KRISTINE JEPSON

Mezzo-Soprano

Kristine Jepson is rapidly earning international recognition as one of the finest young artists of our day and has been acclaimed in leading theatres including the Metropolitan Opera, Dallas Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Miami Opera, and at the Santa Fe Opera Festival in roles such as Sesto in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, the Composer in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos and Judith in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle. In December of 2000 Jepson sang her first performances as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera. In the coming seasons, Jepson will make three significant European debuts; at the Bastille Opera in Paris as Siebel in Faust, at the Theatre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels as Octavian in a new production of Der Rosenkavalier under Antonio Pappano, at the Netherlands Opera as Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito, in Montpellier as Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and at the Munich Festival as Octavian.

In the fall of 2000 Kristine Jepson appeared at the San Francisco Opera as Sister Helen in the world premiere production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. She returned to the Metropolitan Opera for her first performances of Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and appeared as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Washington Opera. Her Paris debut followed in May/June 2001. Future projects include a new production of La Clemenza di Tito in Santa Fe, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera, a return to the Bastille in Paris in 2002 as Nicklausse in Les Contes D'Hoffmann and she will also appear in a new production of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini as Ascanio at the Metropolitan Opera in 2003 under James Levine.

Kristine Jepson made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Britten's Death in Venice and has returned to the company for roles such as Siebel in Faust, Stephano in Romeo et Juliette and as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, a role which she has also sung in Washington. She has won special acclaim as the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Santa Fe Opera and in Toronto and was singled out for her performance of Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She has also been heard as Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte in Miami, as Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible in Washington, as Judith in the Vancouver Opera's production of Bluebeard's Castle, as Annio in Tito in Dallas and Santiago, and as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the New York City Opera.

Also active on the concert platform, Jepson made her debut at the Cincinnati May Festival in May 2000 in Mozart's C Minor Mass under James Conlon. She made her Mostly Mozart debut in August of 2000 in the same work under Gerard Schwarz. Jepson recently debuted with the American Symphony Orchestra in Leonard Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony and has performed as soloist in Handel's Messiah, Bach's The Passion According to St. Matthew, and in Mahler's Eighth Symphony with the Bach Society of Saint Louis. Kristine returns to the Mostly Mozart Festival this summer, as soloist in Schumann's Paradies und Peri, again under Gerard Schwarz.