"Mezzo Jacquelyn Matava...sang assertively and acted with plenty of nuance. Matava was splendid in her dying, final aria known as 'Dido's Lament.'"
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–San Antonio Express-News
"Lee Hyla’s shapely, chromatic House of Flowers (2005), a Neruda setting that evokes the terror of the Spanish Civil War, was performed movingly by Jacquelyn Matava."
–​The New York Times
Winner of The American Prize for Women in Art Song (2023), American mezzo-soprano Jacquelyn Matava commands the stage with a voice that seamlessly traverses opera, oratorio, and art song genres.
Her versatility in opera is showcased in roles such as Nelda in Kamala Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents at The Glimmerglass Festival and Zita in Gianni Schicchi at Festival Napa Valley with Kent Nagano conducting. 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).
Jacquelyn’s dynamic vocal artistry also extends to competitions. A Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she won 1st Prize in the 2022 NATS Artist Awards Texoma Regional, 3rd Prize in the 2020 National Opera Association Vocal Competition, and was named winner of The American Prize for Women in Opera (2021).
As a concert soloist, Jacquelyn has been heard 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 in Berio’s Coro at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. She has sung with the Tanglewood Music Center, Lucerne Festival Academy, Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Saratoga, Crested Butte Music Festival, Opera San Antonio, Alamo City Opera, Victoria Bach Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Hudson Valley BachFest.
Jacquelyn’s true passion is art song. Her inventive programming and expressive storytelling make her an exceptional interpreter of this genre. She has crafted a variety of themed recitals, including Short Stories, which contrasts traditional and modern songs, and Sacred Song, a program of music for voice and organ that celebrates world religions. In May 2024 she was a vocal fellow in the inaugural Fellowship of the Song program with Cincinnati Song Initiative.
A native of Farmington, Connecticut, Jacquelyn earned her D. M. and M. M. degrees in vocal performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and B. A. in music and economics from Vassar College. She serves as Associate Professor of Music at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and teaches on the voice faculty at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Lenox, Massachusetts.