Mezzo-soprano Jazmine Olwalia has been praised for her vocal “agility and rich tone” and as a “comedic delight”. Possessing a voice of unusual beauty with a technique to match, she is a Resident Artist at Pittsburgh Opera and has been featured last season as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Ariodante in Ariodante, Third Wood Sprite in Rusalka, and Girl in Denis and Katya. She will return to Pittsburgh for the 2023-24 season as Priestess in Iphegénie en Tauride, Littler Sister in Proving Up and Phoebe in The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson. Jazmine will also be making her role debut as Second Lady in a new production of The Magic Flute at Annapolis Opera. This past summer, she performed in Union Avenue Opera’s production as Sarah in Ragtime.

 

In 2022, she joined Opera Theater of St. Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist, performing as Mercedes in Carmen and covering Miriam H. in the world premiere of Awakenings by Tobias Picker. In the same summer, she performed with West Edge Opera as Miss Forcible in the American premiere of Coraline, based on the award winning children’s novel. Jazmine was named third prize winner of the 2022 Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Career Grant Competition and, in 2021 was named a semi-finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. 

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In her 2021-2022 season, Jazmine made her Portland Opera debut as Sharonne Salaam in their new production of The Central Park Five by Anthony Davis. Earlier on, she joined the ensemble of Grammy-awarding winning production of Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera and performed with Annapolis Opera in a new work reading of Sunder, a piece about the present day trials of protesting. In the summer of 2021, she returned to Wolf Trap Opera for her second year as a studio artist, performing in their productions of a double bill of Cendrillion/Savitri and a concert version of Sweeney Todd, in which she covered the role of Mrs. Lovett. 

 

In her 2019-2020 season, Jazmine portrayed the title role in the Maryland Opera Studio’s production of Ariodante, as well as making her debut with Bel Cantanti Opera as Giovanna in Rigoletto. She was also scheduled to portray the Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen with the Maryland Opera Studio in the spring of 2021 (cancelled due to Covid-19). Jazmine was also named a Finalist in the 2020 Dallas Opera Guild Biennial Lone Star Vocal Competition. In 2019, Jazmine was awarded third place in the Pre-Professional Division of the George Shirley Vocal Competition, as well as receiving the Hilda Harris Mezzo-Soprano prize. Jazmine is a graduate of the University of Maryland’s Maryland Opera Studio and received her Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Houston.