Elsa Benoit began taking singing and piano lessons at a young age and gained her first stage experience as a member of the Rennes and Angers-Nantes opera choirs while studying musicology. The soprano then successfully completed her studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory with a Bachelor of Music. Between 2011 and 2013, she completed her training at the Dutch National Opera Academy, where she obtained her Master's degree in Opera with honours. In November 2012, she was awarded three prizes at the international singing competition "Symphonies d'Automne", followed by the Brane-Cantenac Prize at the international singing competition MACM in March 2013.
After two years at the opera studio of the Bavarian State Opera, the doors of her singing career opened for her. During her time at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, she received particular praise for her performances as Tytania in Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and as Giulietta in Bellini's "I Capuleti e i Montecchi". Equally noteworthy were her interpretations as Micaëla in "Carmen" (for which she received the Austrian Music Theatre Prize) and as Despina in "Così fan tutte".
From 2016 to 2021, the soprano was a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera and performed various roles, including the Shepherd in "Tannhäuser", Oscar in "Un Ballo in Maschera", Frasquita in "Carmen", Najade in "Ariadne auf Naxos", Adina in "L'Elisir d'Amore", Gretel in "Hänsel und Gretel", Musetta in "La Bohème", Zerlina in "Don Giovanni" and Emilie in Rameau's "Les Indes galantes".
She has been working freelance since 2021. After performances of Philippe Hersant's "Les Eclairs" at the Ópera Comique, Handel's "Alcina" (Morgana) at the Palais Garnier in Paris, "Carmen" (Micaëla) in Toulouse, "The Rake's Progress" (Anne Trulove) in Rennes and Nantes, Handel's "Agrippina" (Poppea) in Munich, Handel's "Semele" (Semele) in Barrie Kosky's production in Lille and Berlin (Komische Oper) and Poulenc's "Les Mamélles de Tiresias" (Thérèse) at Glyndebourne, the focus of her opera activities in the 2023/24 season will be on Massenet's classic "Werther" (Sophie) in a new production by Robert Carsen under Thomas Hengelbrock in Baden- Baden and on the title heroine Poppea in Monteverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea" in the new production by the American director Ted Huffmann under the direction of George Petrou at the Cologne Opera.
Elsa Benoit is also in great demand as a concert singer. These include Mahler's 4th Symphony with the Oviedo Filarmonia under Lucas Macías Navarro. Symphony with the Oviedo Filarmonia under Lucas Macías Navarro, Christmas concerts with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in St Stephen's Cathedral and with the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern under the direction of Pietari Inkinen, as well as concert performances of Handel's "Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno" (Bellezza) with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Emmanuelle Haïm in Berlin and Baden-Baden, Haydn's "Seasons" under Hans-Christoph Rademann in Stuttgart and Brahms' Requiem under Manfred Honeck.
To kick off the 2023/24 season, the soprano will sing Mendelssohn's "Lobgesang" under the baton of Andris Nelsons with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Fauré's Requiem under Andrew Manze with the Munich Philharmonic. She can be heard in two further projects with the Berliner Philharmoniker: Mahler's 4th Symphony under Robin Ticciati and Honegger's dramatic oratorio "Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher" under Alan Gilbert are on the programme.