Biography
Mezzo soprano Jessye Wright is admired for her rich, colorful voice – a rare instrument with both brilliance and depth – as well as her impeccable musicianship and striking stage presence. She was among just four mezzos earning distinction as an “Upwardly Musical Artist on the Move” in Symphony magazine’s recent Guide to Emerging Artists.
Miss Wright’s 2007 season began with a debut performance in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall of Mozart’s Requiem with Maestro Martin Josman and the National Chorale. In 2008, Miss Wright joins both Chattanooga Symphony and Opera and DuPage Symphony as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel. Miss Wright will then appear as a soloist in the International Advent Singing Festival in Vienna, Austria, followed by Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de Confessore with Maestra Jane Glover and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque in 2009.
In the 2005-2006 season, Miss Wright received rave reviews for her portrayal of the title role in Carmen at Ravinia Music Festival with Opera Theatre North. Later that year, Jessye was heard as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Chattanooa Opera, and as Meg Page in Verdi’s Falstaff with New Jersey Opera Theatre. Other recent operatic performances for Miss Wright include Third Lady in Magic Flute with Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, and Pitti-Sing in The Mikado with Nashville Opera.
In March of 2004, Miss Wright made her Carnegie Hall debut in a performance featuring solos from the Messiah with Maestro Jonathan Griffith and MidAmerica Productions. That same year, Jessye made her European debut as a featured alto soloist in the Festival Internazionale di Musica in Tuscany, Italy. Subsequent concert performances for Miss Wright include Verdi’s Requiem with Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Ninth with Illinois Philharmonic and Mobile Symphony.
A past national semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, Jessye received the Ardis Krainik Memorial Prize in Voice from Chicago’s National Bel Canto Foundation, and won 2nd place in the 2005 International Classical Singer Competition.
