Jessica Aszodi
mezzo-soprano / improvisor /
performance artist / composer
︎ Marga van den Meydenburg
Aszodi's career could best be
described as genre-bounding and label-defying. The Australian-born vocalist has
premiered dozens of new pieces, performed long neglected works, devised compositions, projects and festivals, sung roles from musicals and the standard operatic
repertoire, while collaborating with a constellation of artists from the far
reaches of the cultural spectrum.
“Jessica Aszodi was superb as Bella, given the most lyrical
music and having the widest range of emotions to express, moving believably
between teasing sex kitten and committed revolutionary”
- Lead Role, Dream of Armageddon, by Dai Fujikura / Tokyo -- Opera Magazine
- Lead Role, Dream of Armageddon, by Dai Fujikura / Tokyo -- Opera Magazine
Praised for its “utmost security
and power” (Chicago Tribune), Jessica’s voice has an unusual range, both in
terms of colour and pitch, making it possible to perform repertoire across
genres (from experimental to baroque, music theatre to opera), in addition to her multitude of vocal techniques and powerful character portrayals.
Jessica has performed as soloist with ensembles and opera houses as diverse as ICE (NY), the Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Remix Casa da Musica, Staatsoper Hamburg, Wiener Volksoper, Nederlands Reisoper, Musikfabrik, Pinchgut Opera, Victorian Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera, and in the chamber series of the San Diego and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. She has sung in festivals around the world, including Klangspuren, cresc...!, Beethoven Festival Bonn, Resonant Bodies, Vivid Sydney, Aspen Music Festival, BIFEM, the Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Festivals, Darmstadt, Aldeburgh, Tectonics and Tanglewood.
Jessica has performed as soloist with ensembles and opera houses as diverse as ICE (NY), the Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Remix Casa da Musica, Staatsoper Hamburg, Wiener Volksoper, Nederlands Reisoper, Musikfabrik, Pinchgut Opera, Victorian Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera, and in the chamber series of the San Diego and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. She has sung in festivals around the world, including Klangspuren, cresc...!, Beethoven Festival Bonn, Resonant Bodies, Vivid Sydney, Aspen Music Festival, BIFEM, the Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Festivals, Darmstadt, Aldeburgh, Tectonics and Tanglewood.
“Highlights that deserve mention include
the virtuosic whimsy demonstrated by Jessica Aszodi”
- New York Times
︎ Marga van den Meydenburg
In Atlas of the Sky by Liza Lim, with Speak Percussion and participant ensemble, Melbourne 2018 ︎ Bryony Marks
Her operatic roles include Eve (Stockhausen’s Dienstag aus Licht), Aminta (Mozart’s Il re pastore), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Sesto (Handel’s Guilio Cesare), Popova (Walton's The Bear), Rose (Elliot Carter's What Next?), Amore (Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea ) and Echo (Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos). She has performed the world premieres of operas by composers such as Laura Bowler (lead role in Houses Slide / Royal Festival Hall / dir. Katie Mitchell; and The Girl With A Hurricane Brain / Lydenskab / Copenhagen Opera Festival) and Dai Fujkura (lead role in Dream of Armageddon / New National Theatre Tokyo / dir. Lydia Steier).
Aszodi has twice been nominated for the Australian Greenroom Awards as ‘best female operatic performer’ - in both the leading and supporting categories.
In her
native Australia she has been described as
“one of the finest actress-singers in the
country”
- The Age.
In 2019 she was awarded “Performance of the Year” by the Australian Art Music Awards for Liza Lim’s epic “Atlas of the Sky” with Speak Percussion. She holds a Masters in Experimental Art from the University of California San Diego and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Queensland Conservatorium, where she focused on subjectivity and embodiment practices in the creation of new work. Jessica is also a writer and educator who has written scholarly articles for several books and journals.
︎ artist website
︎︎︎ repertoire
︎ You Tube
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