Faculty and Staff

Assistant Professor of Music

D.M., Indiana University
M.M., Indiana University
B.M., Indiana University

Academic Areas: applied voice and opera workshop.

Dr. Jessica M. Riley
257 Haas Fine Arts Center
Music & Theatre Arts Department
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004

Phone: 715/836-2262
Email: rileyj@uwec.edu

Canadian mezzo Jessica Riley joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire the fall of 2007 as an Assistant Professor of Music and Theatre Arts where she teaches Applied Voice, Techniques of the Singing/Speaking Voice and works with the Opera Workshop Ensemble. She completed her Doctorate of Music in Voice at Indiana University with minor field concentrations in Stage Direction and Music Education. She defended her thesis, "A Performance and Pedagogical Guide to the Songs of Virgil Thomson," in January, 2008. Dr. Riley came to UW-Eau Claire after serving for two years on the faculty at Western Washington University in Bellingham. Previously she taught at Indiana State University, and was an Associate Instructor of Voice while studying at Indiana University.

As a performer, Dr. Riley has sung with Lyric Opera Cleveland, the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Peace Chorus, the Sarasota Opera Association, the Brevard Music Center, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra and IU Opera Theater. Most recently, she sang in an evening of French opera selections with the Rochester Aria Group in Rochester, Minnesota.

Past roles include Mother Marie (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Ruggiero (Alcina), Third Lady (Magic Flute), Berta (Barber of Seville), Edith (Pirates of Penzance), Nettie Fowler (Carousel), Ilona (She Loves Me), Jenny Parsons (Down in the Valley), Effie (Ballad of Baby Doe), Mother Goose (Rake's Progress), Grandma (Polly Patchwork), and the Redwood Daughter (Florida) in a premiere of the new work.

Concert work includes singing as the alto soloist in Vivaldi's Gloria, Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes, Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Mendelssohn’s Elijah, among others.

Beyond her musical endeavors, Dr. Riley has worked as an Oral Communications Evaluator. Dr. Riley is also a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, NATS.

Related Links:
Opera on Wheels