Jenni Samuelson

Jenni Samuelson, soprano
Acclaimed by the press as “a gifted and imaginative soprano,” Jenni Samuelson is an award-winning soprano whose repertoire includes opera, oratorio and art song, as well as musical theater, jazz and contemporary popular forms.

Samuelson has performed more than 25 lead roles with opera companies throughout the country, including the San Francisco Opera Center, Western Opera Theater, Eugene Opera, Opera San Jose, Cinnabar Theater, Chicago Light Opera Works, Townsend Opera Players and The Skylight in Milwaukee. She has performed with the Carmel Bach Festival, San Francisco Chorale, Sonoma Bach, Merced Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony and Brookline Chorus in Boston. Also an active recitalist and consummate chamber musician, she has performed many works, including the Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes, Bach’s Coffee Cantata, Berio’s Folk Songs, and the world premiere of Return Receipts by Amanda McTigue and Jeff Langley.

In 2001, she was granted the Virginia Bess Adams Fellowship to study and perform at the world-renowned Carmel Bach Festival. Samuelson is a three-time Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and a United States Finalist in the Veronica Dunne International Voice Competition. She has also received prizes in the Carmel Music Society Vocal Competition and the Palm Beach Opera International Voice Competition.

Samuelson received her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Northwestern University. From 1999 through 2005, she served on the voice faculty at Sonoma State University. She currently teaches for the Global Arts Studies Program at the University of California, Merced.