Jessica Rivera Soprano

Possessing a voice praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for its “effortless precision and tonal luster,” Jessica Rivera is established as one of the most creatively inspired vocal artists before the public today. The intelligence, dimension, and spirituality with which she infuses her performances on the great international concert and opera stages has garnered Ms. Rivera unique artistic collaborations with many of today’s most celebrated composers including John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, and Nico Muhly, and has brought her together in collaboration with such esteemed conductors as Bernard Haitink, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Ms. Rivera was heralded in the world premiere of John Adams’s newest opera, A Flowering Tree, singing the role of Kumudha, in a production directed by Peter Sellars as part of the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna. Since then, she has performed A Flowering Tree for her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker with Sir Simon Rattle and, under the composer’s baton, with the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center, and the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre. The London performances were recorded and are now commercially available on the Nonesuch Records label.

The artist made her European operatic debut as Kitty Oppenheimer in Peter Sellars’s acclaimed production of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic with the Netherlands Opera, a role that also served for her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and she joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in a past season for its new production of Doctor Atomic under the direction of Alan Gilbert. She gave concert performances of Doctor Atomic with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and her portrayal of Kitty Oppenheimer was captured in Amsterdam and is commercially available on DVD on the BBC/Opus Arte label.

Performances of the 2010-11 season include John Adams’s El Niño under the composer’s baton at the San Francisco Symphony and at the Edinburgh International Festival with James Conlon and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Golijov’s She Was Here with Roberto Minczuk and the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Britten’s Spring Symphony with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with Franz Welser-Möst for a debut with the Cleveland Orchestra. Ms. Rivera covers the role of Pat Nixon for the Metropolitan Opera’s company premiere of Nixon in China directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by John Adams and joins the Grammy Award-winning Beninoise singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo for the world premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Hope: An Oratorio at the Kimmel Center with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia conducted by Mr. Minczuk. Carnegie Hall and Cal Performances Berkeley co-commission a work for Jessica Rivera written by Mark Grey to a libretto by Niloufar Talebi: Ātash Sorushān (Fire Angels) which receives its premiere during recital presentations at Zankel Hall and Hertz Hall in a collaboration with pianist Molly Morkoski and the MEME Chamber Ensemble.

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