Biography
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 wowing audiences with her sassy unapologetic style. She has joined the ranks and rosters of some of the most prestigious Opera Houses, Theatres, and Concert Halls across the globe.
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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, The Met Museum of Art, Opera Philadelphia, Barbara B Mann Performing Arts Hall, Union Performing Arts Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Opera San Jose, 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 Semper Opera in Dresden, Germany, The Dalhalla Festival in Sweden, The Lyric Theatre in Sydney Australia, The Open Air Theatre in Szeged, Hungary, The Royal Danish Theater in Copenhagen, Denmark, El Gran Teatro in Santiago, RD, The Queen’s Hall in Trinidad and Tobago, The Belem Opera House in Lisbon, Portugal, The Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, The Kwai Tsing Theater in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong, The Royal Theatre Carre in Amsterdam, Netherlands, The Grand Theatre de Geneve, Switzerland, The Palais des Festival, Cannes, France, and The People’s Hall, Beijing China.
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Ms. Blakeney’s Repertoire displays her artistic versatility in various 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 Negro Woman in The Mother of Us All, The Princess in Suor Angelica, Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, Madame Flora (Baba) in The Medium, Tituba in The Crucible, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Madrina in Christopher Columbus, Sally in A Hand of Bridge, Isabel in ThePirates of Penzance, Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti, Maria, Lilly, Strawberry Woman, and Annie, in Porgy and Bess, Queenie in Show Boat (National Broadway Tour), 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.
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Equally, at home on the concert and recital stage, Ms. Blakeney has brought
regal bearing and impassioned interpretation of Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Mozart’s Magnificat, Beethoven’s Mass in C Minor, and Bernstein’s Arias and Barcaroles.
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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 piece, The Abyssinian Mass. Branching out to TV and Film, Ms. Blakeney Appeared in The Netflix Series, Orange is The
ew Black, as an Inmate, in Season 4.
Ms. Blakeney hails from Sunny California where she studied Vocal Performance at Chico State University. Soon after her studies, she 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.