Errik Hood

Dr. Errik Hood is a nationally active performer and globally recognized voice pedagogue and vocologist. He serves as Director of Vocal Performance and Coordinator of Lyric Theatre at New York University’s Steinhardt School, where he is a Music Assistant Professor. A PAVA-Recognized Vocologist, his work integrates performance, vocal health, learning science, and dramatic interpretation in singer training.

At NYU, Dr. Hood leads one of the nation’s most comprehensive vocal performance programs, serving more than 200 students across bachelor’s, master’s, advanced certificate, DMA, and PhD programs in Classical Voice, Musical Theatre, and Contemporary Voice. His leadership emphasizes integrated training across performance, pedagogy, research, technology, and professional preparation. He helped seat Vocal Performance’s inaugural DMA cohort and develop its academic benchmarks and capstone structures. Dr. Hood spearheaded a collaborative redesign of the Contemporary Voice curriculum around current industry models, including an EP recording capstone and connections with Songwriting, Music Business, and Music Technology. With faculty in NYU’s Songwriting program, he also helped establish the department’s Penthouse performance and instructional space.

Dr. Hood maintains an active career as a baritone. His operatic appearances include Cincinnati Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Madison Opera, Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre, Opera Columbus, Dayton Opera, and Opera New Jersey. He has appeared as a concert soloist at Carnegie Hall and with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Reno Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and American Festival Chorus and Orchestra, among others. His appearances abroad include the Great Britain Choral Festival at Ely Cathedral.

As a stage director, Dr. Hood’s credits include RENT, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Hansel and Gretel, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Songs for a New World, and NYU’s annual New Student Spotlight. His 2021 NYU production of Songs for a New World received three honors from The American Prize, including recognition for his direction; a separate 2024 production at Southern Arkansas University received a Meritorious Achievement through Region VI of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

Dr. Hood’s pedagogy centers on sustainable technique and vocal health, informed by functional cross-training and motor learning, with dramatic interpretation integrated into technical voice training. His work also seeks stronger connections between academic and community-based voice teachers and a more globally informed approach to pedagogy through exchange with scholars and teachers across cultural and educational traditions.

Dr. Hood has presented for The Voice Foundation, Performing Arts Medicine Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Fall Voice Conference, Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance, College Music Society, and North American British Music Studies Association, among other professional organizations. His work has led to invited workshops, lectures, and conference sessions throughout the United States and in Greece and the United Kingdom. He has also been invited to teach at institutions including Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, Temple University, the University of Utah, the University of Arkansas, and Boise State University, as well as the Young People’s Chorus of New York City and International Lyric Academy in Vicenza, Italy.

In summer 2026, Dr. Hood completed a teaching and performance tour of China with engagements in Shenzhen, Hefei, and Shanghai. Through lessons, masterclasses, workshops, and lectures, he worked with singers across ages and experience levels on vocal technique, dramatic interpretation, and preparation for competitive academic and professional auditions, while exchanging approaches to singer training with local pedagogues. The tour also included a recital in Hefei.

Dr. Hood’s students have appeared on Broadway and national tours, performed with regional opera companies and young artist programs, pursued advanced training at leading universities and conservatories, and entered academic careers in voice and vocal pedagogy. He serves as a NATS National Teaching Mentor, President of NATS-NYC, and an ad hoc peer reviewer for the Journal of Voice.

Before joining NYU, Dr. Hood served as Assistant Professor of Music and Coordinator of Voice and Opera at Utah State University, following appointments at the University of Dayton, Northern Kentucky University, and Wright State University. He holds degrees from The Ohio State University, Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and Wright State University. His advanced training includes the Summer Vocology Institute, NATS Intern Program, and an Opera Stage Directing Fellowship at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival.