"The real standout is Jennifer Johnson, who sings gloriously.” - The Dallas Morning News
JENNIFER JOHNSON, mezzo-soprano
As First Prize winner in the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson appears in her recital debuts this season in New York, sponsored by the Peter P. Marino Prize, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Equally at home in the world’s of opera, lieder and chamber music, she appears as “Wellgunde” in Wagner’s Das Rheingold at The Metropolitan Opera, “Ludmilla” in The Metropolitan Opera and The Juilliard School’s joint production of The Bartered Bride, returns to the Chicago Opera Theater singing Schumann's Frauenliebe und leben, and tours with Musicians from Marlboro. She performs recital and outreach activities with the Brownville Concert Series and at the Strauss Performing Arts Center in Omaha, and appears at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts (MI) and Saint Vincent College (PA). Ms. Johnson makes her New York Philharmonic debut this season in Mendelssohn's Elijah, under the direction of conductor Alan Gilbert.
At the YCA Auditions, Ms. Johnson was also awarded the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival Prize and the Princeton University Concerts Prize. Other accolades include a 2009 Sullivan Foundation Award, and she was a Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2008.
During the 2009-10 season, Ms. Johnson returned for her second year of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera. She made her Met debut singing a Bridesmaid in Le nozze di Figaro and Sandman in Hansel and Gretel, and performed a concert with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Ms. Johnson was a participant in the Marlboro Chamber Music Festival and performed in Russia at the St. Petersburg Palaces Music Festival.
Ms. Johnson made her debut with the Chicago Opera Theater as “Kate Julian” in Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave in 2009. She has been presented in recital by the Houston Tuesday Musical Club and The Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago. Other concerts have included Handel’s Messiah and Haydn’s Creation Mass with the DuPage Chorale (IL), and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the New York City Ballet. After two seasons as a Gerdine Young Artist with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Ms. Johnson made her principal artist debut in 2008 as “The Muse/Nicklausse” in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. In the summer of 2008, she participated in the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute for Young Artists.
Ms. Johnson hails from St. Louis, Missouri, and obtained her Bachelor's degree in Music from Webster University in St. Louis. She received her Master's degree from Rice University in Houston, Texas, where she performed the roles of “Ramiro” in La finta giardiniera, “Emma Jones” in Street Scene, and the title role in Handel's Rinaldo.