Jeffrey Benson
Dr. Jeffrey Benson
The Charlene Archibeque Endowed Professor of Choral Music
Director of Choral Activities
408-924-4645
jeffrey.benson@sjsu.edu
MUS 262
Biography
Jeffrey Benson is currently the Charlene Archibeque Endowed Professor of Choral Music and Director of Choral Activities at San José State University. He also serves as Artistic Director of Peninsula Cantare, a community chorus based in Palo Alto, CA. The Washington Post hails his choirs for singing “with an exquisite blend, subtlety of phrasing, confident musicianship and fully supported tone.”
Dr. Benson made his international conducting debut with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the SJSU Choraliers in Limerick, Ireland in 2016, and he made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut ten years ago. He has served as cover conductor for the Grammy award-winning Washington Chorus, where he helped to prepare the ensemble for Maestros Leonard Slatkin and Marvin Hamlisch.
This season, Benson returns to Carnegie Hall to conduct Elaine Hagenberg’s Illuminare and Mozart's Requiem with orchestra and chorus, and he recently conducted Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard at the Washington National Cathedral with Berkshire Choral International. In the past few years, Dr. Benson’s choirs have been invited to perform with the Rolling Stones, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, the Los Angeles Festival Orchestra and the Skywalker Orchestra.
Dr. Benson is a published composer and arranger, and is the editor of the Jeffrey Benson Choral Series with both Santa Barbara Music Publishing and Gentry Publications. His own compositions are published with Colla Voce Music and Santa Barbara Music Publishing, under the Charlene Archibeque Choral Series.
Benson is Past President of the California Choral Directors Association (CCDA) and currently serves on the National Advocacy and Collaboration Committee for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). He received his Master’s degree and his Doctorate in Choral Conducting/Music Education from The Florida State University and his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from New York University.
