Jessica Robins Milanese

Soprano

Résumé
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Biography
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Award-winning soprano Jessica Robins Milanese is critically acclaimed for the depth and sparkle that she brings to her performances. The Seattle Times recently described her as “a praiseworthy, comely singer in vibrant voice and admirably graceful…even under fire.” The Everett Herald lauded her recent portrayal of Susanna in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro with Skagit Opera, calling Ms. Milanese “a radiant soprano…who sings with beauty and ease.” In 2005 she was named first place winner of the Astoria Music Festival’s vocal competition. This year, she won the Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s vocal scholarship for her portrayal of Patience from the Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta of the same name. Although opera is her first love, Ms. Milanese is a versatile artist, who has been highly praised on the opera, concert, musical theater and even puppet theater stage.
    This coming season, Ms. Milanese will sing her first Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) with Tacoma Opera and will revisit the role of Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) in her début with Washington East Opera. She will be heard as the soprano soloist in Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity with the Kirkland Choral Society and make a return to the Bremerton Symphony for Handel’s Messiah. In recital, Ms. Milanese will premier of a new song cycle, The Turns of a Girl, written for her my Northwest composer Huntley Beyer.
    Although Susanna, (The Marriage of Figaro) is one of Ms. Milanese favorite and most-oft performed characters, she recently performed the role of Héro (Béatrice et Bénédict) with Tacoma Opera and Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) in a collaborated production with the Northwest Sinfonietta and Tacoma Opera. Other roles performed include Norina (Don Pasquale), Marie (Daughter of the Regiment), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Lucy (The Telephone), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), and Papagena (The Magic Flute).
During her apprenticeship with the Seattle Opera Young Artist’s Program, Ms. Milanese performed the role of Pamina in the young artist’s production of The Magic Flute and returned as a guest artist the following season to sing the role of Barbarina in their production of Le Nozze di Figaro.
    On the concert stage, Ms. Milanese has performed as a soloist with the Bremerton Symphony, Orchestra Seattle, Northwest Sinfonietta, the Yakima Symphony, Federal Way Chorale and the Olympia Chamber Orchestra. Her latest concert repertoire includes Orff’s Carmina Burana, praised as “ meltingly lovely” by The Kitsap Sun, Haydn’s The Creation, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Coffee Cantata as well as the world premier of composer Huntley Beyer’s latest work, Songs of Illumination.
    Ms. Milanese grew up in Missoula, Montana, received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Colorado and has studied with William Eddy of Tacoma, Washington for the past nine years.