Winner of The American Prize (2021) for women in opera, mezzo-soprano Jacquelyn Matava has been praised for her “warm sound” and “soothing legato line.” She made her 2022 Glimmerglass Festival debut as Nelda in Kamala Sankaram's Taking Up Serpents and covered Mercédès in Carmen. In 2021, she sang Zita in Festival Napa Valley’s production of Gianni Schicchi with Kent Nagano conducting and covered Dorabella in Così fan tutte with Opera NexGen. Other operatic credits include the title roles in Cendrillon and Dido and Aeneas, Charlotte (Werther), Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), and Nancy (Albert Herring).  She won 1st Prize in the 2022 NATS Artist Awards Texoma Regional, 3rd Prize in the 2020 National Opera Association Carolyn Bailey and Dominick Argento Vocal Competition, and was a Regional Finalist in the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

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Jacquelyn has been heard as a soloist in performances of Bach’s Mass in B minor, Duruflé’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, and Stravinsky’s Les Noces. In 2014, she performed at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. She has sung with the Tanglewood Music Center, Lucerne Festival Academy, Opera Saratoga, Crested Butte Music Festival, Opera San Antonio, Alamo City Opera, Victoria Bach Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Hudson Valley BachFest.

 

A native of Farmington, Connecticut, Jacquelyn holds a D. M. and M. M. in vocal performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and B. A. in music and economics from Vassar College. She currently serves as Assistant Professor of Music at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.