A true Cross-over Artist, soprano Jessica Mary Murphy began her performing career as a child singer/actor, starring in several productions at the Regional Tony Award Winning Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis, MN.  After gaining acceptance to the renowned musical theatre program at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), she performed in several main stage productions including Anything Goes (Mrs. Harcourt), A Little Night Music (Mrs. Nordstrom), and Candide (Cunegonde) opposite former Jersey Boys star Daniel Reichard in the title role.  Directly after graduation, Ms. Murphy was cast as Sister Margaretta in the 2nd National Tour of the 1998 Broadway Revival Production of The Sound of Music starring “The Brady Bunch” personality Barry Williams.  Ms. Murphy returned to New York City to continue pursuit of her musical theatre career, being cast in several regional productions in the Midwest and Northeast – Fiddler on the Roof (Grandma Tzeitel/ u/s Golde), The Wizard of Oz (Glinda/ Aunt Em), Titanic (Kate Murphey), Nunsense (Sister Mary Hubert), Footloose (Wendy Jo), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Madame de la Grande Bouche/ u/s Mrs. Potts), and The Music Man (Ethel Toffelmeir/ u/s Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn), culminating with a reprisal of her role as Sister Margaretta, and as Mrs. Martini/Mrs. Bishop in a production of A Wonderful Life at the celebrated Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn, NJ, choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler (Tony Award: Hamilton, In The Heights).  In addition, Ms. Murphy toured with The Sound of Music in Asia visiting mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.  Over her musical theater career, Ms. Murphy has done over 500 performances of the beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical!  Most recently, she was seen as Flick’s Mom/u/s Mrs. Schwartz at Philadelphia’s Historic Walnut Street Theatre in their production of A Christmas Story, and Mrs. Pearce in My Fair Lady in the inaugural season for the Bucks County Center for the Performing Arts (Doylestown, PA).

Her voice always classically inclined, Ms. Murphy returned to academia to complete her graduate work in classical voice performance at Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ) in 2010.  Hailed as an “exceptional soloist,” who “demonstrates great control while singing at an incredibly soft dynamic, especially at the top of her range,” her opera roles include Frasquita (Carmen), Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Baby Doe (The Ballad of Baby Doe), The Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Serpina (La serva padrona) and Flora (The Turn of the Screw). After hearing Ms. Murphy sing a selection of Poulenc Mélodies in the French Art Song Festival at Westminster, the legendary coach and accompanist Dalton Baldwin invited her to study with him the following summer at the Académie Internationale d’Eté de Nice in France.  Upon her return, she was asked to be a soloist for Mr. Baldwin’s 80th Birthday Celebration in New York City the following winter.  She won First Place at the NJNATS Festival of Singing competition in both 2011 and 2012, and was selected as a Semi-Finalist at the Joy In Singing Positively Poulenc Competition in New York in 2013. 

Ms. Murphy is a Soprano on the Full Roster with Opera Philadelphia under Chorus Master Elizabeth Braden (Carmen, Die Zauberflöte, Turandot, La Traviata, Don Carlo), sings periodically with the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Philadelphia Symphonic Choir under Dr. Joe Miller, and freelances as a Soloist and Soprano Section Leader at churches around the Philadelphia Area.

Ms. Murphy holds a MM in Vocal Performance from Westminster and a BFA in Musical Theatre from Michigan.  She currently resides in Philadelphia with her husband, James, and Poulenc, their cat.