Jessica Graves is a versatile soprano celebrated for her artistry across opera and musical theatre. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, she is now based in Boston, MA, where she performs regularly with companies including Odyssey Opera, MassOpera, Opera on Tap, and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra.

In 2024, Jessica won second place in the professional musical theater division of Opera Mississippi’s John Alexander National Vocal Competition, performing in the winners’ concert that February. Her 2024 season also featured exciting debuts with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra (Norma) and Odyssey Opera, where she appeared in Dominick Argento’s The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe in collaboration with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

In 2023, Jessica made her debut as Pamina in MassOpera’s The Magic Flute, conducted by Lisa Graham and directed by Pascale Florestal. She was also named a semi-finalist in the 2022 MassOpera Competition.

Previous highlights include her time as a Young Artist with the Opera Company of Middlebury, where she covered the role of Diane and performed in the ensemble of Orphée aux enfers under the baton of Clinton Smith and director Doug Anderson. She was also featured in the company’s 2022 Young Artist Concert, performing selections from Italian and zarzuela repertoire. In 2019, Jessica joined the Miami Music Festival as an Apprentice Artist, making role debuts as Lucinda (Dark Sisters, Muhly) and Solo Niña (Ainadamar, Golijov).

Jessica earned her Master of Music from the Mannes School of Music in 2021, studying with Amy Burton and Susan Caldwell as a Provost’s Scholarship recipient. She appeared as a featured soloist in the 2020 and 2021 Mannes Sounds Festival, performing repertoire ranging from contemporary works by Kaija Saariaho to Cole Porter cabaret classics. She holds a Bachelor of Music from Boston University, where she studied with Sharon Daniels, receiving both the College of Fine Arts Scholarship and the Ella Lou Dimmock Honors Award & Recital distinction. Her performances there included roles in The Cunning Little Vixen and La Traviata with the Boston University Opera Institute.

Beyond opera, Jessica made her Apollo Theater debut in 2016 as the soprano soloist with Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. She is also a proud alumna of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York City and a National YoungArts Foundation Merit Award winner.

She credits much of her artistic ability to her grandmother, with whom she first studied voice, as well as her mother, a former dancer, and her father, a trumpeter.