Turkish mezzo-soprano and Fulbright alumna Dr. Lori Şen is known for her versatility in many vocal genres, including opera, art song, musical theatre and jazz, as well as for her teaching and research interests in vocal literature, voice pedagogy and voice science. Şen regularly collaborates with musicians and composers across a variety of genres, and has performed in Turkey, Europe and the United States.

Şen’s fascination with vocal pedagogy and voice science stems from her unique path towards a career in music that began with a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Education degree in physics. Her deep interest in the anatomy, physiology and acoustics of the vocal instrument, as well as vocal health, and her proficiency with various vocal pedagogy software and equipment, have led to a number of research projects over the years, which were presented at conferences including The Voice Foundation Symposium and National Association of Teachers of Singing Conference in the United States.

Her research interests also focus on vocal literature. A leading expert of the Sephardic art song genre, Şen is the first ever to catalog this repertoire that comprises Western classical settings and arrangements of traditional Sephardic folk literature. She is also the first to create a Ladino diction guide exclusively for singers who would like to sing Sephardic songs in their original language. Since 2018, she has introduced this genre and her research to audiences through her solo recitals and lectures at various conferences and festivals, several organizations in the United States including the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City; Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, in Washington, D.C.; and the Barcelona Festival of Song in Spain.

Şen currently teaches as Assistant Professor of Vocal Pedagogy at Shenandoah Conservatory, and as Voice Faculty at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. She completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice performance at the University of Maryland, College Park, and received her Master of Music in voice performance and pedagogy at Westminster Choir College, in Princeton, New Jersey, as a Fulbright grantee. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, in addition to a Bachelor of Music degree in voice and a Master of Education degree in physics from Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, Turkey.

Şen is an active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), The Voice Foundation, and the Fulbright Association. She also serves as an ambassador for the Barcelona Festival of Song, and is a board member at the International Florence Price Festival.