Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Lyric soprano Jacqueline Echols has been praised for her “dynamic range and vocal acrobatics” (Classical Voice) in theaters across the United States. In the summer of 2022, Echols reprised her acclaimed portrayal of Clara in Porgy and Bess in her debut with Des Moines Metro Opera, in addition to her debut with the Cleveland Orchestra for their annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert and her return to Cincinnati Opera for a special performance alongside Morris Robinson in Morris and Friends.

In the 2022/23 Season, Echols returned to LA Opera as Julie in Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ Omar, debuted the role of Juliette in Roméo and Juliette with Opera San Antonio, and made her long-awaited return to the Kennedy Center reprising the role of Musetta in La Bohème with Washington National Opera.

In the 2021/22 Season, Echols was featured at The Metropolitan Opera both as Clara in Porgy and Bess and as Noemie in the Met’s family adaptation of Massenet’s Cendrillon. Additional performances at The Metropolitan Opera include Pousette in Manon and Musetta in La Bohème. Echols has been seen at the Kennedy Center under the auspices of Washington National Opera in the title role of La Traviata, the role of Sister Helen in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Micaela in Carmen, as well as Woglinde/Forest Bird in Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Additional performances include Clara in Porgy and Bess with the Atlanta Opera as well as the title role in La Traviata with Palm Beach Opera. A frequent performer of both standard and contemporary repertoire, Echols debuted the role of Helen in the world premiere performances of The Summer King at the Pittsburgh Opera in 2017 and reprised the role in her hometown of Detroit with Michigan Opera Theater in 2018. Echols has performed the role of Pip in Heggie’s Moby Dick with the Los Angeles, Dallas and Pittsburgh Operas. On the concert stage, Echols has performed with the Ann Arbor Symphony for their 2017 Season opening gala concert, and returned to the symphony for her first performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Echols made her debut with the Memphis Symphony in performances of Handel’s Messiah.

Recent seasons have seen Echols with North Carolina Opera as Gilda in Rigoletto, the title role in La Traviata, and Musetta in La Bohème, as well as with The Glimmerglass Festival as Pamina in The Magic Flute, Giulietta in King for a Day, and Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos. Echols reprised the role of Musetta in 2017 in concert with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Ward Stare. A graduate of Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, Echols was seen in previous seasons at the Kennedy Center as Micaëla in Carmen, the Unicorn in the world premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me, Clorinda in La Cenerentola, and Woglinde and Forest Bird in Wagner’s full Ring Cycle conducted by Music Director Philippe Auguin. Echols made her debut with the Tanglewood Festival reprising the role of Woglinde in Das Rheingold conducted by Andris Nelsons.

Additional appearances include Cincinnati Opera as Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, First Lady in The Magic Flute, and Clara in Porgy and Bess; Micaela in Carmen with Eugene Opera; and New York Harlem Productions as both Clara and Bess in Porgy and Bess, for which Echols was featured in the documentary Porgy and Me which premiered in Germany in January 2010.

Echols is a 2012 second prize winner at the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. Echols completed her master’s degree and artist diploma at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where she appeared as the Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Anne Truelove in The Rake’s Progress, and Pamina in The Magic Flute.