Jacquelyn Matava, D.M.

Winner of The American Prize (2023) for women in art song, mezzo-soprano Jacquelyn Matava has been praised for her “warm sound” and “soothing legato line.” She made her debut at the 2022 Glimmerglass Festival as Nelda in Kamala Sankaram's Taking Up Serpents and covered Mercédès in Carmen. Other operatic credits include the title roles in Cendrillon and Dido and Aeneas, Charlotte (Werther), Zita (Gianni Schicchi), Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), and Nancy (Albert Herring). She was a District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

An accomplished concert artist, Matava has been heard as a soloist in performances of Bach’s Mass in B minor, Duruflé’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, and Stravinsky’s Les Noces. She has sung with Tanglewood Music Center, Lucerne Festival Academy, Opera Saratoga, Crested Butte Music Festival, Opera San Antonio, Alamo City Opera, Victoria Bach Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Hudson Valley BachFest. She was a National Semifinalist in the 2022 NATS Artist Awards Competition, winning the Texoma Regional.

Matava joined the Trinity faculty as Assistant Professor of Music in 2017, and teaches applied voice, opera workshop, and aural skills. She also teaches voice at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Lenox, MA. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, National Opera Association, and Texas Music Educators Association, and has been a sought-after adjudicator for competitions across the United States. She also serves as Managing Editor for SongHelix, a searchable art song database (SongHelix.com). 

A native of Farmington, Connecticut, Matava holds a D. M. and M. M. in vocal performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and B. A. in music and economics from Vassar College.