Biography
mezzo-soprano (Jocasta)
J’Nai Bridges
In the 2021–22 season, J’NAI BRIDGES (Jocasta) takes on multiple world premieres and appears on the Kennedy Center’s fiftieth anniversary season, including with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera. She premiered Adolphus Hailstork’s A Knee on the Neck alongside Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem with the National Philharmonic, and collaborates with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on their Power to the People! festival.
In the midst of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Bridges emerged as a leading figure in classical music’s shift toward conversations about inclusion and racial justice, leading a highly successful panel on race and inequality in opera with the Los Angeles Opera. In early 2021, Ms. Bridges was featured in a Converse All Stars’ campaign for its Breaking Down Barriers collection.
Other recent highlights include the 2021 Grammy Award-winning recording of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua, her Carnegie Hall recital debut, Philip Glass’s Satyagraha at Los Angeles Opera, and her debuts at Dutch National Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Ms. Bridges also created the role of Josefa Segovia in the world premiere of John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West at San Francisco Opera. She makes her debut with the San Francisco Symphony at these performances.
Ms. Bridges’s awards include the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, a Richard Tucker Career Grant, first prize at the Francisco Viñas International Competition, first prize at the Gerda Lissner Competition, a Marian Anderson Award, and a Leontyne Price Foundation Competition award.
In the midst of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Bridges emerged as a leading figure in classical music’s shift toward conversations about inclusion and racial justice, leading a highly successful panel on race and inequality in opera with the Los Angeles Opera. In early 2021, Ms. Bridges was featured in a Converse All Stars’ campaign for its Breaking Down Barriers collection.
Other recent highlights include the 2021 Grammy Award-winning recording of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua, her Carnegie Hall recital debut, Philip Glass’s Satyagraha at Los Angeles Opera, and her debuts at Dutch National Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Ms. Bridges also created the role of Josefa Segovia in the world premiere of John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West at San Francisco Opera. She makes her debut with the San Francisco Symphony at these performances.
Ms. Bridges’s awards include the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, a Richard Tucker Career Grant, first prize at the Francisco Viñas International Competition, first prize at the Gerda Lissner Competition, a Marian Anderson Award, and a Leontyne Price Foundation Competition award.
