Jessica Warnken
Alto

Hailed by the New York Times as an “elegant,” “rich-toned alto” with “riveting presence,” mezzo-soprano Virginia Warnken is known throughout the American Early Music community for her heartfelt interpretations of the works of Bach and Handel. Ms. Warnken has been featured as a soloist with Grammy-nominated ensembles Seraphic Fire and the Trinity Wall Street Choir, TENET, Carmel Bach Festival, Green Mountain Project, Clarion Music Society, Musica Sacra, Oratorio Society of New York, Yale Schola Cantorum, Juilliard 415, and Vox Vocal Ensemble, and has worked with conductors such as Masaaki Suzuki, Nic McGegan, Kent Tritle, Patrick Quigley, Steven Fox, Stefan Parkman, Andrew Megill, Julian Wachner, and more.

In the 2013-2014 season, Ms. Warnken will make her Lincoln Center solo debut as Micah in Handel’s Samson with the American Classical Orchestra, and will also join the highly distinguished roster of soloists of Philharmonia Baroque in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans, both led by Nic McGegan. In recent seasons, she has appeared on the main stage of Carnegie Hall as the alto soloist in Bach’s B Minor Mass, Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s C Minor Mass. Ms. Warnken is also an advocate of contemporary music, and has performed and premiered works by numerous prominent composers including Louis Andriessen, Caleb Burhans, Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, Judd Greenstein, Missy Mazzoli, and Steve Reich. She is a member of the widely acclaimed groundbreaking vocal octet Roomful of Teeth, described by WQXR (NYC's leading classical music radio station) as being "the future of vocal music," integrating western and non-western vocal techniques such as Tuvan throat singing, Inuit throat singing, yodeling, high Bulgarian belting, and Korean P’ansori, and collaborating with composers to forge a new repertoire for the voice using an expanded sound palette.