Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Praised for her “lush” voice by The Wall Street Journal, mezzo-soprano Jenni Bank has a “deep, dark, penetrating tone…that can extract Verdian richness ” (The Baltimore Sun). Jenni was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, grew up in Binghamton, New York, and studied voice and opera at The Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University. She has worked with numerous prestigious opera companies and orchestras including Seattle Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, Opera Delaware, Des Moines Metro Opera, Florentine Opera, Wolf T rap Opera, Anchorage Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Knoxville Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Wexford Festival Opera, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Bard Summer Music Festival, Ash Lawn Opera, Amarillo Opera, Opera Baltimore, Annapolis Opera, Opera in the Heights, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Mid-America Productions at Carnegie Hall, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester, Seoul Philharmonic, LA Phil, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Center. “Bank is her own force of nature…with masterful command of her stupendous voice. Thrilling to behold, it's like hearing the waves of the sea. " (Houston Press)

Specializing in comedy and character roles, Jenni’s performances have been described as “comic performances of a lifetime—one scene after another was hilariously funny. Bank has a wonderfully supple voice and she is a first-class comedienne.” (Ion Arts Review) Roles include Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd), Marcellina (The Marriage of Figaro), Samira (The Ghosts of Versailles), Mrs. De Rocher (Dead Man Walking), The Mother (The Consul), 3rd Lady (The Magic Flute), Ruth (The Pirates of Penzance), Buttercup (H.M.S. Pinafore), Mrs. Twist (Brokeback Mountain), Emilia (Otello), Mary (Flying Dutchman), Old Lady (Candide), Mrs. Peachum (Threepenny Opera), Golde (Fiddler on the Roof), Azucena (Il Trovatore), Witch (Hänsel und Gretel), Quickly (Falstaff), Baba (The Medium), Dryad (Ariadne auf Naxos), Frugola (Il Tabarro), Principessa (Suor Angelica), Zita (Gianni Schicchi), Martha (Faust), Giulietta (Hoffmann), Marquise (The Daughter of the Regiment), Petra (A Little Night Music), Fairy Queen (Iolanthe), Katisha (The Mikado), Filipyevna (Eugene Onegin), and mezzo solos in Verdi’s Requiem, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and Hayes’ Gloria, Argento’s Casa Guidi, Brahms' Zigeunerlieder, Beethoven’ s Symphony No. 9.

Bank is the leading interpreter of The Duchess in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland, created the role of Firdaus Noman in Shalimar The Clown and is featured on the Original Cast Recording. She is a winner of the prestigious Sullivan Foundation Award, winner of The Harold Haugh Competition, and was semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Bank lives in New York with her husband and the two cutest dogs in the world.