J'Nai Bridges

J’Nai Bridges is an American mezzo-soprano. She is a winner of the Marian Anderson Award and has performed for the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, and San Francisco Opera.

J’Nai Bridges
EducationCharles Wright Academy
Alma mater
OccupationOperatic mezzo-soprano
AwardsMarian Anderson Award

Early life and education

Bridges grew up in Lakewood, Washington, and attended high school at the Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma.[1] Her focus was originally on basketball, but she became interested in singing after taking choir as an elective. After deciding to focus on music, she attended the Manhattan School of Music and then the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia for graduate school.[2] While participating in a young artists' program at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, she was mentored by Renée Fleming.

Career

Bridges sang at the Kennedy Center for the first time after winning a 2012 Marian Anderson Award.[3] She competed in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2015.[4] She performed at the Los Angeles Opera in November 2016 as Nefertiti in Akhnaten by Philip Glass.[5] In 2017, she performed the role of Josefa Segovia in the premiere of John Adams's Girls of the Golden West at San Francisco Opera.[6] In June 2019, she returned to San Francisco for the title role in Bizet's Carmen.[7] She made her Metropolitan Opera debut reprising her role in Akhnaten in November 2019, and her Washington National Opera debut as Delilah in Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saëns in March 2020.[8][9]

She names Black opera stars Denyce Graves, Shirley Verrett, Kathleen Battle, and Jessye Norman, at whose funeral she sang, as inspirations.[3]

References
  1. Sailor, Craig (December 23, 2016). "Lakewood basketball player turned opera star will perform in free Tacoma concert tonight". The News Tribune. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  2. Kai, Maiysha (November 29, 2019). "From Carmen to Nefertiti, J'Nai Bridges Is the Next Big Voice in Opera". The Root. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  3. Dalfonzo, Gina (March 3, 2020). "J'Nai Bridges' debut in Samson and Delilah is a dream come true". DC Metro Theater Arts. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  4. "J'Nai Bridges". Opera News. October 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  5. "Glass' Akhnaten Triumphs in New L.A. Opera Production". San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  6. Swed, Mark (November 26, 2017). "Review: Where to look for treasure in California's new gold rush? Try John Adams' new opera". LA Times.
  7. "J'Nai Bridges Multitasks in Her Debut as Carmen". San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  8. Davidson, Justin (November 11, 2019). "Gleaming and Self-Aware, Philip Glass's Akhnaten Is Borne to the Met". Vulture. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  9. "How a Fast-Rising Opera Singer Prepared for Her Met Debut" by Merrell Hambleton, The New York Times, November 13, 2019
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