Jennifer Piazza-Pick 
Soprano/Educator/
Advocate for Women Composers

Praised for singing with “passion and emotional depth” (Richmond Times-Dispatch), soprano Jennifer Piazza-Pick has performed with the Nationaltheater Mannheim, Germany as well as with US military bands in Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania. In the US, she has performed with Opera Piccola of San Antonio, the Princeton Festival, Ithaca Opera, Long Beach Opera, Cincinnati Opera, the Princeton Festival, the Charlottesville Symphony, and at Carnegie Hall. She has also performed with the Richmond and Alamo City Ballet companies, Oregon Bach Festival, Virginia Chorale, San Antonio Chamber Choir, Bach in Baltimore, and in concert series throughout the country.

 

Known for her expressiveness as a performer, Jennifer focuses on engaging audiences with concert experiences that resonate in the imagination. Her clear diction and sensitive interpretations allow audiences to engage with the text, helping listeners connect to their past, present, and future shared humanity.

 

Jennifer’s musical curiosity has led to research on women composers, which has been presented at the NATS National Conference, International Music by Women Festival, Darkwater Womxn in Music Festival, Sam Houston State University Art Song Festival, National Women's Theatre Festival, American Library Association National Convention, Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention, International Clarinet Association's ClarinetFest, and the Women Composers Festival of Hartford. She regularly performs vocal chamber music and co-founded the chamber ensemble Whistling Hens, a soprano-clarinet duo which champions music by women composers. Since its founding in 2018, Whistling Hens has commissioned 12 original works, 10 transcriptions, the Whistling Hens Women Composer Coloring Book, and inspired 16 dedicated works. Their first album, Reacting to the Landscape, was released in October 2022. It features the works of 7 living American women composers.

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Collaborating with other artists is another of Jennifer’s passions. She has performed with Alamo City Ballet and the Richmond Ballet, as well as with dancers and poets for individual projects, including Maryland's Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri. Dr. Piazza-Pick has premiered works by Liam Wade, James MacMillan, Eric Whitacre, Kevin Salfen, Cherise Leiter, Ashi Day, Diana Rosenblum, Jennifer Stevenson, Melika M. Fitzhugh, Kate Soper, and Melissa Dunphy, including settings of poetry by San Antonio’s poet laureate, Camen Tafolla. 

 

The winner of Hawaii Public Radio’s art song contest, Dr. Piazza-Pick was also a finalist for the American Prize in the women’s art song division and the winner of the George Cortes Award for Classical Singing by the Artist Foundation of San Antonio. Her work has been featured on NPR and the TV show Virginia Currents. With Whistling Hens in 2022, they were awarded the Classical Commissioning Award from Chamber Music America for a new work with composer, Kate Soper. At Queens University of Charlotte, she was selected as a Noble Fellow. In 2023, she became a voting member of the Grammy Recording Academy. 

 

Jennifer completed her doctoral degree at the University of Maryland, College Park under the direction of Martha Randall, where she also graduated with a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership. She has a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Vocal Performance from Ithaca College. She is currently Director of Music and Assistant Professor of Music (Voice) at Queens University of Charlotte. When not singing or teaching, you can find her running, baking, or traveling with her husband.