Soprano Jessica Faselt

Praised for her “keen expression and impressive delivery” in performance with a “sound that is rich, full and luminous throughout its range,” American Soprano Jessica Faselt was a participant of the 2022 Birgit Nilsson Masterclass in Sweden and is the recipient of the 2021 Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award and the 2020 George London Foundation Award.

Ms. Faselt’s season highlights for 2022-2023 have included the role of Freia in Das Rheingold with The Atlanta Opera, First Lady in The Magic Flute at The Metropolitan Opera, and debuts with Detroit Opera and the LA Philharmonic (at the Hollywood Bowl), singing Helmwige in Act III of Die Walküre. Engagements for the 2023-2024 season will include Freia in LA Philharmonic’s upcoming production of Das Rheingold under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel, and Helmwige in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’s touring performances of Die Walküre in Rotterdam, Baden-Baden, Dortmund, and Paris, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. 

Ms. Faselt was a winner of the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Upon performing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in the Grand Finals Concert, Ms. Faselt was presented with the Birgit Nilsson Award of the American-Scandinavian Foundation. She went on to become a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious Lindemann Young Artist Development Program from 2018-2021, and made her debut with the company in 2018 as a Novice in Puccini’s Suor Angelica.

In 2019, Faselt made her The Met: Live in HD debut in movie theaters around the world as Helmwige in Wagner’s Die Walküre. That season, Ms. Faselt was also engaged to sing Helmwige in the Act III ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ from Wagner’s Die Walküre with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival and also covered the Lady in Waiting in The Metropolitan Opera’s 2019 production of Verdi’s Macbeth. Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, Ms. Faselt was unable to perform her scheduled roles with The Metropolitan Opera during the 2020-2021 season, which were to have included The High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida, First Young Nun in Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel, and Unborn 2 in Richard Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten.

Ms. Faselt has earned many prestigious awards and honors in national and international competitions throughout her training and emerging professional seasons, including a Sarah Tucker Study Grant with the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, a Callas Tribute Prize New York, the Ursula Springer Memorial Fund Award from the Wagner Society of New York, Third Prize in the Giulio Gari International Voice Competition, and the 2019 Tito Capobianco Awardfrom Opera Index Foundation. Ms. Faselt was also the recipient of the 2019 Richard F. Gold Career Grant, a semi-finalist with the Premiere Opera Foundation International Voice Competition, and sang in that organization’s Masterclass with Maestro Richard Bonynge.

Ms. Faselt has also participated in training programs with Florida Grand Opera (covering the title role in Richard Strauss’s Salome and Florencia in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas), The Institute for Young Dramatic Voices (where she studied under world-renowned mezzo-soprano, Dolora Zajick), Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (covering the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos), and Des Moines Metro Opera. She received her Master of Music degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where she was also a recipient of the Corbett Award. A native of Iowa, Ms. Faselt began her training at the University of Iowa School of Music, where she received her Bachelor of Music degree with honors.