Cee Adamson

Dr. Cee E. Adamson (she/they) is a voice educator, opera singer, choral director, arts administrator, student affairs practitioner, and music scholar whose work brings together performance, pedagogy, research, and community engagement. As a member of the voice faculty, Dr. Adamson is committed to helping students develop healthy, expressive, and sustainable voices while cultivating the technical confidence and artistic curiosity needed to communicate authentically through music.

A singer who performs in the beguiling and liminal space between countertenor and mezzo-soprano, Adamson is particularly drawn to early music, new music, art song, and opera that illuminate meaningful human experiences. Her operatic roles include Oberon in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Giulio Cesare in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Mercédès in Carmen, and Florence Pike in Albert Herring. She has also appeared with Glimmerglass Opera and participated in Seattle Opera’s Creation Lab, supporting the development of new operatic works.

Adamson’s teaching is informed by extensive experience in vocal performance, choral conducting, student affairs, and arts leadership. Their approach emphasizes individualized instruction, technical freedom, interpretive depth, and respect for the diverse identities and lived experiences students bring to the studio. Beyond individual voice instruction, Adamson has led vocal ensembles and arts programs focused on musical excellence, collaboration, accessibility, and belonging.

Their scholarship explores gender, accessibility, autoethnographic inquiry, and musicking as a framework for understanding voice, identity, and performance. Adamson’s doctoral dissertation, “The Transfemme Voice: Exploring the Lived Experiences and Vocal Identity of Three Black Transfemme Treble Voice Singers,” examines the ways race, gender, and vocal identity shape singers’ self-perceptions and social experiences.

In addition to her work in higher education, Adamson serves as Executive and Artistic Director of STANCE: Seattle Trans and Nonbinary Choral Ensemble. Their arts administration experience includes production, stage management, finance, development, donor engagement, and organizational operations, with an emphasis on fostering inclusive, meaningful relationships among artists, audiences, and community partners.