Jennifer Griffin Chesney, Soprano
Jennifer Griffin Chesney, hailed by National Public Radio as an “impressive voice with subtlety and range”, brings her exciting young dramatic vocal talents to opera houses and concert halls across the United States and Canada, including Vancouver Opera, New York City Opera National Touring Company, Town Hall, Opera Memphis, Sarasota Opera, and Natchez Opera Festival.
Jennifer recently sang Verdi’s Macbeth (Lady in Waiting) with Vancouver Opera and Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (Rosalinde) at Natchez Opera Festival. In the previous season, she sang the title role in Puccini’s Tosca at Natchez Opera Festival as well as with the New York Opera Forum where she also sang Aida (Aida). She sang Die Walküre (Sieglinde) with Opera Drammatica and performed two solo recitals in New York City at the Donnell Library Center to a full house. She also released her second album, "Secrets of DaVinci in Opera and Art Song" to critical praise.
Previously, Ms. Griffin Chesney sang Der Rosenkavalier (Marschallin), Un Ballo in Maschera (Amelia), Ariadne auf Naxos (Ariadne), Das Rheingold (Freia), and Les Contes d'Hoffman (Giulietta) with New York Opera Forum and performed a solo recital of Turandot excerpts and Wagner and Strauss arias in New York City.
She also released her first album of arias and art songs, entitled “Miles Apart”.
Past engagements include La Bohème (Mimí) with New York City Opera National Company, Carmen (Micaëla) with Opera Memphis, Susannah (Susannah) with Natchez Opera, Kleine Mahagonny (Bessie) with the Memphis Symphony, and Iolanta (Brigitta and Iolanta) at Town Hall in New York.
Jennifer Griffin Chesney is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, and received her music degrees at Yale University (M.M) and Indiana University at Bloomington (B.M). Her post-graduate training programs included the Sarasota Opera Apprentice Program and the Opera Memphis Resident Artist Program. Her vocal mentors have included Jane Eaglen, Marianna Christos, Doris Yarick-Cross, and Jean Deis.
In addition to her love of opera and song, Jennifer is passionate about creating new banking & financial services software technologies and has directed innovative solutions at investment banks, financial services companies, mid-market banks and financial media companies in New York City, Vancouver, and Edmonton. Jennifer lives in Edmonton, Alberta with her husband, Cameron, and their son Joss.