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The American soprano, Michelle McBride Jennings, studied at Monacan High School in Richmond, Virginia and at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
Michelle Jennings has been called “a commanding and attractive presence on stage with an expressive voice of great beauty and power,” (Baltimore Sun), whose “vocal ease and tone quality in the coloratura ornamentation were extraordinary” (Sarasota Herald-Tribune). Most recently, she was soprano soloist with The McLean Orchestra, she sang Fiordiligi in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte, in New York City, and she was the soprano soloist for the Hudson Valley Philharmonic’s performance of Johannes Brahms's German Requiem (Brahms) at the Bardavon Opera House (New York). In the upcoming season, she will cover the role of Roxanne (Countess) in ¡Figaro! (90210), a new setting of W.A. Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, which will be produced in the Off-Broadway Duke Theater in New York City. She will also appear at the Windham Chamber Festival (NY) with Divas Unleashed.
In 2014, Michelle Jennings sang the role of Clorinda in La Cenerentola with Opera at Florham (New Jersey), Gianetta in The Gondoliers and Johanna in Sweeney Todd with LOOK Musical Theatre (Oklahoma), and Nella in Gianni Schicchi with Salt Marsh Opera (Connecticut). Highlights from previous seasons include Marian in The Music Man, with Live Arts Maryland; excerpts from La Boheme and La Traviata with the McLean Orchestra; Concetta in I Gioielli della Madonna, in her Rose Hall at Lincoln Center debut with Teatro Grattacielo; Donna Anna in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni and Alice in Falstaff, with the Phoenicia Festival of the Voice; and Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, with Jacksonville Lyric Opera and Belleayre Festival Opera; she was guest soloist for KDNY Dance Company’s Treading Puddles at the Alvin Ailley Citigroup Theatre in New York, and she sang the title role in Pasatieri’s La Divina, in Miami. Other notable performances were as Nellie Forbush in Hawaii Opera Theatre’s South Pacific, Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte, and Musetta in La Bohème, with Asheville Lyric Opera; Forester’s Wife and Owl in The Cunning Little Vixen, with Tulsa Opera; and Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore with Springfield Regional Opera (Missouri). A member of the comedic opera duo Divas Unleashed, she was Pamela Hamilton Ford in the 2008 workshop of their original show The Benefit, in New York City, and subsequent performances around the USA.
Cultivating an interest in contemporary music, Michelle Jennings originated the role of Ardita in the new opera The Offshore Pirate, with Christopher Street Opera in New York, and she sang in Jack Perla’s new opera, Love/Hate, with American Opera Projects. She sang the title role in the premier performance of the one-act opera, Ophelia, by Joel Weiss, in New York City, and she was Carla in The Theory of Everything, with Encompass New Opera Theatre in New York City Opera’s VOX / On the Edge series.
At home in a variety of genres on the concert stage and on recordings, Michelle Jennings was recently heard as a soloist for Mardi Gras and All That Jazz, a big band and musical theater revue in North Carolina, with Broadway star Tina Fabrique, directed by Broadway star George Merritt. She was Gilda in a concert version of Rigoletto, in New York City, opposite Mark Delavan in the title role. She appeared with KDNY in Flowers, which was featured at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts. She is heard on the CD's "Christmas of Peace" and "Christmas of Hope", and recorded for the film, The Afterlight, produced by North Lake Films. She has also recorded for the new musicals, Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl, and Peter Rabbit. She has been presented in concerts of opera, jazz, cabaret, and musical theater throughout the USA in Great Britain, and Japan. She currently lives in New York City.. |
