Jill Grove
Mezzo soprano
New England Regional First Place Winner 1993

“Mezzo-soprano Jill Grove offered a riveting portrait of Azucena in Houston Grand Opera’s production of Il Trovatore. Replacing an ailing Delora Zajick on two weeks’ notice, Grove excelled vocally and dramatically, delivering “Stride la vampa” with power and nuance, revealing the character’s vulnerability as well as her anger. Throughout the evening, Grove rose to the vocal challenge of Verdi’s exacting vocal demands and then some; her chest tones around middle C and below, as well as the sheer volume of sound she generated in that register, were most impressive.”                         Marcia C. Citron, Opera News, April 2005

Renowned for her distinctive dramatic mezzo soprano and passionate artistry, American mezzo soprano Jill Grove has won critical raves throughout America and Europe for her distinguished portrayals of the heroines of German and Italian opera. She is equally at home with the world’s leading orchestras and in recital. She was named as a winner of the 2003 ARIA award.

In the 2005/6 season, Jill Grove adds to her list of Verdi roles with her first performances of Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino marking her return to San Francisco Opera in a new production conducted by Nicola Luisotti. She returns to the Metropolitan Opera for Margret in Wozzeck under James Levine and repeats her acclaimed Amneris (debut at Opera Pacific) and Cieca (debut at the Teatro Municipal, Santiago). Her busy concert season is dominated by the Beethoven 9th Symphony in performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine (including Carnegie Hall), the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach. She also appears with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in a Mozart program under Roberto Abbado and with the Seattle Symphony (debut) in the Mozart Requiem under Itzhak Perlman.

The 2004/5 season began with a return to London, this time for her Royal Opera, Covent Garden debut as La Cieca in critically-acclaimed concert performances of La Gioconda conducted by Antonio Pappano. She sang Azucena with Houston Grand Opera. She then returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Erda in Das Rheingold and Siegfried conducted by Sir Andrew Davis as well as First Norn in Götterdämmerung in the company’s complete Ring cycles. She also took part in Lyric’s star-studded 50th anniversary gala in October. Later in the season, she returned to Santa Fe Opera as Auntie in a new production of Peter Grimes under Alan Gilbert. In concert, she sang her first performances of Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen. She performed the Verdi Requiem with the San Diego Symphony and returned to the San Francisco Symphony for Janacek’s Glagolithic Mass under Michael Tilson Thomas. During the summer of 2004, she also made her Mostly Mozart Festival debut at Lincoln Center in Mozart’s Requiem under Louis Langrée and in December 2004 sang Messiah with the Houston Symphony under Nicholas McGegan.

Jill Grove’s roles at the Metropolitan Opera have included both Erdas under Levine, Magdalene in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (also Levine - telecast and issued on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon), Madelon in Andrea Chenier (opposite Placido Domingo), Pantalis in Boito's Mefistofele, Emilia in Otello under Levine and Mary in Der Fliegende Holländer conducted by Valery Gergiev. Her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut was as Erda under Sir Andrew Davis. Her most recent role at San Francisco Opera was Jenny Reefer in Virgil Thompson’s The Mother of Us All conducted by Donald Runnicles. Other American operatic appearances have included her Dallas Opera debut as First Norn in Götterdämmerung, her first performances as Azucena in Il Trovatore with Tulsa Opera and her Los Angeles Opera debut in the world premiere of Tobias Picker's The Fantastic Mr. Fox. She made her debut at Santa Fe Opera as the Omniscient Sea-Shell and also has sang Dame Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff and Ursule in Beatrice and Benedict there. She sang her first Amneris in Aida with Dayton Opera. In Europe, she made her Paris debut as the Haushälterin in Strauss' Die Schweigsame Frau at the Théâtre du Châtelet conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi and at the Netherlands Opera as the Deaconess in Szymanowski's King Roger. Jill Grove sang her first Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera in her European debut with the Welsh National Opera. As a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, she has performed numerous roles with the company including Anne Kronenberg in the world Premiere of Harvey Milk.

Jill Grove collaborates regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors. She has performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Hollywood Bowl, the New York Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel, the National Symphony under Leonard Slatkin, the Atlanta Symphony under Roberto Abbado, the Houston Symphony under Eschenbach and the Detroit Symphony under Neemi Järvi. She performed the Verdi Requiem with the Toronto Symphony under Sir Andrew Davis. She has sung Mahler’s Third Symphony at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and with the Houston Symphony under Eschenbach and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Houston Symphony under Hans Graf and with the St. Louis Symphony under Runnicles. Additional appearances include Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with the National Symphony Orchestra under Graf and Mahler's Eighth Symphony and Frau Mary with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas. At the Cincinnati May Festival, she sang the Mozart Requiem and Messiah under James Conlon as well as presenting a solo recital. She has performed Mahler's 8th Symphony with the Norddeutsche Rundfunk under Eschenbach; with the Minnesota Orchestra and Cincinnati May Festival under James Conlon and the Bergen Philharmonic under Andrew Litton. She also sang Bernstein's “Jeremiah” Symphony at the Ravinia Festival with Eschenbach.

Jill Grove’s recordings include Ulrica on a Chandos recording of Verdi’s A Masked Ball, Auntie in Peter Grimes on the LSO Live label under Sir Colin Davis, and the Omniscient Mussel in Strauss’s Die Ägyptische Helena with the American Symphony Orchestra opposite Deborah Voigt on Teldec. As a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, she sang Tisbe in La Cenerentola opposite Cecilia Bartoli which was released by Decca/London.

Jill Grove is the winner of a 2001 Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grant, a 1999 George London Foundation Career Grant, a 1997 Sullivan Foundation Career Grant, a 1996 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a 1996 recipient of a Richard Tucker Foundation Study Grant and a 1995 recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant.

Jill Grove was a member of the Merola Program at San Francisco Opera and the Houston Grand Opera Studio. She has also sung with the Opera Theater of St Louis. She attended the Music Academy of the West, the New England Conservatory and Stephen F. Austin State University. She currently resides in San Francisco and studies with Patricia McCaffrey.

Miss Grove is represented by IMG Artists.

Return to List of Singer