Soprano Jazmine Saunders, from Rochester, New York, is an incoming Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist. She is studying at The Juilliard School (MM '24, Vocal Arts), under the tutelage of Elizabeth Bishop. Saunders is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School. This season at Juilliard, she performed as Elaine O’Neill in John Musto’s Later the Same Evening, and is covering Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito. Last season, she performed as La Suora Infermiera in Suor Angelica, and as a soloist in Purcell's King Arthur.

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This summer, Saunders will join Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist, where she will make her house and role debut as Shannon in the world premiere of The Righteous by Gregory Spears. She will also cover Giannetta in L'elisir d'amore. Last summer, Saunders joined Wolf Trap Opera as a Studio Artist, where she covered Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. There, she also performed as Gilda (Rigoletto) and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) in the Studio Spotlight scenes perfomance.

 

Saunders is an alumna of the Eastman School of Music (BM ‘22, Voice Performance), where she graduated with Highest Distinction, and performed the title role of La Calisto, The Witch in Into the Woods, The Lady with the Hand Mirror in Postcard from Morocco, and Tonina in Salieri's Prima la musica e poi le parole. At Eastman, she was the 2020-2022 recipient of the William Warfield Scholarship.

 

Saunders performed as Adele in Die Fledermaus with Rochester Summer Opera, and is an alumna of Houston Grand Opera’s 2021 Young Artists’ Vocal Academy (YAVA). As an Emerging Artist at Seagle Festival 2022, Saunders performed as Miss Lightfoot in Fellow Travelers, Suor Osmina in Suor Angelica, and covered Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi.

 

Saunders won an Encouragement Award in the 2022 Opera Index Competition, and is a Top Prize winner of the 2023 Inaugural Duncan Williams Voice Competition in the Developing Division. Saunders won the Second Place Prize in the 2023 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition Opera Division and made her Carnegie Hall debut singing in the winners concert. Saunders is a New York District Winner of the 2023-24 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and an Encouragement Award recipient of the Eastern Regional round. She recently appeared in the 2024 Houston Grand Opera Concert of Arias where she won the Audience Choice Award.