Bethany Jelinek
 

Praised for her “flawless vocal technique”, soprano Bethany Jelinek is a passionate performer and a dynamic competitor. Since the start of the year, she was a Semifinalist of the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and a Finalist of the inaugural Heartland Sings Competition, earning third place. She was the recipient of the 2023 Jonathan Pell People’s Choice Award from the Dallas Opera Guild Biennial Lone Star Vocal Competition. While in school, she earned the 2022 Roy and Sue Johnson Opera Theatre Award and the 2021 Thomas Hayward Memorial Award for outstanding undergraduate singer. Most recently, she was heard as Micäela in the Western Plains Opera production of Carmen.

 

She received her BM and MM in Vocal Performance from Southern Methodist University, where she has been featured in the leading roles of the Female Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Abigail Williams in Ward’s The Crucible and Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. In the spring of 2024, she premiered Efraín Amaya’s “The Four Seasons (in North Dakota)” Song Cycle with the Minot Symphony Orchestra. She has performed the world premieres of budding composer Ethan Gurwitz’s Tales of the Cottingley Fairies and Echo’s Last Words with the Meadows Wind Ensemble. Additionally, she sings with Orpheus Chamber Singers, the premier professional choir in North Texas.