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Jennifer Check
Celebrated by the New York Times for her “rare talent that can send chills down a listener's spine even in familiar music,” Jennifer Check sings her first performances of Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in the 2009-10 season. She returns to Utah Symphony for Verdi’s Requiem and the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra for Rossini’s Stabat Mater and joins the Phoenix Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. She also returns to the Metropolitan Opera to reprise Nella in Gianni Schicchi, the Priestess in Aida, and the Fifth Maid in Elektra in addition to singing Marianna in Der Rosenkavalier and Dorotea in Stiffelio. In the 2008-09 season, she made a triumphant debut at the Palau de les Artes Reina Sofía in Valencia when she stepped into the role of Iphigenie in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride mid-performance at the beginning of the 2008-09 season. Also last season she sang the title role of Norma with Palm Beach Opera and Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites with Austin Lyric Opera, returned to both the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and the Greensboro Symphony for Carmina Burana, and sings Verdi’s Requiem with the Washington Chorus. In addition, she sang her first performances of Lady Billows in Albert Herring under the baton of Lorin Maazel for the inaugural performances of the Castleton Festival.
In the 2007-08 season, she stepped into the title role of Norma at the last minute making a tremendously successful debut of the role with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. She also returned to the Metropolitan Opera for the High Priestess in Aida and Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia, the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. for Clorinda in La Cenerentola and Beethoven’s Mass in C, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for Verdi’s Requiem in addition to joining the Utah Symphony for Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem and the Colorado Music Festival for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
A frequent presence at the Metropolitan Opera, Ms. Check has previously joined the company for engagements with the company have included Liu in Turandot in the company’s famed Parks performances, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, High Priestess in Aida, and Lisa in Cyrano de Bergerac, Voce dal Ciel in Don Carlo as well as productions of Elektra, Don Giovanni, Lucia di Lammermoor, and on tour at the Salzburg Festival as the Flower Maiden in Parsifal. A former member of the prestigious Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Clotilde in Norma. With Opera Orchestra of New York, she has sung young artist performances of Agathe in Der Freischütz and Mathilde in Guillaume Tell.
Among her other recent performances is her debut with Tokyo Opera Nomori as the Fifth Maid in Elektra under the baton of Seiji Ozawa. While in Japan, she also sang Chrysothemis in Elektra in concert with Maestro Ozawa. She has since sung further performances of the Fifth Maid in Elektra with James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.
Frequently appearing on the concert stage, Ms. Check made her Carnegie Hall debut singing Messiah with the Oratorio Society of New York and later performed Barber’s Prayers of Kirkegaard with the same ensemble. She has joined both the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. and Greensboro Symphony for the Verdi Requiem and Charlotte Symphony for Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She joined James Levine at the Verbier Festival for a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and has since repeated the work in performances with the Milwaukee Symphony, sang masses of Hadyn as well as Vaughn Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem at Spoleto Festival U.S.A., made her Kimmel Center debut in Mozart’s Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42 with the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, and performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with LinkUp! at Carnegie Hall. She has made recital debuts in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in and at The Kennedy Center on the Young Concert Artists series.
Jennifer Check is an alumnus of The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia where she performed her first Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. She received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice Performance from Westminster Choir College. The soprano’s accolades include first place awards from the Loren L. Zachary Competition, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Oratorio Society of New York Solo Competition, Liederkranz Foundation, and the Mario Lanza Scholarship Auditions. She was awarded a Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, the Zarzuela Prize in Placido Domingo’s Operalia Competition, and the Leonie Rysanek memorial prize from the George London Foundation.
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