Renee Benson is a New Orleans based singer, songwriter, poet and composer. On the stage, her dynamic and rhythmically challenging phrasing calls her listeners to break away from the world of the overstimulated to the world of the living. As a singer (jazz, hip hop, soul, funk, gospel, reggae and more), she has been featured on TV, Radio and film. She has performed at the Glastonbury Music Festival, as part of the Austrian entry for Eurovision, and at Vienna’s LifeBall. Renee is the lead voice for the experimental jazz and hip hop collective, "No Home For Johnny," labeled Vienna’s 2015 Popfest “highlight”. Her nomadic side teaches at Banff Centre of the Arts on Faculty for the Indigenous Arts: Wîchoîe Ahiya Indigenous Singer/Songwriter Intensive and freelances as the hip hop educational consultant for the Hamilton Education Program with The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. In September 2020, she will be in residence at the Contemporary Art Center with “Requiem for a Stranger” with Vagabond Inventions. With Austria’s Vogelberg Jazz Orchestra, Renee is the performing vocalist for a commissioned original experimental opera she co-created with composer Vincent Pongracz, Leelah. Renee will tour with this project to the Jazzwerkstatt Festival in Switzerland in March 2020.

Compositions, Collaborations and Community oh My!!!

Lessons
Renee teaches both private and group lessons for the beginner to professional singer, EmCee, poet and actor. With the strong belief that everyone has the capacity to sing, Renee works intuitively with each individual student to provide a highly organic, enjoyable and progressive approach to helping them improve musically. For lessons via in person or skype, please fill out the form on the contact page of the website.

Workshops
Whether she’s teaching a songwriting, an overcoming stage fright or a basic vocal workshop, Renee is dedicated to helping every student in achieving their short and long term goals in performance. Renee has studied with Ariel Bybee, Mezzo soprano for the New York Metropolitan Opera, The Meredith Monk Ensemble and has received her B.F.A at New York’s University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Renee has worked as either faculty or guest presenter with the BANFF Centre of the Arts, Hamilton Education Program, and The Kennedy Center VSA facilitating workshops for Trauma Informed Practices and has led DEIA sessions for the Mississippi Teaching Artist Collaborative. 

Composing, Vocal Performance advisor and More
Collaborators include- Vagabond Productions, Deke Weaver, Vincent Pongracz Caravan Stage and growing..

Experimental is a place where Renee feels very comfortable. She works with theater and dance ensembles. Her interest in vocal and sonic play is high!!!

As a silent producing songwriter,  Renee has lent her writing skills to a lot of artists that she cannot mention. She has worked in the past helping artists arrange, write and compose their professional albums and musical pieces. She is very supportive and as much as a good listener as she is a talker. She has a knack to help you develop and translate your individual voice