Marc Webster is a singer, teacher, and artistic mentor whose work bridges professional performance, vocal pedagogy, and the training of emerging singers. As Associate Professor of Voice at Ithaca College, he maintains an active career in opera, musical theater, concert and oratorio performance, recital, guest teaching, adjudication, and professional leadership while integrating professional artistic practice with undergraduate training through collaborative projects, guest artist residencies, and performance opportunities beyond the traditional classroom and studio.
A member of the voice faculty in Ithaca College’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance for more than fifteen years, Webster’s teaching emphasizes healthy, expressive, and technically grounded singing across a wide range of repertoire and career paths. Working collaboratively with colleagues across voice, opera, musical theatre, diction, coaching, conducting, and stage direction, he helps guide students in the development of vocal technique, musicianship, storytelling, stylistic awareness, and professional preparation within a supportive and interdisciplinary training environment.
Students who have studied singing with Marc can currently or recently be heard on Broadway in productions including The Lost Boys , Tommy , Sweeney Todd , Hadestown , MJ the Musical , A Beautiful Noise , Spring Awakening , Gypsy , and The Book of Mormon . Recent students have also gone on to graduate study at institutions including the Eastman School of Music, New England Conservatory, Rice University, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), Indiana University, San Francisco Conservatory, and Peabody Conservatory.
Webster’s professional training includes residencies at the Juilliard Opera Center, the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, as a Filene Artist at Wolf Trap Opera, Seattle Opera Studio, and Florida Grand Opera Studio, experiences that continue to inform both his artistic and teaching practices.
Recent operatic activity includes an ongoing relationship with the Glimmerglass Festival, where Marc performed during the 2025 season in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George , the latter receiving the 2025 International Opera Award for Musical Theatre. His collaborations with Glimmerglass have also included developmental workshops and performances connected to contemporary operatic repertoire and new works in development.
Alongside this work, Marc has maintained an active regional operatic presence through ongoing engagements with companies throughout New York State, including recurring collaborations with Tri-Cities Opera in principal roles in Gianni Schicchi and La traviata , with upcoming appearances in Così fan tutte and La bohème , as well as performances with Syracuse Opera, Opera Ithaca, and Mercury Opera Rochester.
Concert and oratorio performance are another significant part of Marc’s artistic activity. He has appeared as a bass soloist with New York State Baroque, the Defiant Requiem Project, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and Symphoria, in addition to ongoing collaborations with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. This work has included both standard and contemporary repertoire, interdisciplinary collaborations, and recordings, including Arias for Trumpet and Voice with the International Trumpet Guild and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for Harmonia Mundi.
An active recitalist and collaborative artist, Marc has appeared with Sparks & Wiry Cries in collaboration with Oxford Lieder, the Cincinnati Song Initiative, and the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar’s Repertoire Development for Teaching Professionals program, in addition to invited residencies and performances throughout the United States and abroad. Earlier in his career, he performed regularly with New York Festival of Song under Steven Blier and participated in The Song Continues at Carnegie Hall with Marilyn Horne, experiences that continue to inform his collaborative work in recital and vocal chamber music.
Marc’s professional activity also includes guest artist teaching, adjudication, invited residencies, and collaborative educational work with singers, collaborative pianists, and faculty colleagues across collegiate, festival, and pre-professional training environments in both national and international settings. International engagements have included teaching and collaborative work in Ireland, Canada, Italy, and South Korea, including an upcoming appointment this summer with the BLAS International Summer School at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick; ongoing work with Songe d’été en musique in Québec, Canada, where he served as Interim Co-Director of the Vocal Studio in 2024; and continued collaboration with Si Parla, Si Canta in Arona, Italy. His work has also included teaching and adjudication through CS Music in Seoul, South Korea, hosted by Ewha Womans University, and adjudication for the McCammon International Voice Competition at Fort Worth Opera, several of which have led to continuing collaborations and return engagements.
Nationally, Marc has presented extended guest artist residencies featuring recital performances, masterclasses, classroom teaching, and individual coachings at Colorado State University, Cedarville University, Sam Houston State University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and the University of Texas at Brownsville. Additional invited collegiate masterclasses and residencies have included work with singers and collaborative pianists at Boston University, DePaul University, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, Wake Forest University, and Pacific Lutheran University. He also remains active with the Classical Singer organization as a masterclass clinician, adjudicator, and faculty representative at national conventions.
An important aspect of Marc’s work is the integration of professional artistic activity with student learning through mentorship and collaborative performance opportunities. As a professional section leader with Albany Pro Musica in collaboration with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Marc has helped connect Ithaca College students with opportunities to participate in large-scale professional rehearsal and performance settings. Similar collaborations have integrated Ithaca College and Cornell University students into concert, opera, chamber, and interdisciplinary performances connected to Marc’s professional and institutional work, as well as productions and workshop performances with Tri-Cities Opera, Opera Ithaca, and the Glimmerglass Festival.
In addition to his teaching and artistic work, Marc maintains an active record of institutional and professional leadership. At Ithaca College, he serves as Voice Area Coordinator, providing leadership for a large and collaborative voice area through curriculum development, admissions and recruitment initiatives, faculty coordination, guest artist engagement, and long-range program planning. His work has included curricular revision and redesign efforts, coordination of auditions, juries, recital processes, and area retreats, and participation in faculty governance, assessment, search committees, and program development within the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance and the broader college community.
Marc has also remained active in institutional service through work on the All-College Faculty Council, Academic Policies Committee, Faculty and Staff Benefits Committee, Faculty Development Council, and Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Belonging initiatives, alongside ongoing involvement in faculty evaluation, mentorship, conference hosting, recruitment initiatives, and the coordination of guest artist residencies and masterclasses.
Professionally, Marc serves as President of the Upstate New York District of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), following prior service as Vice President of the Central New York–Finger Lakes Chapter. His professional service includes longstanding work as an adjudicator, conference organizer, and creator of professional development initiatives for voice teachers focused on lyric diction, inclusive pedagogy, contemporary commercial music, vocal jazz pedagogy, and repertoire development.
Webster holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and Master of Music degree in Voice Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music and an Artist Diploma in Opera Performance from The Juilliard School. His principal teachers include Carol Webber, Robert C. White, and David Parks.
A proud graduate of Ithaca College’s Bachelor of Music programs in Vocal Performance and Music Education, Webster is honored to mentor the next generation of singers at his alma mater through a teaching practice grounded in artistry, curiosity, collaboration, and the belief that music possesses a unique ability to connect, communicate, and inspire.