MEZZO-SOPRANO

About

Praised for her “warm mezzo tone” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer) and “rare stillness and depth” ( Interlude), Hong Kong-born mezzo-soprano Jeannette Lee is a versatile artist whose work spans opera, oratorio, early music, and contemporary repertoire across the United States and abroad.

Recent engagements include Durra in The People vs. American Cheese (Thompson Street Opera), Teresa (cover) in La sonnambula (Teatro Nuovo), and ensemble appearances with Apollo’s Fire in Cleveland and Columbus, and with Music of the Baroque under Dame Jane Glover at the Aspen Music Festival, Chicago Symphony Center, and Lincoln Center. She has also appeared with Apollo’s Singers. Jeannette recently made her solo debut at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel in Bach’s St. John Passion and joins Tenet Vocal Artists for Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Handel’s Messiah in the upcoming season.

Operatic highlights include La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi (Musica Viva), Annio in La clemenza di Tito (Opera del West), Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel (Saltworks Opera/HKU Black Box), and L’enfant in L’enfant et les sortilèges (Opera Box Hong Kong). A champion of new music, she has created roles including Mom in HER | alive.un.dead (Guerilla Opera) and NaiNai in Tamale Dumpling (White Snake Projects).

As a concert soloist, Jeannette has appeared with Cantata Singers in Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, and Golijov’s Oceana. Her concert repertoire also includes Handel’s Messiah, and Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, and Britten’s Cantata Academica. She also collaborated with TwoSet Violin on their first world tour with the Hong Kong Festival Orchestra.

Jeannette holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from Boston University. She was runner-up in the 2025 Colorado Bach Ensemble Young Artist Competition, a 2023 William C. Byrd Prize winner, and recipient of the 2022 Hilda Harris Mezzo Prize.

Beyond the stage, she serves on Early Music America’s IDEA Task Force and is President of the Asian Opera Alliance, where she leads national efforts toward equity and representation in opera.

Calendar

National Sawdust, The Red Thread

January 21-22, 2027
National Sawdust

Jeannette plays the role of Susu Chen in the Work-In-Development Presentation of The Red Thread.

The Red Thread, presented as a 30-minute piano-only work-in-development, follows an adopted Chinese-American woman who travels to rural China searching for the birth mother who left her in a market basket eighteen years earlier, a red thread tied around her ankle. Spare, intimate, and rooted in Chinese mythology, it asks what binds us across lifetimes.

A National Sawdust production in collaboration with Yale School of Music and Yale School of Drama, presented as part of the PROTOTYPE Festival. Featuring the world premiere of HILMA and a Work-In-Development Presentation of Red Thread.

Composer: Wang Lu

Libretto: Deborah Brevoort

Conductor: Anthony Cheung

Tenet Vocal Artists, Messiah

December 11-12, 2026
Brick Presbyterian Church

1140 Park Avenue, Manhattan

And the Glory of the holiday season shall be rung in! This December, Tenet joins forces with Juilliard415 and the Juilliard Community Chorus to present Handel’s Messiah. Featuring an array of world-class soloists, this performance promises to uplift your holiday season with humanity and community.

Co-Director: Jolle Greenleaf and Avi Stein

Orchestral Preparation, Juilliard415: Robert Mealy

Director, Juilliard Community Chorus: Adrian O. Rodriguez

Sopranos: Paulina Francisco, Madeline Healey, and Lydia Saylor*

Altos: Jeannette Lee*, Timothy Parsons, Elisa Sutherland

Tenors: Morgan Mastrangelo*, Stephen Sands, Gene Stenger

Basses: Tyler Duncan, Ben Ross*, Paul Max Tipton

Tenet Vocal Artists, Orfeo

September 25-26, 2026

Park Avenue Christian Church

1010 Park Avenue, Manhattan

Jeannette joins Tenet Vocal Artist as Ensemble and cover for Messgiera and Speranza.

Tenet opens the 2026-2027 season with a fully-staged performance of Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo, with projections by designer Camilla Tassi. Considered the earliest complete musical drama, Orfeo recounts the Orpheus myth through the libretto of Alessandro Striggio. Can Orfeo's beautiful music move Plutone to release Euridice from the Underworld? Join the chorus of Nymphs and Shepherds to watch the tale unfold.

Music Director: Charlie Weaver

Stage Director: Alyssa Weathersby

Artistic Director: Jolle Greenleaf

Projections: Camilla Tass

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, St John Passion

April 3, 2026

Jeannette joins the Rockefeller Chapel Choir and Motet Choir for a performance of Bach's St John Passion on Good Friday.

Conductor: James Kallembach

Soloists:

Gene Stenger as the Evangelist

Sumner Thompson as Jesus

Ryne Cherry as Pilate

Aria soloists: Ashley Brewer, Michaël Hudetz, Jeannette Lee, and Anne Rasmussen.

Thompson Street Opera, The People vs. American Cheese

October 3-5, 9-12, 2025

Jeannette plays the role of Durra in Durra Leung and Clare Fuyuko Bierman's The People vs. American Cheese.

Audre, Walt, Durra, and Clare wake up surrounded by rubble, their gay cruise under attack. The culprit? The greatest danger of all— heteronormativity (in the form of American Cheese). As our unlikely heroes battle cheese slices, they must also battle one another for cultural relevance and icon status. Chaos reigns in this gay fantasia on gayer themes.

Stage Director: Claire DiCizio

Music Director: Nicholas Pothier

Cast: Ariel Andrew, Jeannette Lee, Amanda Payne, Alexander Quackenbush, Elizabeth Vaughan

Teatro Nuovo, La sonnambula and Macbeth

July 19-20, 23-24, 2025

Montclair State University & New York City Center

Jeannette is a Resident Artist at Teatro Nuovo, covering the role of Teresa in La sonnambula and singing in the ensembles of the productions.

Artistic and General Director: William Crutchfield

Maestro Concertatore e Direttore: Jakob Lehmann
Primo Violino e Capo d’Orchestra: Elisa Citterio

Opera Box Hong Kong, L'enfant et les sortilèges

November 29, 2024

Hong Kong Cultural Center Studio Theatre

3-4pm, 7:30-8:30pm

Jeannette plays the title character in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges.

Expect the unexpected with Opera Box's post-Christmas take on Ravel's The Child and the Enchantments, in which a young mind journeys from chaos to understanding.

Conductor: Isaac Droscha

Musica Viva Hong Kong, Gianni Schicchi

December 13-15, 2024

Hong Kong City Hall, Concert Hall

Jeannette sings La Ciesca in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi.

This production is part of Musica Viva's presentation of Puccini's three one-act operas - Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi.

Conductor: Adrian Sit

Opera Box Hong Kong, Opera Clay & Play,

November 23, 2024

Sun Playroom

Sun Museum and Opera Box teams up to present a cross-media outreach event to blend opera, pottery, and art.

Jeannette is a featured singer in the event performing a selection of art songs by Ravel as well as excerpts from L'enfant et les sortilèges.

Collaborator: Prudence Poon (Piano)

Chung Chi Choir, CUHK, Fall Concert

November 7, 2024

Jeannette is the invited guest alumni artist performing a selection of blues songs at the Chung Chi Choir Fall Concert.

Collaborator: Yikkiu Tsun (Piano)

Source Song Festival

August 5 - 9, 2024

Jeannette is one of the 8 selected groups to participate in the MNDuo program - a week of masterclasses and performances at

Collaborator: Jing-Fang Huang (Piano)

Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, Norma

January 18, 2024

Sanders Theatre

Jeannette will be singing in the chorus of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras' production of Norma (Bellini).

Conductor: Federico Cortese

West End Lyric, Il giuoco del quadriglio

November 19, 2023

The Boston Synogogue

Jeannette will be singing the role of "Ottavia" in West End Lyric's prodction of Il giuoco del quadriglio (Caldera).

White Snake Projects, Let's Celebrate Series

November 18, 2023

Emerson Colonial Theatre

Jeannette will be singing the role of "Grandmother Lily" in Chou's Tamale Dumpling.

Director: Laine Rettmer

Conductor: Tian Hui Ng

Recitalist, An Emerald Necklace of Song

November 12, 2023

Somerville Music Spaces

Jeannette will be singing in recital hosted by Boston Singers' Resource.

Piano: Brendon Shapiro

Recitalist, Selections from 27 Haikus

October 27, 2023

Boston University Marshall Room

Jeannette will be singing in Jacob LyteHaven's recital to present excerpts from Kohn's 27 Haikus.

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Opera del West, La clemenza di Tito

September 29, 30, and October 1

Boston Center for the Arts

Jeannette will be performing the role of Annio in Opera del West's production of La clemenza di Tito (Mozart).

Director: Brenda Huggins

Music Director: Eve Budnick