voicework™, the LoVetri Method, Lisa Popeil’s Voiceworks® Method, Estill Voice Training®, and the Soul Ingredients® Method. She also draws from further training with the CCM Voice Pedagogy Institute, Broadway Teaching Group, Rock the Audition (Sheri Sanders), Scream with Melissa Cross, Sharpening Your CCM Toolkit with Dane Chalfin and Kim Chandler, and the Voice Pedagogy Professional Workshop (Boston Conservatory at Berklee).

Praised for her “delightful” (The Boston Globe) and “delicately compassionate” (Times Herald Record) singing, Elizabeth is acknowledged as a vibrant and versatile performer. In her Carnegie Hall début, she created the title role of Lucy by Tom Cipullo, and her performance was acclaimed as “excellent” (The Big City). She has sung leading roles with Loveland Opera Theater, Luminous Thread Productions, and Cabaret Otaku. As a 2015 winner of The American Prize Chicago Musical Theatre Award, she made her solo début at Chicago’s Symphony Center singing songs by Rogers and Hammerstein. She made her Telfair B. Peet Theatre onstage debut in her 2018 solo cabaret show: Weaving Stories: A Cabaret of Connections, which featured songs drawn from classical art song, musical theatre, and contemporary pop/rock. As a member of Opera on Tap Colorado, she performed regularly on the 2020 livestream concert series “Love in the Time of Covid-19: An Apocalypse Cabaret.” In 2022, she made her rock band debut with ThunderGypsy at the Hard Rock Café in Atlanta.

Elizabeth holds a master of music degree from New England Conservatory, and a doctorate from The City University of New York Graduate Center. She is both a graduate of the NATS Intern Program (2016) and a recipient of the NATS Emerging Leader Award (2012). Current professional leadership positions include International Director of the Mentorship Program for the Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance (MTEA), Founding Member and Past President of the Alabama Chapter of the Voice Foundation, and member of the International Mentoring Committee for NATS.

Publications

Book:

Benson, Elizabeth Ann, Training Contemporary Commercial Singers, Oxford: Compton Publishing, 2020.

Edited Collection:

Cox, Dale and Elizabeth Ann Benson, Co-Editors, Voices of Belonging: Inclusive Practices in the Voice Studio, New York: Routledge, 2027.

Book Chapters:

Benson, Elizabeth Ann and Kate Rosen, “Fat Liberation and Voice Pedagogy,” in Voices of Belonging: Inclusive Practices in the Voice Studio, Edited by Cox and Benson, New York: Routledge, 2027.

Benson, Elizabeth Ann, Trineice Robinson-Martin and Marisa Lee Naismith, “Embracing Individual Musical Identity: Culturally Responsive Voice Pedagogy,” in Voices of Belonging: Inclusive Practices in the Voice Studio, Edited by Cox and Benson, New York: Routledge, 2027.

Cox, Dale and Elizabeth Ann Benson, “Power Structures and Voice Pedagogy,” in Voices of Belonging: Inclusive Practices in the Voice Studio, Edited by Cox and Benson, New York: Routledge, 2027.

Cox, Dale and Elizabeth Ann Benson, “Intersectionality in the Voice Studio,” in Voices of Belonging: Inclusive Practices in the Voice Studio, Edited by Cox and Benson, New York: Routledge, 2027.

Benson, Elizabeth Ann, Trineice Robinson-Martin, and Marisa Naismith, “Practicing Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the Singing Voice Studio,” in Voice and Identity, edited by Rockford Sansom, London: Routledge, 2024.

Journal Articles:

Benson, Elizabeth Ann and Kate Rosen, “Fat Liberation in the Singing Voice Studio,” Voice and Speech Review 19, no. 2 (2025): 140-160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23268263.2024.2354036

Benson, Elizabeth Ann and Kate Rosen, “Anti-Fat Bias in the Singing Voice Studio, Part 2: How to Make a Size Inclusive Voice Studio,” The Journal of Singing 79, no. 5 (May/June 2023): 653-660. https://doi.org/10.53830/KNDP8249

Benson, Elizabeth Ann and Kate Rosen, “Anti-Fat Bias in the Singing Voice Studio, Part 1: Culture and Context,” The Journal of Singing 79, no. 4 (March/April 2023): 503-512. https://doi.org/10.53830/APRF3860

Benson, Elizabeth Ann, Trineice Robinson-Martin, and Marisa Naismith, “Practicing Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the Singing Voice Studio,” Voice and Speech Review 16, no. 2 (July 2022): 166-179. https://doi.org/10.1080/23268263.2021.1964723.

Benson, Elizabeth Ann, James Stover, and Tara Snyder, “Dual Roles, Dual Voices: Analyzing Vocal Function in Hamilton: An American Musical through the Estill Voice Model™,” Voice and Speech Review 14, no. 1 (January 2020): 28-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/23268263.2020.1687161.

Benson, Elizabeth Ann, “Reclaiming ‘Romantic’: The Art Songs of Tom Cipullo,” The Journal of Singing 75, no. 3 (January/February 2019): 253-268.

Benson, Elizabeth Ann, “Modern Voice Pedagogy: Functional Training for All Styles,” American Music Teacher 67, no. 6 (June/July 2018): 10-13.

Degrees Obtained

DMA, The City University of New York Graduate Center

MM, New England Conservatory