Gwendolyn Jones

Gwendolyn Jones is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who has had an active career in concerts and operas since the late 1960s. From 1972-1980 she was a resident artist with the San Francisco Opera, and was afterwords a regular performer with the New York City Opera and New Orleans Opera.

Born in Oklahoma, Jones studied singing with Inez Lunsford Silberg at Oklahoma City University. In 1968 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions at the age of 19. In 1972 she made her debut at the San Francisco Opera (SFO) as Wellgunde in Das Rheingold. She appeared regularly at the SFO over the next eight years, portraying such roles as Albine in Thaïs, Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, Anna in L'Africaine, the Charwoman in The Makropulos Affair, Clotilde in Norma, Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, Curra in La Forza del Destino, Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos, Emilia in Otello, Flora in La traviata, Flosshilde in Das Rheingold, Fyodor in Boris Godunov, Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande, Glasha in Káťa Kabanová, Isaura in Tancredi, Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Laura in Luisa Miller, Mirinda in Ormindo, the Second Lady in The Magic Flute, Sextus in Giulio Cesare, Siebel in Faust, Siegrune in Die Walküre, the Voice From Above in Die Frau ohne Schatten, and Wowkle in La Fanciulla del West among others. Her final appearance at the SFO was in 1980 as Rychtarka in Jenůfa.