Jennifer M. Lazarz
Mezzo-soprano
Jennifer Lazarz's rich mezzo-soprano voice was recently described as "strong and vibrant" by the Winston Salem Journal. This winter Jennifer is excited to made her main stage debut with North Carolina Opera as Flora in Verdi's La Traviata and then joined Opera on the James as both a Tyler Young Artist and Marcellina in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
Recently Jennifer was featured as the alto soloist with the Mozart Club of Winston-Salem in their annual performance of Handel’s Messiah. Jennifer worked with Syracuse Opera in the fall of 2014 as a Resident Artist. While there she performed as the Grandmother Barab’s Little Red Riding Hood and covered the role of Prince Orlofsky in J. Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, as well as in various concerts throughout the Syracuse community.
Jennifer made her New York debut in July of 2014 singing the role of Berta in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Prelude to Performance program of the Martina Arroyo Foundation. In the 2013-2014 season she sang the roles of Cavalier Ramiro in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera and Nicklausse/Muse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann with the Fletcher Opera Institute in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Some of Jennifer’s other stage credits include Suzy/Lolette in Puccini's La Rondine, Zita in Gianni Schicchi (also by Puccini), Kate in Britten's Owen Wingrave, and Isolier in Rossini's Le Comte Ory. Jennifer’s recent competition accolades include placing second in the 2014 Heafner/Williams Competition, third in the 2013 Heafner/Williams Voice Competition and was a finalist in the 2013 Rosen-Schaffel Competition.
In the 2010-2011 season Jennifer was engaged as New Artist with Opera Tampa and sang the role of Dodo in Maestro Anton Coppola's adaptation of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow. Jennifer served as a participant and staff member for four years with the V.O.I.C.Experience “Sherrill Milnes and Friends” opera training programs in Orlando/Tampa, FL, and Savannah, GA and worked closely with the organization in scheduling top notch outreach programs and concerts.
In addition to her community outreach singing with V.O.I.C.Experience, Jennifer has also sung Ernesto in The Billy Goats Gruff and Sir Barcarolle in The Bremen Town Musicians (both productions are arrangements by John Davies) in opera outreach programs sponsored by Piedmont Opera in conjunction with the Fletcher Opera Institute in a wide area of North Carolina. In the summer of 2013 she served Piedmont Opera as an assistant director to their summer children's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore. Jennifer grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and was honored to sing as a regular alto ensemble member with the Grant Park Music Festival Chorus under Carlos Calmar, the Music of the Baroque Chorus, and the Chicago Symphony Chorus under the baton of Bernard Haitink and Ricardo Muti. Jennifer was also a tenured member of the chorus at the Oregon Bach Festival for four years under the baton of Helmuth Rilling.
Jennifer completed her Masters in Music studies with Dr. Marilyn Taylor at the Fletcher Opera Institute at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in May of 2014 and has recently started studies under acclaimed mezzo-soprano Victoria Livengood. Jennifer graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance from Augustana College, Rock Island IL. When she isn't busy singing Jennifer is happily spending her time working as a tour guide to various restaurants in her area and dog sitting for some of the cutest furry friends in Winston Salem.