About
Jessica Blau is a multi-faceted performer working to break boundaries and create dynamic changes in the classical music world. Her agility, precision, and easy upper extension deftly navigate the demands of Handel, Rossini, and Mozart, while her strong dance background and penchant for comedy lend themselves to colorful and sensuous character depictions with the innate physicality well-suited for trouser roles and the French Grand Opera.
Jessica has portrayed a wide variety of traditional roles on the operatic stage including Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Carmen (Carmen), Nicklausse (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Nancy (Albert Herring), Orestes (La belle Hélène), Dinah (Trouble in Tahiti) Ruth (The Pirates of Penzance), and Mére Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites).
In addition to the traditional, Jessica is a great lover of modern opera and experimental works. She has performed María/title role in La Llorona (Armienta), Zara in Un Cuento de Luces y Sombras (Cordero), Meg in Little Women (Adamo), Isabella in La Hija de Rappaccini (Catán), Dolly Oblonsky in Anna Karenina (Carlson), and Dionisia in La Curandera (Rodriguez).
In 2021, she performed as a soloist/librettist in The Women Have Something to Say (TWHSTS), a collection of personal monologues and song texts navigating themes of the voice through the lens of each individual’s womanhood. Set to music composed by Madeline Styskal, directed/created by Nicole Kenley-Miller, and produced by Intersection Arts, this project was selected by the Kennedy Center in 2020 as a featured act in its Arts Across America virtual concert series. Additionally, it received eight nominations by the 2021 Broadway World Houston Awards, including a nomination for Jessica for "Best Performer in a Musical." In 2023, Jessica made her off-Broadway debut when she returned to perform in an updated production of TWHSTS produced by Intersection Arts and The Why Collective at Nancy Manocherian's The Cell Theater in Chelsea.
Jessica holds a Bachelor of Arts from Bard College in Art History with a concentration in Latin American and Iberian Studies. She completed a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Texas State University, San Marcos followed by a Performance Certificate in vocal performance at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. In addition to her formal education, she participated in a number of young artist programs, such as Spotlight on Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, Chicago Summer Opera, Castleton Festival, and Florentine Opera.
At Bard College, Jessica was introduced to flamenco dance under the tutelage of Aileen Passloff and Kati García-Renart, which quickly became a passion that altered the course of her life. She subsequently completed study-abroad Spanish-language programs at the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca in Oaxaca, Mexico and at La Facultad de Comunicación in Seville, Spain, for which she received a Spanish Honors Certificate. In addition to her academic courses, Jessica studied flamenco dance daily at the Academia de Flamenco Manuel Betanzos in Seville and would later go on to study and perform professionally in Texas with Pilar Andujar, The Spirit of Flamenco, and Flamencura. Her time spent living abroad in combination with her academic and artistic pursuits contributed to her love of Iberian and Latine cultures that later informed her musical journey as a singer.
Jessica’s dance background has often led her to consulting on choreography and movement for operatic productions. Most recently, she was the Movement Coordinator for Portland Opera To Go’s Un Camino de Fé in 2022 and she served as the Castanet and Movement Coach for Austin Opera’s 2024 production of Carmen.
A passionate advocate for Spanish and Latine music, Jessica is currently working to create intersectional productions that are reflective of her unique artistic sensibilities. In 2022, Jessica curated, produced, and performed in Sojourns on the Silk Road: from the Orient to the Occident, an interdisciplinary theatrical experience featuring pianist/arranger Katherine Ciscon, guitarist Marc Rosenberg, and flamenco dancer Fanny Ara. This work explored identity and colonial perceptions of "The Orient” through French orientalist art song and orientalist paintings contrasted with Spanish art song, instrumental works, and flamenco dance.
In July of 2024, Jessica will perform in her newest creation, Viva España! Songs of Spain from Zarzuela to Flamenco with Portland Opera. This concert will feature a variety of Spanish music from classical and popular genres alike, reimagined in ways that blur the lines between genres with the percussive and visual addition of flamenco dance.
In addition to her interdisciplinary concerts, Jessica has performed as a soloist in Bernstein’s oratorio Songfest with the Texas State University Orchestra and she made her international debut at the Palacio del Gobierno de Sonora as a featured soloist in the 2017 Festival International del Pitic in Hermosillo, Mexico, where she was also a semifinalist in the Sonora International Opera Competition Francisco Araiza.