Hailed by the New York Times as a “vocally luminous young soprano,” Jessica Rivera quickly is establishing herself as one of the most creatively inspired vocal artists of her generation. She made her critically acclaimed Santa Fe Opera debut in the summer of 2005 as Nuria in the world premiere of the revised edition of Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar. She reprised the role for the 2007 Grammy Award winning Deutsche Grammophon recording of the work with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Robert Spano, and in the Peter Sellars staging at Lincoln Center in January 2006, as well as in performances at the Barbican Centre, and the Ojai and Ravinia Festivals. The artist’s first performances of Margarita Xirgu in Ainadamar, a role created by Dawn Upshaw, occurred in the summer of 2007 at the Colorado Music Festival under the baton of Michael Christie.

Ms. Rivera gave the world premiere of John Adams’ newest opera, A Flowering Tree, singing the role of Kumudha, during the past season in a production directed by Peter Sellars, as part of the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna, Austria. She reprised her role in performances of A Flowering Tree for her Berlin Philharmonic debut under Sir Simon Rattle and under the composer’s baton with the San Francisco Symphony and with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre. The London performances have been recorded for future commercial release on the Nonesuch Records label. Recent engagements also include performances and the Telarc recording of Vaughan William’s Serenade to Music with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Robert Spano, her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut under David Robertson in Adams’ El Niño, Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s Gloria under Norman Mackenzie with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and Golijov’s La Pasión según San Marcos with the Schola Cantorum de Caracas under Maria Guinand, which she has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. Ms. Rivera made her European operatic debut in the 2006-07 season as Kitty Oppenheimer in John Adams’ Dr. Atomic with the Netherlands Opera.

During the 2007-08 season, the artist’s schedule includes her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Kitty Oppenheimer, her debut with Opera Boston in Peter Sellar’s production of Ainadamar, Australian and Canadian debuts as Margarita Xirgu in Ainadamar with the Adelaide Festival of Arts and the Calgary Philharmonic, and Golijov’s La Pasión según San Marcos with Robert Spano at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. With the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Ms. Rivera appears in performances of Poulenc’s Gloria under the baton of Bernard Haitink and of Ainadamar with Miguel Harth-Bedoya and she returns to the San Francisco Symphony for Ravel’s Shéhérazade and to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 both with Michael Tilson Thomas.