John Allison, Opera magazine, February 2016. Strange Ghost, Festival Theatre, Cambridge Buddhist Centre, December 12. Standing out among the cast of 13 (mostly doubling their brief roles with chorus duties) were the mezzo Jessica Lawrence-Hares (singing warmly as Ka Cox) (2016)

American mezzo-soprano Jessica Lawrence-Hares began her vocal training while attending the National Cathedral School for Girls in Washington, D. C. She went on to become Head Chorister of the inaugural Girls Choir at the Washington Cathedral where she was awarded the St. Alban medal for excellence in choral singing. She received her BM magna cum laude and her MM from Boston University while studying with Sarah Arneson and Phyllis Hoffman. While at Boston University, she sang the role of the Lady with a Hat Box in the Opera Institute’s production of Dominick Argento’s Postcard from Morocco and appeared as the Sea in the second act premiere of Jorge Martín’s Before Night Falls. Other Opera Institute productions include La Bohème, Don Giovanni, Die Fledermaus, and Beatrice and Benedict. She has sung Mercedes in Carmen and Nicklaus in Hoffmans Erzählungen with the Komische Kammeroper München and has also performed with the College Light Opera Company and the Opera Theatre of Lucca. Ms. Lawrence-Hares has been featured soloist in performances of Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning and the Mozart Requiem in the Boston area. She served on the vocal faculty of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute for two summers. Since moving to the Cambridge area, she has given recitals at many of the Cambridge Colleges, including an all-American programme at Clare Hall as part of their America Week cultural celebration. She also appeared in Ruddigore (Mad Margaret), Fiddler on the Roof (Frumah-Sarah), The Magic Flute (3rd Lady) and The Marriage of Figaro (Marcellina) with the Cambridge Operatic Society and was alto soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on CUMS’ 2009 tour of Tuscany. She has recently performed in the premieres of several new operas: two by Kate Waring, Are Women People? (Mother) in 2014 and Porcelain and Pink (Lois) in 2015 and one by David Earl, Strange Ghost (Ka Cox), also in 2015. Upcoming engagements include Sea Pictures, The Music Makers and several more concerts in Cambridge.

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