Jenna Sims
Raised in Reno, Nevada, Jenna Sims appeared in her first opera, Tosca, with the Nevada Opera Association as a member of the children’s choir in 2005. She was a member of the Nevada Opera Youth Chorus for several years, and continued to perform in a variety of community programs and state honor choirs through middle and high school.
She earned her Bachelor of Music in Applied Vocal Performance from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) in 2016 under the tutelage of Dr. Albert R. Lee. In the spring of 2017, Sims co-directed Shrek, Jr. at her alma mater, Billinghurst Middle School, and that summer, she participated in an opera program conducted at the villa of the late Tito Gobbi, in Italy.
Sims continued to study with Dr. Lee, competing in regional NATS auditions and performing in several operas produced by the UNR Nevada Chamber Opera, including a world premiere of Monica Houghton’s The Big Bonanza. After graduating, she also appeared as a regular soloist with the Toccata Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and in a production of Young Frankenstein: The Musical at Good Luck Macbeth Theater until she was accepted into the Vocal Performance and Pedagogy graduate program at Westminster Choir College in New Jersey. There, she studied with Dr. Christopher Arneson, acted as alto section leader in the Jubilee choir, and performed in three operas: Ballymore: Winners, The Ghosts of Gatsby, and Viradot’s Cendrillon.
Now graduated, Jenna hopes to continue performing in choir, opera, and musical theater and to grow as a teacher with new students!