Jill Benway is a flutist and educator based in Chicago, Illinois. She enjoys a dynamic career as a soloist and ensemble musician as well as being involved in many virtual music projects. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in December 2021 and performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra during the 2021-2022 season as piccolo/third flute. She currently serves as principal flute of the Albireo New Music Collective, a professional virtual new music organization dedicated to the creation, performance, recording, and distribution of new chamber music and she is a member of the Libertalia Virtual Philharmonic as a flutist and pianist. Jill is also a flute teacher with a new virtual music education project, Through the Staff, which is dedicated to providing an accessible education to children across the United States. She spends her summers as an assistant conductor and coach with South Shore Consevatory’s Flute Symphony located in Hingham, Massachusetts under the direction of her former flute teacher, Donald Zook. 

As a soloist, Jill has competed in several competitions and masterclasses internationally and across the United States. Most recently, she was awarded third place in Jim Walker's Beyond the Masterclass Young Artist Competition (Performers Division). She was also selected as a winner of the 2019 American Protégé International Woodwinds and Brass Competition and performed on the Winners Recital at Carnegie Hall. In addition, Jill was a finalist in the Georgia State University Honors Recital and Dean’s Award Competition and a semifinalist in the North Carolina School of the Arts Young Artist Woodwinds and Brass Concerto Competition. In 2019, Jill was selected as a performer in Jim Walker’s 12th Annual Beyond the Masterclass at The Colburn School in Los Angeles where she had the opportunity to perform for Los Angeles Philharmonic flutists Jim Walker, Catherine Karoly, and Elise Shope. She has also performed in masterclasses for  Jeanne Baxtresser, Marie Tachouet, John Yeh, Eugenia Moliner, Jennifer Steele, Virginia Broffitt, John McMurtery, Patrice Bocquillon, Todd Levy, and Harvey Chang. 

Jill is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Studies at Chicago College of Performing Arts studying with Chicago Symphony Orchestra flutists Richard Graef and Emma Gerstein. She performs with the Music Conservatory's Symphony Orchestra as well as various woodwind chamber ensembles and she is a recipient of the College of Performing Arts award. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from Georgia State University in Atlanta where she studied with Sarah Kruser Ambrose. During her undergraduate career, she performed as principal flute with the university’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Opera Theatre Orchestra, and several chamber ensembles. Jill is an advocate for new music and she has given several world premieres of works by contemporary composers based in Atlanta and beyond. Other highlights include a performance at the College Band Directors National Association Southern Division Conference in Tampa, Florida with the Georgia State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and a performance on Portrait Concert: The Music of Charles Knox presented by neoPhonia New Music Ensemble at Georgia State University. Throughout her academic career, she has had the opportunity to perform under the baton of many esteemed conductors such as Eric Whitacre, Juanjo Mena, Emanuele Andrizzi, Robert Ambrose, Michael Palmer, Guido Rumstadt, and Charles Peltz. 

Jill performs on an Altus 1507 with an Altus 14k gold V-cut headjoint.