American mezzo-soprano, Janelle DeStefano, enjoys the entire gamut of classical singing, from opera and oratorio to recital and chamber music. Praised for her “passionate delivery” and “rich seamless voice,” she has rendered dramatic performances in such diverse concert works as the Monteverdi Vespers, Bach’s B minor Mass, Mahler's Fourth Symphony, Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity, Zeisl’s Hebrew Requiem, Szymanowsky’s Stabat Mater and the U.S. premier of Peter Eötvös, Schiller: Energische Schoenheit . She has been featured in concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Jacaranda: Music at the Edge, El Mundo; Bach Collegium San Diego; and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Her operatic roles include Romeo in I Capuletti e i Montecchi; Dido in Dido and Aeneas; and the title role in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. A personal interest in zarzuela and Spanish art song led to her European debut as part of the 2007 International Festival of Interpretation of Spanish Song in Granada, Spain, as well as a featured performance in the Spanish art song concert series for the 2008 Mannes Summer Institute in New York City. Ms. DeStefano appears on the 2012 CD release of “The Dream Gallery: Seven California Portraits” by Mark Abel on the Delos Label.


Ms. DeStefano graduated, with honors, from USC, earning a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Performance. She holds a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College, and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music, with honors, from UC Santa Cruz, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She is on faculty at Santa Monica College, where she is a tenured Professor of Voice and Artistic Director of SMC Opera Theatre.

www.janelledestefano.com