Praised for her “lush” voice by The Wall Street Journal, mezzo-soprano Jenni Bank has a “deep, dark, penetrating tone…that can extract Verdian richness” (The Baltimore Sun). Ms. Bank was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and grew up in Binghamton, New York. Following early studies in voice, she attended The Peabody Conservatory and participated in prestigious Young Artist programs at Seattle Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera New Jersey, and the world-renowned Filene Young Artist Program at Wolf Trap Opera. Recently Ms. Bank performed Ruth in Pirates of Penzance with Anchorage Opera and The Marquis in Daughter of the Regiment with Opera Orlando. She will soon participate in a workshop of a new opera, The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera and co-produced with LA Opera, written by Mason Bates with libretto by Gene Scheer.
Ms. Bank returned to Seattle Opera to make her main-stage debut performing Third Lady in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, after covering the role at Chicago Lyric Opera. Recently, she made her Carnegie Hall debut, sang La Zia Principessa in Puccini's Suor Angelica in Columbus, Third Lady in The Magic Flute and Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro at The Florentine Opera, returned to Baltimore Concert Opera as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and The Mother in The Consul, performed her third Katisha in The Mikado, and has sung in Hawaii with Hawaii Opera Theatre as the Marquise in La fille du regiment and Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Hawaii Arts Lab in their Burlesque Speakeasy. D.C. metro arts has called her “a revelation…very funny…unfailingly dignified…[and] astonishingly sexy.”
Known for her prowess in contemporary opera, Ms. Bank made her Lincoln Center and New York City Opera debut performing Mrs. Twist in the American Premier of Brokeback Mountain at Jazz at Lincoln Center, for which the New York Classical Review praised her “earthy mezzo and soulful singing.” She gave “the comic performance of a lifetime” (Ion Arts) as Samira in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and is the leading interpreter of the role of The Duchess in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland for which Opera News called her “a standout as the Duchess, showing a luscious, dramatic voice and plenty of stage humor.” Ms. Bank has performed the role in the American Premier at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and with The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, The Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester in Bergen and at the Oslo Opera House in Norway, The Seoul Philharmonic at Lotte Concert Hall in South Korea, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall, and at the Barbican Centre in London with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Bank also created the role of Firdhaus Noman in the World Premiere adaptation of Salmon Rushdie's novel Shalimar the Clown, composed by Jack Perla, with a libretto by Rajiv Joseph at Opera Theatre Saint Louis and she is featured on the recently released Original Cast Recording. Additionally, Ms. Bank made her Opera Delaware debut as a “heartbreakingly affecting” (Broad Street Review) Mrs. de Rocher in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.
Other notable performances include Emilia in Rossini's Otello with the Bard Summer Music Festival, The Old Lady in Candide and Mrs. Peachum in Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera with Amarillo Opera, Ruth in Pirates of Penzance with Knoxville Opera, and Golde in Fiddler on the Roof with Ash Lawn Opera.
Lauded as “a singer of true Verdian force” (The Baltimore Sun), Ms. Bank was the mezzo soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with Bach in Baltimore and The Morgan State University Choir and Annapolis Chorale. Of her performance as Azucena in Il Trovatore, The Houston Chronicle proclaimed “Bank is her own force of nature and achingly conveyed her obsessed gypsy heart through masterful command of her stupendous voice. Thrilling to behold, it's like hearing the waves of the sea...Bank is...a superlative Verdi interpreter.”
Ms. Bank’s repertoire also includes Dame Quickly in Falstaff, The Witch in Hänsel und Gretel, Dryad in Ariadne auf Naxos, Frugola in Il Tabarro, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Martha in Faust, Giulietta and La voix de la mere in Les Contess d’Hoffmann, Miss Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief, Petra in A Little Night Music, Fairy Queen in Iolanthe, Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore, Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin, Argento’s orchestrated Casa Guidi song cycle, the Mozart Requiem, Bruckner Te Deum, Szymanowski Stabat Mater, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Schubert’s Mass in C, and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
Ms. Bank has returned to both her hometown to sing the role of Mrs. Lovett in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and Dulcamara in The Elixir Of Love with Tri-Cities Opera and to her country of birth to sing in Cape Town. She is a winner of the prestigious Sullivan Foundation Award, winner of The Harold Haugh Competition, and was semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Ms. Bank regularly gives Vocal and Comedic Masterclasses around the country.
Find Jenni at @jenni_bank on all social media and her dogs at @theharleyandleo
