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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 recital with 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 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, 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 consist of
three concerts in May with the American Modern Ensemble at New
York City’s Tenri Cultural Institute, as well as the U.S.
premiere of Richard Cameron-Wolfe’s cantata A Measure
of Love and Silence at Symphony Space this June. In July,
Ms. Familant will join flutist Gary Shocker and pianist Hugh Sung
in the Summer Stars Classical Music series in Ocean Grove, New
Jersey. The soprano looks forward to her Carnegie Hall debut this
Fall.
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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