Hannah Jeané Jones’ star is rising with Met Opera, stage debuts

Hannah Jeané Jones '22 has to catch her breath as she considers where her budding opera career has taken her in the two-plus years since walking the Commencement stage at Lawrence University.

She ticks off one major moment after another-graduating from the master's program at Manhattan School of Music; being selected for The Metropolitan Opera's prestigious Lindemann Young Artist Development Program; and making recent debuts with both The Met and Seattle Opera. To top off an amazing 2024, she got an invite from legendary Broadway star Norm Lewis to join him for a duet in a December holiday concert at New York's 54 Below.

Take a bow, Hannah Jeané Jones.

"This all feels so unreal," she said.

Hannah Jeané Jones '22 (front left) poses at The Met with others in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Jones, a mezzo-soprano, came to Lawrence from Houston to study voice and immerse herself in the Opera Theatre program. She excelled from the start, twice winning a National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition while tackling significant roles in multiple Lawrence operas.

"Lawrence is special in that it's an undergrad-only institution," Jones said of how Lawrence prepared her to meet these moments. "Typically, at many music conservatories, there are master's programs, which means you are going to have to compete as an undergrad against the master's students to be in an opera production. Since the main stage roles are usually given to the master's students, you might not have as much stage time as an undergrad student. But because Lawrence is an undergrad-only university, I got so much stage time, and I was able to learn different roles during my time there. I feel like that gave me a leg up over my colleagues in grad school because I already had that experience of being on stage and learning full roles."

The momentum that began on the stages and in the classrooms of Lawrence carried over to grad school, where, among other achievements, Jones was selected for the inaugural cohort of The Denyce Graves Foundations' Shared Voices programand was invited to join the non-profit artist intensive, Opera for Peace Academy.

Then came her selection to The Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, which continues to open doors.

"This is the program to be in if you are a young artist," Jones said.

Hannah Jeané Jones '22 on performing at The Metropolitan Opera: "I don't take any of it for granted." (Photo by Ya Gao)

The program pours resources into the young performers who have been selected, and, because it's The Metropolitan Opera, access to many of today's leading opera performers is readily available.

"All the stars in opera come through The Met, and if they're available, all we have to do is request to work with them," Jones said. "The resources here are virtually endless."

It's an opportunity that circumvents many of the challenges young artists face, including the expenses associated with coaching, voice lessons, acting lessons, breathing lessons, publicity photos, website development, video recording, renting of recording space, hiring a pianist, and more.

"There is so much that comes with being a young artist," Jones said. "A lot of artists have to work other jobs outside of singing to subsidize their career. That can wear you out. You don't have enough left to focus on the gift you are trying to cultivate. In this program, we really don't have to do anything but focus on becoming a world-class artist. That's what they tell us: 'If you are here, that means we see the potential for you becoming a world-class artist.' This is our job."

The 24-year-old Jones was approached about auditioning for the Lindemann program while competing in The Met's Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. (Another Lawrence graduate, Emily Richter '20, was among the 2024 Laffont Competition winners.)

"I didn't think I was ready initially," Jones said. "I thought I would audition when I'm a little older, when I have more things under my belt. As artists, we're very critical of ourselves, always thinking we can do more."

She had two auditions before getting the invite to join the program.

"I feel extremely blessed and very humbled to be in this place," Jones said. "Very grateful. Every time I walk through the halls, I see the pictures and paintings of the legendary opera singers I've always looked up to. I don't take any of it for granted."

She is working with music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, one of the foremost conductors in the world. Having him and others at The Met pushing her to grow as an artist has taken her confidence to new levels.

"My toxic trait is that I compare myself to the great opera singers who are in their 40s and 50s," Jones said. "I have to remind myself, 'OK, Hannah, you are 24 years old, calm down.' They tell us all the time, 'You are here for a reason. Trust and believe in that.'"

Jones recently made her Met debut in Die Frau ohne Schatten, playing one of the unborn voices in the Richard Strauss opera. It's a role that has her singing from the domes near the ceiling and in the orchestra pit.

"It is still so unreal for me," Jones said, speaking a few hours before her next performance. "One of my favorite moments is singing in the orchestra pit with one of the best orchestras in the world. I started off in classical music playing the cello, so I geek out double fold. The way Strauss orchestrated the final scene is absolutely masterful, and feeling the vibrations of the basses is an inexplicable experience. Not to mention we're being conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the conductor in classical music right now."

That debut followed her performance in October in Seattle Opera's Jubilee, where she played Jennie Jackson, one of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers-groundbreaking African American singers who performed across the U.S. and in Europe in the early 1870s to raise funds to save their college, Fisk University. It was the production's world premiere.

"As an African American opera singer, I would not be here without them," she said of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. "It was very humbling to share their story."

Hannah Jeané Jones '22: "I feel extremely blessed and very humbled to be in this place." (Photo by Richard Jay Anthony)

Adding one more accomplishment to her 2024, Jones called her Dec. 21 performance with Norm Lewis "a great success."

Next up is a March recital at The Juilliard School. Then she'll set her sights on The Met production of Antony and Cleopatra in May; she has been selected as a cover for that production.

"At The Met, it is not unusual at all for the covers to go on," Jones said. "Life happens and sometimes singers can't perform. While I don't necessarily hope anyone is unable to perform, I am excited about the chance to perform on the main stage. John Adams, the composer of Antony and Cleopatra, is also going to be conducting this production, which is super special. In modern times, it is not common for the composer of a widely successful opera to also conduct the production."

Through it all, Jones said she is embracing each moment, often reflecting on a journey that got its start in Lawrence's Conservatory of Music.

"I'm grateful for my time at Lawrence," she said.