Young American Soprano Jessica Fishenfeld, hailed for her “engaging” performances (Opera News) and “soaring, glittering high notes” (EDGEftlauderdale), “triumphed” (NY Observer) in her New York City Opera debut this season as Leah in the World Premiere of Stonewall (Iain Bell & Mark Campbell), with “clean coloratura,” (Opera News) and “spunky personality” (Opera Wire). Since her recent residency with Palm Beach Opera as a Benenson Young Artist, she starred in the World Premiere of Lovesick at National Sawdust, made her Carnegie/Zankel Hall debut as soloist with The Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, appeared with the Helena Symphony in Bernstein 100!, was a 2017 Career Bridges Grant Winner, and was awarded a Semi-Finalist Prize in the 2019 Lotte Lenya Competition.

Additionally in ²⁰¹⁸⁄₁₉ season, she reprised Bernstein 100! singing Cunegonde and Maria in selections from Candide and West Side Story with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra, made a company debut with On Site Opera as Mrs. Mouse in The Tale of the Silly Baby Mouse, and returned to Carnegie/Zankel Hall as soloist. She finishes the season singing Norina in Don Pasquale with North Shore Music Festival and returns to Savannah Opera for the World Premiere of Birthday Clown (Ching). She opens the ²⁰¹⁹⁄₂₀ season with a guest appearance at NYC’s Birdland Jazz Club, and returns to Helena Symphony as soprano soloist in Carmina Burana.

Among her recent World Premieres, Fishenfeld created the roles of Kim in Eric Salzman’s Big Jim & the Small-Time Investors (Gramercy Opera) and Lydia Douce in Victoria Bond’s Sirens (Cutting Edge Concerts), and sang May Fielding in the North American premiere of Zandonai’s Il grillo del focolare with Teatro Grattacielo. A passionate supporter of new American opera, Fishenfeld created and hosts “Alive & Kicking,” a new web series that curates and promotes such works (to be released July 2019).

As a Benenson Young Artist at Palm Beach Opera, her roles included Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), Norina (Don Pasquale), Najade (Ariadne auf Naxos), Frasquita (Carmen), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), and Gilda cover (Rigoletto). She was recently seen as Lucia in scenes from Lucia di Lammermoor at Savannah Opera, Musetta (La bohème) and Frasquita (Carmen) with Long Island Lyric Opera, soloist with the St. Bart’s Music Festival (West Indies), Filarmonía de Xalapa (Mexico), Newport Music Festival, Center for Contemporary Opera, Music for Montauk festival, Zerlina (Don Giovanni) at the Metropolitan Opera Guild, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with the Miami Music Festival, for which she was hailed for her “crystalline and pure” voice, “large vocal range,” and “spot on comedic timing.”

Early in her career, Fishenfeld appeared in concert at Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio as a guest of (then) Florentine mayor, Matteo Renzi for the 2012 NYU Leadership Conference, soloist in Byron Wu’s Kyrie at Carnegie/Weill Hall, and soloist in the 2011 Classical Singer Convention finals concert. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music (MM), she was chosen as a finalist in the school’s 2015 Ades Vocal Competition, sang the title role in Lakmé, and performed the role of Zerlina in Kenneth Merrill’s production of Don Giovanni. At NYU Steinhardt (BM), she performed the roles of Adele (Die Fledermaus), Thea (Fiorello!), Clara (The Light in the Piazza), and Jenny Hildebrand (Street Scene).

Other notable performances include Dew Fairy/Gretel cover (Hansel and Gretel) at Hubbard Hall Opera Theatre, Annina (La traviata) and Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at Highlands Opera Studio (Canada), and Maestro Lorin Maazel’s 2011 Castleton Festival productions as Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Carmen in concert (with Denyce Graves), and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (with Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons).