Soprano Jessica Usherwood is an active performer and soloist. As a recitalist, Jessica has performed works including Messiaen’s Chants de terre et de ciel, William Bolcom’s Let Evening Come, André Previn’s Honey and Rue, and Eric Whitacre’s Five Hebrew Love Songs. Jessica is the soprano of the International Chamber Artists (ICA). With ICA she has presented works such as Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Requiem, Britten’s Les Illuminations, Ginastera’s Cantos Del Tucumán, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and Morton Feldman’s Journey To The End Of Night. She has premiered commissioned works with chamber ensemble including Eric Malmquist’s If You Travel Far Enough (Text by Susan Lucciardi), Tim Hinck’s Terraform I: Brook, and Brian Baxter’s Ho sentito di una terra distante (Text by Marcella Mencotti).
Presenting collaborative arts performances and cross-disciplinary projects is a passion for Usherwood. She recently participated in two multidisciplinary projects that explore recorded and live improvisatory sound—Guncotton and AA4-Music for Typewriters. Guncotton is derived from readings of Reiser and Umemoto’s The Atlas of Novel Tectonics. Exhibitions and performances of Guncotton involve sculpture, video, 3D imaging, computer programming, dance, sound, and music created in real time. The Land_AA Artist Books series explores the life and work of famed photographer Ansel Adams. Based on a discovered audio recording of Ansel Adams typing an unknown letter, AA4-Music for Typewriters presents different interpretations of the recording’s rhythmic transcription.
Jessica Usherwood holds a doctorate in voice performance and literature from the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University. She earned a professional diploma in opera and master’s degree in voice performance and vocal pedagogy from the Chicago College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University, and a bachelor’s degree from Lee University. Her research interests include mentorship and career development, innovative arts programming, and music entrepreneurship. She currently serves as Assistant Professor of Music at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN.