Jessie Raven has sung leading mezzo-soprano roles in opera houses throughout the world, including New York City Opera, L’Opéra de Montréal, Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, New Zealand Opera, Singapore Lyric Opera, Opera Ontario, Atlanta Opera, Baltimore Opera, Florentine Opera, and Hawaii Opera Theatre.
Ms. Raven's performances in the Verdi mezzo-soprano repertory have included Amneris in Aida with The Florentine Opera, Eboli in Don Carlo with Hawaii Opera Theater, and Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino with Baltimore Opera, as well as numerous productions as Azucena in Il Trovatore and Maddalena in Rigoletto at theaters including Palm Beach Opera, Connecticut Opera, and Nashville Opera.
Wagner roles have brought Ms. Raven to Italy, where she sang Waltraute in Götterdammerung, and Fricka in Die Walküre, both with the Fondazione Petruzzelli di Bari. Ms. Raven has also performed Waltraute and Fricka with Long Beach Opera and Pittsburgh Opera Theatre, and Siegrune in Die Walküre with Dallas Opera.
Ms. Raven has sung the title role in eleven productions of Carmen in opera houses throughout the world, including New York City Opera, New Zealand Opera, Opera Ontario, Princeton Festival Opera, Singapore Lyric Opera, and with Chicago’s Grant Park Symphony. She has sung challenging and esoteric roles, including Rosalind in The Mines of Sulphur at New York City Opera, and the title role in Tobias Picker's Thérèse Raquin with L'Opéra de Montréal.
Past highlights for Ms. Raven include Dalila in Samson and Dalila with Opera Carolina and The Witch in Hansel and Gretel with both Atlanta Opera and New York City Opera. Other roles include Octavian in Der Rosencavalier, the title role in The Medium, and Vivian in Krenek’s What Price Confidence, which she sang with Teatro Nationale di Roma.
As a mezzo soloist, Ms. Raven has sung the Verdi Requiem at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, and with notable choirs such as the Grieg International Choir in Norway. Additional appearances in Carnegie Hall as mezzo soloist have included Beethoven's Mass in C. Ms. Raven’s concert repertoire also includes Rossini's Stabat Mater, which she sang at the Macau Festival in China, and the Mezzo Solo Voice in Moses and Aron, performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Raven has performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Roanoke, Kalamazoo and Elgin Symphony Orchestras, and has appeared in gala concert performances with Toledo Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, Sarasota Opera, and The Long Island Philharmonic.
Ms. Raven is a winner of the George London Foundation Award (including the Vienna Prize), as well as a Sullivan Award and Wagner Society of New York Grant. She completed a two-year apprenticeship with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and participated in the apprentice programs of Pittsburgh Opera, Central City Opera, Opera North, and the Aspen Music Festival.
