About this Artist

Baritone Jesse Blumberg enjoys a busy schedule of opera, concerts, and recitals, performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to the 20th and 21st centuries. His performances have included the world premiere of The Grapes of Wrath at Minnesota Opera, Bernstein’s MASS at London’s Royal Festival Hall, various productions with Boston Early Music Festival, and featured roles with Atlanta Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Atelier, and Boston Lyric Opera. Jesse has made concert appearances with American Bach Soloists, Boston Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, Oratorio Society of New York, Montréal Baroque Festival, Arion Baroque, Early Music Vancouver, Pacific MusicWorks, and on Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. His recital highlights include appearances with the Marilyn Horne Foundation and New York Festival of Song, and performances of Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise with pianist Martin Katz. Jesse has given the world premieres of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Green Sneakers, Lisa Bielawa’s The Lay of the Love and Death, Conrad Cummings’ Positions 1956, and Tom Cipullo’s Excelsior, and works closely with several other renowned composers as a member of the Mirror Visions Ensemble.

In 2019-2020 Jesse returns to American Bach Soloists, Apollo’s Fire, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Voices of Music, and Boston Early Music Festival, and debuts with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the Nova Scotia Symphony. He will make his role debut as Hawkins Fuller in Fellow Travelers at Boston Lyric Opera, and will perform recitals in Minnesota, Michigan, Connecticut, Toronto, and New York City. 

Recent operatic engagements include William Burke in the world premiere of The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare at Boston Lyric Opera, Oronte in Charpentier’s Medea with Opera Atelier, The Merry Widow at Boston Lyric Opera, a European concert tour of Niobe, Charlie in Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers in his debut with Atlanta Opera, and Anthony in Sweeney Todd with Hawaii Opera Theatre. Other operatic highlights include The Celebrant in Bernstein’s Mass at London’s Royal Festival Hall under the baton of Marin Alsop, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and Mr. Lockwood in Wuthering Heights with Minnesota Opera, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with Kentucky Opera, the title role of The Return of Ulysses with Opera Omnia, Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos with Boston Lyric Opera, and the Count in Le nozze di Figaro with Fargo-Moorhead Opera.

Jesse has enjoyed a fruitful association with Boston Early Music Festival, in concert, opera, and recording. His roles with BEMF have included Adonis in Venus and Adonis, Mercurio in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Poliferno in Niobe, Regina di Tebe, Apollo and Pluton in La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers, Tracollo in Livietta e Tracollo, and Léandre in Le Carnaval de Venise. He has been a frequent soloist with several other early music ensembles, including American Bach Soloists, Apollo’s Fire, and Boston Baroque. Other recent engagements include appearances with the New York Festival of Song, and major works with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall. His other concert performances have included St. Matthew Passion with the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, St. John Passion with American Bach Soloists, Boston Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, and Berkshire Choral Festival, Bach’s B Minor Mass with Portland Baroque Orchestra and Boston Baroque, Messiah with the National Cathedral, St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, American Bach Soloists, and Charlotte Symphony, and Bloch’s Sacred Service at the Colorado Music Festival. As a member of the roster of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, Jesse performed an On Wings of Song recital with pianist Martin Katz, and since then they have partnered regularly in recital, especially in the major song cycles of Schubert. Their recording of Winterreise was released in 2016 via Blue Griffin Recording.

Jesse has been featured on over twenty commercial recordings, including the 2015 Grammy-winning Charpentier Chamber Operas with Boston Early Music Festival. He has been recognized in several competitions and was awarded Third Prize at the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau, becoming its first American prizewinner in over thirty years. He took first prizes in the International Hilde Zadek Singing Competition and the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Competition. He participated in young artist programs at Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, the Ravinia Festival, and Chicago Opera Theater and is the founding artistic director of Five Boroughs Music Festival in New York City.