Elizabeth Yoder

Background

About Elizabeth Yoder

Hailed as a “soaring, vibrant sound,” soprano Elizabeth Westerman Yoder is recognized as a versatile singing actress with thrilling high notes and a strong commitment to character. As a teacher, Dr. Yoder is known for sharing a palpable excitement for dramatic interpretation and for quickly and accurately assessing technical vocal difficulties. Dr. Yoder’s teaching responsibilities at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro included private voice, class voice, and English and Italian lyric dictions. She served as teaching assistant for the graduate and undergraduate lyric diction courses and the undergraduate seminar in career development. As a Visiting Research Scholar at the CUNY Graduate Center, she completed research for her dissertation entitled, “A Guide to the Performance and Musical Understanding of the Role of Zerbinetta from Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos.” While living in New York City, Dr. Yoder maintained a private studio in where she taught singers and other voice professionals. Additionally, she owned a music studio through which she hired performing artists to teach young students in-home lessons in many of the top penthouses in Manhattan. Dr. Yoder frequently collaborates with current composers. She has workshopped the operas of Veronica Krausas'(The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Fort Worth Opera Frontiers) and Joe Illick (Bliss, Edda St. Juste, Seagle Colony). Elizabeth has worked with composer/conductors Tania Leon and Polina Nazaykinskaya. Composers Joe Illick and Kyle T. Jones and poet Yvonne Strumecki have written original works for Dr. Yoder’s voice. Dr. Yoder has taught voice and coached actors and singers for The Florida State University High School Summer Camps, Seaside Music Theater (as Music Director/Accompanist for the Apprentice Program), Avalon School of Music, and Opera Fortunata. Performance credits include Pamina, Tallulah, Adele, Adina, Cleopatra, Gretel, Mademoiselle Silberklang, le Rossignol, Gianetta, Rapunzel, Juno, Spring, and covers of Zerbinetta and Marie (Fort Worth Opera), The Foreign Woman (Opera New Jersey) and many oratorio performances.