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Soprano Jacquelyn Familant enjoys an international
career that spans the genres of opera, oratorio and chamber music.
The young soprano began her professional career immediately upon
graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music when she was engaged
by the Staatsoper Stuttgart for a three year principal artist
contract. Roles there included her debut as Sandman and the Dew
Fairy in Hansel und Gretel , Aloysia in Masaniello furioso,
Servilia in La clemenza di Tito, and Euridice in Monteverdi’s
L’Orfeo. Other international opera credits include
Eurydice in Orphee et Eurydice with the Festival Lyrique-en-Mer,
Blonde in Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail with Opera Brooklyn,
Ilia in Idomeneo, Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Modus
Opera, and Blanche de la Force in Les Dialogues des Carmelites.
Ms. Familant has won numerous awards and scholarships including
a prize in the 2006 Charles A. Lynam Vocal Competition. This gifted
young performer was also honored in Europe as a Star of Tomorrow
by the ARTE Film and Broadcasting Network and featured in an international
television portrait.
Ms. Familant has garnered special praise for her
interpretations of Baroque and Classical opera roles: for her
performance as Aloysia in the critically acclaimed Stuttgart production
of Masaniello furioso, Opera News Magazine described her
as “a free and unwavering soprano that soars through glittering
sunshine.” As Euridice in L’Orfeo, Familant’s
performance was described by the Reutlinger General as “compellingly
beautiful” and Opernwelt Magazine declared her “a vocally
wonderful, flexible and diaphanous Euridice.” For her international
telecast performance in Stars of Tomorrow, singing the
Gavotte from Manon and as Zerlina in highlights from Don
Giovanni, Music Today Magazine singled out the soprano as
“the one to watch: a radiant young soprano with a special
gift.”
Equally at home on the recital stage, Jacquelyn
Familant is known for her commitment to exploring and performing
a vast array of concert repertoire. Ms. Familant has performed
in concert with the American Modern Ensemble, the American Music
Festival, Summer Stars of Ocean Grove, Borderless Song, Modus
Opera, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Festival Lyrique-en-Mer, the Vermont
Festival of the Arts, and the Chamber Music Society of Philadelphia.
In the genre of oratorio, Ms. Familant has sung as the soprano
soloist in Cameron-Wolfe’s A Measure of Love and Silence,
Mozart’s Requiem, Coronation Mass, & Vesperae
Solennes de Domenica, as well as Handel’s Messiah,
Orff’s Carmina Burana, Vivaldi’s Gloria,
Faure’s Requiem, and the Rutter Requiem. The
soprano has a particular affinity for performing modern composition
and has collaborated with such composers as Ned Rorem, Richard
Cameron-Wolfe, Stefania de Kenessey, Michael Sydney Timpson, and
Donald St. Pierre. Devoted to the preservation and continuation
of the classical tradition, Ms. Familant regularly performs contemporary
repertoire and has had several pieces written for her including
Timpson’s Four Poems of Dorothy Parker and St. Pierre’s
Songs on the Poems of e.e. cummings.
Upcoming engagements for the soprano include an
appearance with Forecast Music in November and a solo recital
with pianist Elaine Kwon in December. Ms. Familant will perform
opera arias and ensembles in the Opera with a Cause benefit to
be held in Toronto and NYC this Winter. In the early Spring, the
soprano will kick off a United States Tour with her new trio,
Divissima.
Ms. Familant also enjoys success as a commercial
model, actress and voice-over artist: she has appeared internationally
in print, television, radio and film. A passionate advocate for
music education, Ms. Familant also maintains a private voice studio
and is a frequent visiting lecturer at select voice programs around
the world.
Jacquelyn Familant was born in Newport News, Virginia
and grew up in Clearwater, Florida. She holds a Bachelor of Music
degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music
degree from the Curtis Institute of Music.
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