Jolie Rocke Brown - Musetta

Jolie Rocke Brown, soprano, began her career in opera as a chorus member and honed her fine instrument to eventually landing contracts for leading roles with Connecticut Opera, Connecticut Lyric Opera, Houston Ebony Opera Guild, and internationally with Intermezzo Opera, Studio Lirico in Anghiari, Italy, Théâtre national de l'opéra-comique in Paris, France and New York Harlem Productions Company.  She has appeared on international stages.  Among them New York’s Carnegie (Weill) Recital Hall,  Hartford’s Bushnell Center for Performing Arts, Germany’s  Alte Oper in Frankfurt and Stadttheater Fürth as well as Amsterdam’s Theater Carré.  Opera Online reported, “Ms. Rocke Brown as both the Sandman and Dew Fairy, along with the dancing of fourteen young angels stole the end of the first act...” in Connecticut Opera’s November 2004 production of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel.   Her other roles include Zerbinetta, in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème, Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni Lisa in Bellini’s La Sonnambula, Margaret in Menotti’s Telephone, and Clara in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.  On the concert stage she has appeared with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, New Britain Symphony, Connecticut Concert Opera, Hartford Chorale, and CONCORA.

     A native of Queens, New York, Ms. Rocke Brown received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford, a Master of Education degree from Loyola College in Maryland, and is currently fulfilling requirements for a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Connecticut.  As a teacher, Ms. Rocke Brown continues to educate children and adults through school and community based performances and master classes in Connecticut’s Greater Hartford and Windham Counties.  She is an adjunct professor of music at Manchester Community College and Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts.  She released her first solo compact disc recording entitled “Jolie Rocke Brown in concert” in April 2008.  While in Europe, she was featured in the documentary “Porgy & Me” produced by BoomTown Media, currently screening at international film festivals and scheduled to be aired in German cinemas in January 2010.

      Upcoming performances include the December 2009 Annual Family Holiday Concert with West Hartford Symphony, CT, the January 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Concert with Hartford Symphony

Orchestra, and in March 2010 as Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème with New Britain Symphony, CT.