News & Press

November 5, 2021

Carmen Review: Salt Marsh Opera

The cast likewise breathed new life into these staple roles. Jessica Best’s bombastic, bleach-blonde Carmen captured the character’s indomitable spirit with a combination of a saucy attitude and an earthy mezzo-soprano voice. With Best’s wide-ranging performance background, she was able to bring more variety to the vocal colors she used as Carmen that, in turn, gave a more nuanced musical portrayal of the character.-Lee Sheridan.

January 12, 2021

Jessica is a featured interview for "Voices of Covid," a series for The National Association of Teachers in Singing Journal.

Jessica was able to share her story with The National Association of Teachers in Singing series, "Voices of Covid," with Tim Bostwick. You may read her full interview here.

December 2, 2020

Savannah News: Savannah Voice Festival Brings the Holiday Spirit

Jessica is thrilled to join an excellent cast of Broadway vets as they sing 'Broadway Through The Ages,' with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra.

For more information: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/westfield/articles/broadway-stars-dancers-from-dance-theatre-of-harlem-join-njfo-for-nye-in-westfield

September 23, 2020

Contemporary Musicians' Guide to Love is Reviewed by the Rochester City News!

"Her performance is a sophisticated one. She sings with a clarity of tone that is direct and accessible, and without any pretenses that would distance her emotionally from the audience. She communicates a variety of feelings in short order — anxiousness, excitement, happiness, and hesitation — as if she’s talking to a good friend, and not singing on a stage." -Daniel Kushner, Rochester City News.

We are so grateful that we are able to bring art into the world in the time of a pandemic, political and social unrest. We believe that art can help bring focus and change to that moment. You are now able to stream our on demand performance; now available from the KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival through October 10th. Your ticket price will help cover all over our tangible expenses to make the production and The Hochstein School of Music, Blackfriars Theatre, and Black Lives Matter. We hope you will enjoy our show and help bring positive change to the word. We had so much fun making this show and it was an incredible shared experience!

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Ticket Link: https://www.rochesterfringe.com/tickets-and-shows/contemporary-musicians-guide-to-modern-love

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August 9, 2020

Jessica joins The Savannah Voice Festival Virtual Online Festival: Art Matters.

A different way to have a festival!

What would have been one of my favorite summers in Savannah will have to wait as the heals from the pandemic. I miss Savannah with all my heart. The restaurants, the food, the coffee, the people, the beautiful places...and the music.

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Thankfully, The Savannah Voice Festival is taking a different "stage," by bring the virtual program, "Art Matters," into our homes. In June, I recorded with my dear friend, Matthew Marco, at the beautiful site of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, NY. Like many of my colleagues, we recorded arias, art songs, and more on our own devices. After much creativity with sound and video editing; the festival is presenting a series of fun and stunning online events that will satisfy your at home artistic palate.

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I hope you can tune in and watch all of the events, streamed for free! If you can't make on; try watching again the next day!

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For more details, please visit the links and join us!

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I can't wait to get back to Savannah soon!:)

July 24, 2020

An Afternoon of Jazz: A Livestream with Jessica, Yoshiko and Bethany!

A few weeks ago, Yoshiko, Bethany, and I were able to make a beautiful jazz livestream from my home here in Rochester, NY. We have made it available to you here. Enjoy! So many memorable pieces from jazz history! You’ll be sure to know some and...please, sing along!