Elena Batman

Elena Jeanne Batman joined the Carthage faculty in 2015. She currently teaches Applied Voice, Vocal Pedagogy, and The Voice Profession class. Prof. Batman is also on the faculty of the Bienen School of Music (Northwestern University) and North Park University, where she teaches both classical and contemporary voice lessons.

Praised for both her breathtaking voice and her acting, Elena Jeanne Batman’s career has encompassed opera, musical theater, and the concert stage. She helped open the multi-million dollar production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom, the Las Vegas Spectacular in 2006. She reprised the role she played on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning production (The Phantom of the Opera) and later with the Second and Third National tours. Miss Batman has the distinction of having completed over 3,000 performances as Carlotta. Stage performances such as The Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte include New York City Opera, The Connecticut Opera, and Alaska’s Anchorage Opera. Creating the role of Marie, Miss Batman appeared in the world premiere of Seymour Barab’s opera A Piece of String. Other favorite roles include Violetta in La Traviata, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Anna Leonowens in The King and I.

As a featured soloist, Miss Batman has appeared in New York at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, and Merkin Concert Hall. Regional highlights include the Ravinia Festival productions of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd with George Hearn and Patti LuPone, and the workshop version of Doll with Michael Cerveris, Judy Kuhn, and David Hyde Pierce, both directed by Lonny Price. She has performed locally with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Ravinia, the Handel Week Festival of Oak Park, Chicago Symphony Chorus, and Grant Park Music Festival. Internationally, she was a special envoy and invited guest soloist and teacher in the countries of Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos.

Balancing teaching with a performing career is something that Prof. Batman has learned to manage quite well. Elena has taught voice and other aspects of music throughout her professional career. She has been invited to participate in panel discussions and teach master classes at several colleges and universities, as well as the “Meet the Artist” series at Lincoln Center. Sought after as a vocal pedagogue, her voice students have been seen in regional opera companies and on Broadway, Las Vegas, and national tours.

She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and served as an adjudicator at the 2022 National Student Auditions. In addition to NATS, she is a member of AEA, AGMA, MTEA. A previous winner of the National Association of Teachers of Singing vocal competition and a MacAllister Award recipient, she was named “Outstanding Mozart Singer” at the regional finals of the Metropolitan Opera auditions.

Prof. Batman graduated from Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado and earned her Doctor of Music in Voice and Opera Performance at Northwestern University.

In her life before opera, she was a competitive equestrian and horse show judge. Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and raised in Greeley, Colorado, she now makes her home in Chicago with her husband Lee and their daughter Alyssa.

• Doctor of Music in Voice and Opera Performance from Northwestern University
• Master of Music in Voice and Opera Performance from the University of Northern Colorado
• K-12 certification in Music, vocal and instrumental, from the University of Northern Colorado
• Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Colorado State University