Jeanette Blakeney
Queenie
From Bizet to Broadway, Jeanette Blakeney is hailed as a true mezzo‐soprano and a gifted singing actor with extraordinary depth, range, color, beauty and grace. Ms. Blakeney has garnered worldwide applause and is widely praised by critics alike for her electrifying performances on stage while joining the rosters of some of the most prestigious opera houses and concert halls across the globe.
Ms. Blakeney has graced the stages of: New York City Opera, Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher Hall, Merkin Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, Ithaca College, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Virginia Opera, Orlando Opera, Baltimore Opera, The Prince Edward Theater in London, The New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, The Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Italy, The Alte Opera in Frankfurt, Germany, Semper Opera in Dresden, Germany, The Hamburg Stadt Theater in Hamburg, Germany, The Dalhalla Festival in Sweden, The Lyric Theatre in Sydney Australia, The Open Air Theatre in Pecs, Hungary, The Royal Danish Theater in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ms. Blakeney’s Repertoire displays her artistic versatility in a variety of dramatic, comedic, and sultry roles. Featured roles include: The Nurse in Boris Godunov, The Woman in La Voix Humaine, Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, Filipyevena in Eugene Onegin, Mercedes in Carmen, Marchellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Flora in La Traviata, Marthe in Faust, Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Amastre in Xerxes, The Princess in Suor Angelica, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Madame Flora (Baba) in The Medium, Tituba in The Crucible, Prince Orlofsky in Di fledermaus, Madrina in Christopher Columbus, Sally in A Hand of Bridge, Isabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti, Maria, Lilly, Strawberry Woman, and Annie, in Porgy and Bess, Queenie in Show Boat, Bloody Mary in South Pacific, Anita in West Side Story, Morales in A Chorus Line, Crystal in Little Shop of Horrors, Betsy in Big River, and Dionne in Hair.
Equally at home on the concert and recital stage, Ms. Blakeney has brought Regal bearing and impassioned interpretation to Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Mozart’s Magnificat, Beethoven’s Mass in C Minor, and Bernstein’s Arias and Barcaroles.
Career highlights: Renowned American composer, Tom Cipullo, wrote and dedicated the song cycle Climbing, for Ms. Blakeney which she later premiered at Carnegie Hall with the composer at the piano. She also toured with living Jazz Legend, Wynton Marsalis, performing his peace, The Abyssinian Mass.
Ms. Blakeney hails from sunny California were she studied Vocal Performance at Chico State University. Soon after her studies she went on to became the first African‐American Principal Artist in Residence with Opera San Jose for three years to critical acclaim. Ms. Blakeney was inducted into the Hanford, California Hall of Fame, her Hometown, a most coveted honor. She currently resides in New York City.