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Biography
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American soprano Jennifer Bird enjoys a busy and varied singing career in the US and Europe, having built a reputation as a charismatic, intelligent and versatile performer of more than 50 roles in opera, operetta and musical theater, as well as much of the standard oratorio and concert literature.
As the recipient of a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship, Jennifer first began studying in Germany in the Opernklasse of the Hamburg Musikhochschule, where she joined the vocal studio of renowned soprano Judith Beckmann. Soon thereafter she began singing at the Landestheater Coburg and then at the Bremer Theater where she became a pillar of the soloist ensemble, singing major roles in the lyric and lyric-coloratura soprano repertory and, in Coburg, twice earning the Audience Favorite Prize. Engagements followed at the Vienna Volksoper, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Theater Bonn, Theater Chemnitz, Theater Lübeck, Theater Würzburg and Theater Hagen, among others. Highlights have included the title roles in Lulu and Lucia di Lammermoor, Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann, the Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Ann Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Marguerite in Faust, Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, Nedda in I Pagliacci, Gilda in Rigoletto, Violetta in La traviata, Euridice in Orphée aux Enfers and Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail.
Much in demand as a recitalist and concert singer, Jennifer has been the soprano soloist in The Messiah with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt, in Dvorák’s Stabat Mater with the Bremer Philharmonic at the St. Petri Cathedral and in a Veteran’s Day concert with the US Army Band at Carnegie Hall. In 2008 Jennifer was invited to Brussels to perform with members of the Ictus Ensemble in honor of the 200th anniversary of Ricordi Publishing. She has been the featured soloist in gala concerts with the Stuttgart Philharmonic at the Stuttgart Konzerthalle and in Luxembourg with the Orchestra of the Warsaw Teatr Wielki. In 2010 she made her Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall debut as the soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Riverside Choral Society. Jennifer’s engagements for 2011 include the soprano solo in Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Boulder Bach Festival; excerpts from Das Knaben Wunderhorn as part of the Boulder Mahlerfest; Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate with the Littleton Symphony as well as performances of Bright Sheng’s Three Chinese Love Songs and Joseph Schwantner’s Sparrows. She has been a prizewinner in several international competitions, including the Sylvia Geszty Competition, the Robert Stolz Competition and the Alexander Girardi Competition.
Jennifer has worked with noted artists such as Lawrence Renes, Martin Katz, Barrie Kosky, Helmut Baumann, Florian Ludwig, Stefan Klingele, Phillip Himmelmann, Joshua Major, Gustav Meier, JJ Penna, Antoine Palloc, Bruno Berger-Gorski, Andrej Woron, Rosamund Gilmore, Detlef Altenbeck and Alois Seidlmeier. Jennifer is a member of the voice faculty at the University of Colorado- Boulder.
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