Opera Brings the Noise (And the Funk)!

One outrageous Bedford-Stuyvesant opera singer is taking her soprano to the streets and shaking up the entire genre.

You may be pleasantly ambushed by Malesha Jessie’s powerful, classically trained soprano voice while at a Bed-Stuy bodega, barber shop or laundromat. And if so, well... then lucky you!

She performs at random cityscapes and ordinary places, so you never quite know when or where to expect her or why she's even there.

She classifies her talent as a gift and a passion: “You have to surrender and be vulnerable in opera because opera is drama and it’s melodramatic. You can’t fake that.”

A native of Claremont, California, Jessie has lived in Bed-Stuy nearly 3 years. She's been studying Opera for more than 10 years. She has perfomed with the Boston Pops and was cast member of the San Francisco production of Porgy and Bess.

Jessie has spent more than a decade travelling the world as a performer and perfecting her craft but admits she outgrew its stodgy structure. She says opera can be very classist, very elitist and very separatist.

"I got away from that being in Bed-Stuy, and I got to say: 'This is who I am! This is my community; this is what I’m really about.' I’m not a snooty opera girl,” says the 29-year-old Jessie.

Donning a cornrowed fro-hawk, her easthetic is part-punk/part-neo-funk-soul. Unexpectedly, what comes out of her petite frame is a pitch-perfect aria to rival any performer at The Met.

“One time I was singing on the street and a man told me I made him weep," says Jessie. "I want to bring opera to the people; I want to pass it on. I want to make it relevant for young people. [But] opera has to evolve or else it’s going to get old and [die].”

When she’s not shattering the glass off of washing machines, she is working as a voice coach and instructor. Also, she is involved in a number of networks for opera singers. At other times, you may even see her pouring vino at Olivino wine shop on Lewis Avenue where she works part-time.

She invited me to "Operation," an open mic for opera singers where they don’t use microphones at all. (Jessie explains that opera was never meant to be sung with microphones. Back in the day, before the sound-amplifying devices existed, every patron who paid demanded and expected to hear every word and every note, no matter where they sat in the audience).

It’s a Tuesday evening at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and a chance for likeminded artists to perform, practice and remain sharp, as paying gigs in Opera are scarce.

There are no horns, no opera gowns; it's a "come-as-you-are" freestyle for artists, reminiscent of a poetry-slam. Jessie, the non-conformist co-hosts the open mic in a hot pink petticoat tutu, lace bustier and a bowtie.

“She’s so fresh. She really brings something different, something so out of the box,” says Olivia Custodio, Operation's founder.

Jessie finally takes the stage and slowly, individually hands the audience highly-charged and soaring soprano high notes. Her voice is steady and supported. Her rich vocals fill the small, dark performance space like an overstuffed pillow case. There are no elaborate sets but her acting is convincing.

Tension builds in her body, her face and eyes flood with emotion and the audience is fixed on her. The room is still and her warm, steady voice keeps us all in suspense, from one floating note to the next.

She is a true performer.

“This is my gift," says Malesha Jessie of her performance. She says she wants to continue traveling, teaching kids and inspiring others to turn their own special talents into something big, meaningful and dramatic.

"I want people to look inside themselves for their gift and ask themselves if they are cultivating it.”

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