Jillian Tate, a versatile soprano hailing from Northern Virginia, recently earned her Master of Musical Arts degree from Yale University under the tutelage of Gerald Martin Moore. While at Yale, Ms. Tate was heavily featured in Yale Opera scenes, her roles including Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Musetta (La Bohème), Peter (The Snowy Day), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), and Soeur Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites).

In 2025, Ms. Tate joined the Lakes Area Music Festival as a resident artist, performing the Sandman and covering the Dew Fairy in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel under the guidance of soprano Julia Bullock, collaborative pianist Dr. Bretton Brown, and conductor Christian Reif. She was also featured in A Night at the Opera, and two musical theater showcases.

In spring 2024, she performed as Fanny (La Cambiale di Matrimonio) and as Brigitta (Iolanta) with Yale Opera. A passionate concert artist, Ms. Tate has appeared as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Waterbury Symphony and performed Margaret Bonds’ The Ballad of the Brown King with the Greater New Haven Chorus. She was also featured as a soloist with Yale Philharmonia in the New England premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s JFK: The Last Speech in November 2023.

A 2023 Boston District winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Ms. Tate has also appeared at the prestigious Music Academy of the West, Opera Carolina (I Dream), and as a soloist at the Kennedy Center’s REACH Opening Festival. 

Ms. Tate holds a Master of Music from Yale University, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Maryland, where she studied with renowned Mezzo-Soprano Delores Ziegler.