Jaime believes that success in this industry should not be based on identity and/or background, and hopes to do her part in creating a more welcoming and inclusive environment. It is her mission to ensure that Opera NexGen practices the equity and equality that we preach, which begins not only with the accountability of the artistic team, but those of us behind the operation as well.

Originally hailing from Orlando, FL, Jaime is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Hear Us, Hear Them Ensemble; a Black-led Cincinnati-based ensemble dedicated to performing the works of marginalized composers, the Administrative Assistant of the Black Opera Alliance, and the Vice President of the CCM Graduate Student Association. She was one of three candidates selected for the inaugural Opera Leaders of Color cohort with Opera America which begins June 2021.

In summer of 2021, she will be working as the Marketing and Media Intern with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Additionally, Jaime has programmed a number of recitals featuring works from the African Diaspora, including at the Chautauqua Institution virtual festival during Summer 2020.

Jaime is a mezzo-soprano currently in her Masters at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) under tutelage of Thomas Baresel, and is also a proud student of Sheri Greenawald’s. She has sung with a number of companies including; the Chautauqua Music Festival, Michigan Opera Theatre, Detroit Song Collective, Opera MODO, and the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center. Recently, Jaime was a semi-finalist in the 2021 Orpheus Vocal Competition, and the inaugural Perfect Day Music Foundation Voice Competition. She won the 2019-2020 Buffalo/Toronto district Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and went on to receive the Audience Choice Award at the Great Lakes Regional Finals. She was a finalist in the 2019 Opera MODO Aria Competition and the 2018-2019 University of Michigan Concerto Competition. She also received the Hilda Harris Mezzo-Soprano award at the 2018 George Shirley Vocal Competition.

She is an active member of: Women of Color in the Arts, Black Opera Alliance, Black Women in Opera, National Association of Negro Musicians, Opera America, the University of Cincinnati Black Graduate and Professional Student Association, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Black Student Association.

She was awarded the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 Sigma Alpha Iota International Service award for her dedication to the community. She also served as the 2019-2020 University Musical Society (UMS) Student Committee President in addition to interning in their Marketing Department.

She holds a Bachelors in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan where she studied with renown tenors Stanford Olsen and George Shirley. For more information, visit: www.jaime-sharp.com