Soprano
Jessie Downs (b. 1991) is an operatic soprano with a passion for bel canto technique and repertoire. Recent roles include Suor Angelica (with Operallora in NJ, 2023), Pamina (with Sotto Voce in NY, 2024), Mimì (with Opera Magnifico's in NJ, 2022), and Sashatya in her own The Second Sight (Sotto Voce, 2021). In December of 2020, she was awarded Third Place in her age category in The North International Music Competition for her recording of "Regnava nel silenzio" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, a role in which she will make her debut in 2025 (stay tuned!). Other recent professional vocal engagements include her Carnegie Hall debut as a soloist in the 2018 Night of Inspiration, performing as the soprano soloist in J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and presenting scenes from operas such as Carmen (as Micaela), Louise (as Louise), Norma (as Norma), Der Rosenkavalier (as Sophie), Madama Butterfly (as Cio-Cio-san), La Traviata (as Violetta), Don Giovanni (as Donna Anna), and Rigoletto (as Gilda) with Nickel City Opera , the Buffalo Master Chorale, Opera Magnifico, and in recitals at the UU Church of Buffalo.
Jessie began studying classical voice at the age of 14, and has studied with master pedagogue Franco Bertacci since 2010, after studying with his student - soprano Nadine Robinson; she has also worked with baritone Charles Schneider. She now runs her own vocal studio through which she is passing on her technical knowledge to a new generation of performers.
Jessie is also the founder and director of the collective opera company Sotto Voce. From 2016-2022, Sotto Voce specialized in performances of contemporary vocal music, but in 2023 they relaunched with a shift in focus towards presenting reimagined canonical operas. In 2018, the group's “Living Voices” program was awarded a New Music USA Project Grant. As a contemporary vocalist, Jessie has premiered roles in several new operas and performed chamber music with luminaries of the field, such as Exaudi’s Juliet Fraser at Royaumont Abbey in France, and ekmeles’s Jeffrey Gavett at the Longy School of Music in Boston. She also enjoys performing rock and other popular styles of music for fun with groups such as the HoUUse Band.
Jessie began studying classical voice at the age of 14, and has studied with master pedagogue Franco Bertacci since 2010, after studying with his student - soprano Nadine Robinson; she has also worked with baritone Charles Schneider. She now runs her own vocal studio through which she is passing on her technical knowledge to a new generation of performers.
Jessie is also the founder and director of the collective opera company Sotto Voce. From 2016-2022, Sotto Voce specialized in performances of contemporary vocal music, but in 2023 they relaunched with a shift in focus towards presenting reimagined canonical operas. In 2018, the group's “Living Voices” program was awarded a New Music USA Project Grant. As a contemporary vocalist, Jessie has premiered roles in several new operas and performed chamber music with luminaries of the field, such as Exaudi’s Juliet Fraser at Royaumont Abbey in France, and ekmeles’s Jeffrey Gavett at the Longy School of Music in Boston. She also enjoys performing rock and other popular styles of music for fun with groups such as the HoUUse Band.