Baritone Dennis Jesse has found much success in a wide range of vocal styles and characterizations in a career that has taken him from the madcap world of operetta to the dramatic depths of grand opera.   He has appeared in more than 40 operettas including The Desert Song, The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, Gräfin Maritza, Die Fledermaus, and The Merry Widow. His operatic credits include the  title roles in Rigoletto, Scarpia, Amonasro, Don Giovanni, Gianni Schicchi, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia, as well as lead baritone roles in I Pagliacci, Madama Butterfly, Faust, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, La Bohème, Cavalleria Rusticana, Carmen, Romèo et Juliette, and The Crucible. He has appeared in numerous productions with New Orleans Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Arizona Opera, Eugene Opera, Knoxville Opera, Nevada Opera, Sacramento Opera, Pensacola Opera, Opera Idaho, Da Corneto Opera, Triangle Opera Theater, Amarillo Opera, Metro Lyric Opera, El Paso Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Southwest, Ohio Light Opera, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Opera Lenawee, Jefferson Performing Arts Society, and he toured for two years with the National Opera Company as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri and Belcore in L’Elisir d’amore. He has recently made his directorial debut with a production of Orpheus in the Underworld, with Nevada Opera.

Oratorio appearances include Elijah in the oratorio Elijah with the Baton Rouge Symphony, Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Soloist with Canterbury Choral Society in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Carmina Burana with the Atlanta Ballet, The St. Matthew Passion with Louisiana State University, Elijah with the New Orleans Symphonic Chorus and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Adrian Symphony and a Carnegie Hall performance of Schubert’s Mass in G and Mozart’s Te Deum and Regina Coeli with Mid America Productions.

Some of his most recent and upcoming engagements include: Willie in Willie Stark  as guest artist with LSU Opera (with its DVD release available on Newport Classics), Bass Soloist in the Verdi Requiem with the Baton Rouge Symphony, Marcello in La Boheme and Mr. X in Circus Princess with Nevada Opera, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Idaho and Opéra Louisiane, The Red Shadow in Desert Song, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado and Crown Prince Rudolph in Marinka with Ohio Light Opera and Raphael in Haydn's The Creation with Meridian Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Jesse recently joined the faculty of Louisiana State University as an Assistant Professor of Voice and is excited to return to OLO this summer after a “brief” hiatus.