Jen Stephenson

Texas-based artist Jen Stephenson enjoys a multifaceted career as stage director, producer, soprano, educator, and arts administrator, currently serving as Director of the award-winning opera program at Baylor University, as well as Co-founding Artistic Director of Music On Site.

As a stage director and producer, Stephenson has worked with the Peabody Institute, Baylor Opera Theatre, Chicago Summer Opera, Landlocked Opera, Opera Seme, Lawrence Opera Theatre, Music On Site, Harrower Summer Opera, Druid City Opera, The University of Alabama Opera Theatre, and Tabor College Opera, which she founded in 2015. For her work with the Baylor Opera Theatre, Stephenson's productions have collected numerous accolades from the National Opera Association, including most recently being named first, second, and finalist winner of the Robert Hansen Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition (2026, 2025, 2024, 2023) and first place winner in the NOA's annual production competition (2024). Recent directing credits include productions of The Merry Widow, Giulio Cesare, The Tender Land, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, La finta giardiniera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Hänsel und Gretel. Praised for her thoughtful characterization and impeccable comedic timing, she currently serves as an officer on the executive board of the National Opera Association.

Dedicated to training the next generation of opera artists and bringing opera to new audiences, Stephenson is the Artistic Director of Music On Site, Inc. (MOSI), an opera company in Central Kansas whose mission is to increase the accessibility of opera by producing engaging performances at low or no cost for underserved communities and providing high quality training and opportunities for promising emerging and early-career opera artists. Since 2016, Music On Site has performed for more than 20,000 individuals through its free-admission performances of professional opera productions throughout Central Kansas, particularly focusing their efforts on rural locations with limited or no access to the arts. Since its first production in 2017 featuring six singing-actors, Music On Site’s Winter Opera Festival has grown to be one of the largest opera festivals in the country, welcoming more than 150 artists annually, including pianists, conductors, stage directors, orchestral musicians and production interns. Alumni of Music On Site have continued on to success at such prestigious programs as the Merola Opera Program, The Glimmerglass Festival, Wolf Trap, Des Moines Metro Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Aspen Music Festival, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Scottish Opera, Houston Grand Opera and HGO Studio, The Metropolitan Opera, Dallas Opera, Utah Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, among many others. More information on Music On Site can be found at www.musiconsite.org. 

No stranger to the stage, Stephenson has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe in a wide range of opera roles, as a vocal soloist, and as a member of several professional choral ensembles. As a featured soloist, favorite concert and oratorio appearances have been with L’Orchestre et les Chanteurs de Saint Eustache of Paris, France; Nei Stëmmen of Luxembourg, Luxembourg; The Classical Music Festival of Eisenstadt, Austria; the Prentice Chorale of Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Lawrence Opera Theatre of Lawrence, Kansas; and the Westfield Festival Chorus of Westfield, Massachusetts. Additionally, she has sung professionally with Alabama’s Highland Consort, the Richard Zielinski Singers, and New England’s Novi Cantori. Stephenson has sung leading roles with Opéra du Perigord, Utah Lyric Opera, and New Century Opera. Favorite operatic performances include the roles of Elvira (Don Giovanni), Magda (The Consul), Gertrune (The Twilight of the Gods), Mother (Hansel and Gretel), Frasquita (Carmen), and Manuelita (La Périchole), among others.

Equally comfortable as a conductor, Stephenson has served as chorus-master for the Wichita Grand Opera, The University of Alabama Opera Theatre, and the University of South Florida Opera Workshop, and has conducted operas and musicals for The Actors Charitable Theatre (AL), Arts in Motion (FL), and The University of Alabama Opera Theatre. Formerly, she served as Music Director and Organist at Saint Matthias Episcopal Church in Tuscaloosa, AL, and as Director of the Celebration Choir at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita, KS.

An avid scholar, Stephenson frequently presents clinics, masterclasses, and lectures throughout the United States. She has presented her peer-reviewed research nationally at both the Classical Singer Convention and the National Opera Association’s annual convention, and has recently presented masterclasses at Columbus State University, Emporia State University, Hesston College, University of the Ozarks, The University of Alabama, Tabor College, and Barton Community College, among others. Competitions and festivals for which Stephenson has adjudicated include the NATS State and Regional Auditions, KSHSAA regional and state solo and large ensemble competition divisions, Classical Singer online and semi-final divisions, the NOA Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition preliminary round, as well as various independent league and invitational competitions. In 2017, Stephenson’s DMA dissertation, “Luigi Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero and Gian-Carlo Menotti’s The Consul: A Comparative Study,” was named the winner of the prestigious National Opera Association’s biennial Dissertation Competition.

Dr. Stephenson holds degrees from The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Westfield State University, University of South Florida, and The University of Alabama. Currently, she serves as Director of Opera Theatre and Associate Clinical Professor of Opera at Baylor University, Artistic Director at Music On Site, Inc., and Executive Board Member of the National Opera Association.