Jaime Webb

Jaime Webb portrait
Alumni Guest Lecturer
Voice

Office: Jenson-Noble 186

Phone: 563-387-1216

Email: webbja01@luther.edu

Biography

Soprano, Jaime Marie Webb, has appeared in leading roles across the U.S. and internationally. Most recently, she made her Carnegie Hall debut singing scenes as Violetta and LakmĂ©. During the upcoming season, Webb will make her role debut as Violetta ValĂ©ry at the Teatro Ángela Peralta in MazatlĂĄn, Mexico with the Camera MazatlĂĄn Orchestra under the baton of Abdiel VĂĄzquez. She will also be featured in Cedar Rapids Opera’s Moonlit Cabaret and return to Opera Omaha as Mavis in The Fantastic Mr. Fox. A frequent Opera Omaha soloist, Webb most recently sang the role of Annina in La Traviata under the baton of Steven White and the direction of E. Loren Meeker. During Webb’s residency as a Holland Community Opera Fellow at Opera Omaha, she premiered fourteen new works for Opera Omaha’s Poetry & Music Project, performed as a soloist in the Opera-To-Go series, and was featured in Opera Omaha’s season-opening, Opera Outdoors.

Select performance credits include Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Norina in Don Pasquale, MicaĂ«la in Carmen, Musetta in La BohĂšme, Hanna Glawari in Die lustige Witwe, Casilda in The Gondoliers, and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro. Webb has sung with several companies and festivals, including Charlottesville Opera, Opera at Florham, The International Summer Opera Festival of Morelia, The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, and AIMS in Graz. An avid concert performer and champion of women’s works, Jaime Marie Webb partnered with the Lied Center for Performing Arts in a tribute concert for Justice Ginsburg featuring the works of and interviews with Patricia Michaels, Stacy Garrop, Vivian Fung, and Lori Laitman. Webb is a former Dr. Carl S. Hoveland Opera Fellow at The University of Georgia Opera Theater and currently studies with internationally renowned artist and teacher, Julia Faulkner, Director of Vocal Studies at the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center.

As a teacher, director, and artist-activist, Webb explores the interdisciplinary nature of being a 21st-century musician. Webb’s teaching focuses on each student’s development of their unique instrument, facilitating a free, healthy, and sustainable sound in a variety of genres, including classical voice, opera, musical theater, jazz, and commercial music. At Luther College, Webb currently teaches Applied Voice Lessons, Class Voice, will co-direct J-term Opera Scenes, and chairs the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Advisory Board. Because she saw and felt a need for more queer, operatic stories, Webb founded queerPOPERA, a pop-up opera company dedicated to showcasing the diverse narratives of the LGBTQ+ community through the emotive power of opera. Recently, Webb served as the Assistant Director at Opera Steamboat, Voice and Piano Faculty at Sing Omaha and the Athens Community Music School,  The Director/Choreographer at Capitol City Theater Company, the Co-Director of Opera Scenes at the University of Georgia, Songwriting Instructor at Creative Alliance, and The Lead Teaching Artist at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Currently, Webb is on the brain trust for the Soloist Coalition of Emerging Artists, an organization advocating for emerging operatic professionals through the lenses of inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility. A sought-after panelist, Webb has been featured on the Gender and Opera panel at the Georgia Women and Girls Conference, The University of Georgia’s Musicology Symposium, and Opera America’s Teaching Artist Network. Her academic research is focused on gender and sexuality within the opera industry.

M.M., Vocal Performance, University of Georgia, 2020, graduated with distinction

B.A., Vocal Performance, Luther College, 2017, magna cum laude

Title: “Community-centered Operatic Teaching Practices: A Model for Radically-Inclusive Operatic Experiences”

Presentation: Opera America’s Teaching Artist Network December Meeting

 

Title: “Women’s Music Festivals: Radical Feminism in Action”

Panel: “Arts in Action: Radical, Personal, Collective”

Conference: Georgia Women and Girls Conference

 

Title: “The Revitalization of ’L’incoronazione di Poppea: Asking Opera’s Queer Questions”

Panel: “Gender and Opera”

Conference: University of Georgia Research Symposium

I understand the responsibility entrusted to me by each vocalist I have the pleasure to teach. I commit to honor each individual’s artistry and facilitate personal exploration of their unique instrument. I promise to be responsive to each student’s learning style, working to develop a vocal technique that is healthy, free, and sustainable.

My own voice teacher beautifully articulates the importance of finding balance—

“Above all, I emphasize balance in all aspects of singing, not only in the instrument that creates it, but in the life that supports that instrument.”

– Julia Faulkner, Director of Vocal Studies at the Ryan Opera Center