Jessica Spafford
Style: Opera; Jazz; Classical; Pop; Musical Theatre
Title: Assistant Professor of Music, Voice
Bio: Coloratura soprano Jessica Spafford has had success both nationally and abroad. She earned her doctorate in music performance, pedagogy, and literature from James Madison University in 2017. Since then, she has served as the department chair at both Judson College and at Emory & Henry University before taking a Voice Area Coordinator position at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Before her time at these institutions, Jessica also did adjunct work in the Shenandoah Valley at James Madison University, Mary Baldwin University, Bridgewater College, and Eastern Mennonite University, while maintaining a full private voice studio. When she was in the Appalachian region, she founded a regional opera company and served as the organization's Associate Artistic Director. In March of 2024, Dr. Spafford did a masterclass tour in Europe at various locations in England, and in Germany at the Frankfurt Conservatory of Music. Jessica also regularly serves as an adjudicator for voice competitions, including internationally in the Philippines and around the U.S. In addition to her teaching career, Jessica also pursues an active performing schedule. Dr. Spafford presented a recital in Chicago on Brazilian-Portuguese song in 2022, performed on two consecutive holiday concerts with the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival as a soloist, and sang the U.S. premiere of Lauren Spavelko’s song cycle Baby Book at the Music by Women Festival in March 2018. Jessica has served as the soprano soloist on Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Schubert’s Mass in G with the Shenandoah Chamber Society, on songs by Elizabeth Raum and Stephen Hartke—both with the composers in residence during the JMU Contemporary Music Festivals—and as Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel with Luray Opera. In June 2016, she performed in Dresden, Germany, having been recruited to sing the Queen of the Night with the Radebeul Landesbühnen Sachsen Theater in their production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. While abroad, she also performed the role of Lucy in Menotti’s The Telephone with the Mittelsächsisches Theater and spent time giving recitals in various cities in Germany and Austria. Previously, she won the Columbus Opera’s young singer competition while at Ohio Wesleyan University and performed with the Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra. She went on to earn her Master of Music degree from Duquesne University, where she studied with Sari Gruber. Other prominent teachers include Anne Kopta, Marilyn Nims, and Dorothy Maddison. Jessica has performed other numerous leading roles in her career such as Soeur Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Musetta in La Bohème, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Madame Herz in Der Schauspieldirektor, and Cunegonde in Candide.
Voice Type: Soprano
Music Styles Taught: Opera; Jazz; Classical; Pop; Musical Theatre
Availability: I am available as a performer; I have a wait-list for private lessons; I am available as a clinician or presenter; I accept students through a college or university program
