Biography
LaVista Benson, soprano, is very proud of the nearly two decades she spent teaching in the award-winning Department of Music at Riverside City College's Coil School for the Arts. Her many diverse students excelled in the art of singing classical repertoire, competing in prestigious contests, performing lead roles in musical theater favorites, and leading vocals for various jazz ensembles. Additionally, she was thrilled to join the esteemed Faculty at California Baptist University's Collinsworth School of Music welcoming students of Contemporary Commercial Music and Contemporary Christian Music into her studio.
Ms. Benson's favorite moments on stage include soloist features for great works such as Mozart's Requiem and Vespers, Schubert's Mass in G, Handel's Messiah, Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium, and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass. On the operatic stage, some of her favorite roles have been becoming The Countess in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Adina in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love. Behind the stage, LaVista has enjoyed producing and stage-managing operas such as The Elixir of Love and Verdi's La Traviata as well as scene programs from many beloved operas. Beyond the operatic venues, LaVista has also been delighted to direct musicals, among her favorites being Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady and State Fair by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Ms. Benson has enjoyed many choral opportunities as well, including serving as the President of the world renowned Hour of Power's Crystal Cathedral Choir under the direction of Don Neuen, supporting Andrea Bocelli at the Honda Center, being invited to sing with the Pacific Chorale under the direction of John Alexander, performing on the Hollywood Bowl stage with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra under the direction of Maestro John Mauceri, and many seasons on tour with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Keith Lockhart touring throughout America. Ms. Benson has served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Los Angeles Chapter. She is sought out to conduct Master Classes and vocal coaching for various Riverside area choristers and vocalists as well as adjudicate Southern California vocal competitions such as the Spotlight Scholarship competition at the famous Music Center in Los Angeles, California.
Before making the move to Tennessee with her family, LaVista joined her trumpeter husband, Jason, on stage singing with Inland Empire's SOZO Jazz Band playing big band favorites for various events across Southern California. Her most important role to date is the "stage managing" of the ongoing comedy in her home where the stars of the show are her twelve-year-old ingénue, Mila, and her eleven-year-old stuntman-in-training, Liam.