Jessica Graves is a versatile soprano who has an equal passion for opera and musical theatre. Jessica hails from Brooklyn, NY and is currently based in Boston, MA where she performs with organizations such as Odyssey Opera, MassOpera, Opera on Tap, and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Jessica was proud to win second place in the professional musical theater division of Opera Mississippi’s 2023 John Alexander National Vocal Competition. She performed in the winner’s concert in February 2024. Additional 2024 performances include debuts with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra (Norma) and Odyssey Opera (Argento’s The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe) presented in partnership with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

Last Spring, Jessica was delighted to make her debut as Pamina in MassOpera’s 2023 production of The Magic Flute conducted by Lisa Graham and directed by Pascale Florestal. She was also named a semi-finalist in the 2022 MassOpera Competition. 

Prior to that, Jessica joined the Opera Company of Middlebury in Vermont as a Young Artist where she covered the role of Diane and performed in the ensemble of Orphée aux enfers under the baton of Clinton Smith and directed by Doug Anderson. She also enjoyed performing Italian and zarzuela selections as a featured soloist in the company’s 2022 Young Artist Concert. In the summer of 2019, Jessica joined the Miami Music Festival as an apprentice artist where she made role debuts as Lucinda (Muhly’s Dark Sisters) and Solo Niña (Golijov’s Ainadamar).

Jessica received her Master of Music degree from the Mannes School of Music in 2021 where she studied under the tutelage of Amy Burton and Susan Caldwell and was a recipient of the Provost’s scholarship. There, she was a featured soloist in the 2020 and 2021 Mannes Sounds Festival performing both contemporary selections (Kaija Saariaho) and cabaret standards (Cole Porter) in several of the festival’s concert series. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Music from Boston University where she studied with Sharon Daniels and was a recipient of the College of Fine Arts Scholarship and the Ella Lou Dimmock Honors Award & Recital. While at Boston University, Jessica performed in the Boston University Opera Institute’s productions of The Cunning Little Vixen and La Traviata. 

In 2016, Jessica was honored to make her debut at the Apollo Theater as the soprano soloist with Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. Jessica is a proud graduate of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York City and a National YoungArts Foundation Merit award winner.