Jessica Fishenfeld, Soprano

American soprano Jessica Fishenfeld“triumphed” (NY Observer) in her New York City Opera debut in the World Premiere of Stonewall, with “clean coloratura,” (Opera News) and “spunky personality” (Opera Wire). She made a “stand out” (New York Times) off-Broadway debut as Brünnhilde in Das Barbecüwith On Site Opera, sang Gilda in an immersive Rigoletto at NYC’s THE BOX, and was featured on this season’s America’s Got Talentas an Opera-Singing Aerialist. She produced and performed in Grateful: The Songs of John Bucchino, 20th Anniversary Virtual Concert, “one of the slickest, best-produced virtual concerts to come out of the last ten months” (Broadway World), alongside Stephen Schwartz, Leslie Odom Jr., Toni Tennille, Ann Hampton Callaway, among other Broadway and Cabaret luminaries, and appeared virtually with New York Festival of Song, Dallas Opera Network, OmniArts Foundation, Opera Carolina, Center for Contemporary Opera, Teatro Grattacielo, and Savannah VOICE Festival.

Fishenfeld holds Semi-Finalist prizes in the 2021 American Traditions Competition and 2019 Lotte Lenya Competition. She starred the NY Premiere of Barnum’s Bird by Libby Larsen at Circle in the Square, in addition to the World Premiere of Lovesick at National Sawdust. She recently released her Debut EP The Nothing Lamp (a new song cycle by Mark Campbell and Joseph N. Rubinstein) with Crossover Records,  as well as several other singles all available on streaming platforms.

In recent seasons, she made her Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with The Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, appeared as soloist with the Helena Symphony in Carmina Buranaand Bernstein 100!, Hartford Symphony in Celebrate America!, Birdland, Newport Music Festival, Center for Contemporary Opera, Music for Montauk Festival international orchestras of St. Bart’s Music Festival (West Indes), Xalapa Filarmonía (Mexico), Festival Internacional de Órgano de Morelia (Mexico), and at Palazzo Vecchio (Italy). She sang the roles of Lucia in excerpts from Lucia di Lammermoor at Savannah VOICE Festival, Musetta (La bohème) with Long Island Lyric Opera, Zerlina (Don Giovanni) at the Metropolitan Opera Guild, and Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) with Miami Classical Music Festival, for which she was hailed for her “crystalline and pure” voice, “large vocal range,” and “spot on comedic timing."

Among her recent World Premieres, Fishenfeld created the roles of Kim in Eric Salzman’s Big Jim & the Small-Time Investors (Gramercy Opera) and Lydia Douce in Victoria Bond’s Sirens(Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival), and sang May Fielding in the North American premiere of Zandonai’s Il grillo del focolare with Teatro Grattacielo. A passionate supporter of new American opera, Fishenfeld created and hosts Alive & Kicking, a web series that curates and promotes such works.

As a Benenson Young Artist at Palm Beach Opera, she sang the roles of Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), Norina (Don Pasquale), Najade (Ariadne auf Naxos), Frasquita (Carmen), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), and Gilda cover (Rigoletto).

A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music (MM), she was chosen as a finalist in the school’s 2015 Ades Vocal Competition, sang the title role in Lakmé, and performed the role of Zerlina in Kenneth Merrill’s production of Don Giovanni. At NYU Steinhardt (BM), she performed the roles of Adele (Die Fledermaus), Thea (Fiorello!), Jenny Hildebrand (Street Scene), and Clara (The Light in the Piazza) alongside Broadway and TV stars Jay Armstrong Johnson and Melanie Field in a special production honoring the 20th anniversary of Casa Italiana.

Other cherished performances include Dew Fairy/Gretel cover (Hansel and Gretel) at Hubbard Hall Opera Theatre, Annina (La traviata) and Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at Highlands Opera Studio (Canada), and Maestro Lorin Maazel’s 2011 Castleton Festival productions as Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Carmenin concert (with Denyce Graves), and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream(with Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons).