Manna K. Jones possesses the natural endowment to conquer a vast array of classical and musical theater works. Known for her unique sound and dramatic brilliance, she is poised for major stages of the world. A specialist in classical music and opera, she has toured with the acclaimed American Spiritual Ensemble and made her international stage debut as Fiordiligi in Cosí fan tutte at the Tuscia Opera Festival in Italy. In musical theater venues, she has played Lady Beaconsfield in Jekyll and Hyde, and the bombastic Dolly in Hello, Dolly! Released in early 2022, Manna is featured in the Naxos documentary film, Global Wagner – From Bayreuth to the World for her work as Brünhilde in Götterdämmerung. She made her Broadway debut with the New York Contemporary Choir in the hit concert, Rocktopia, a Classical Revolution. An active soloist on the concert stage, she has impressed audiences coast to coast in performances with Opera Ebony, Beethoven Festival Orchestra and Harlem Opera Theater of New York. Embodying the belief that artists are agents of humanity, change and healing, Manna comforted the community of Charleston, SC in Out of Many, One, a memorial concert honoring the Emanuel Nine victims. She returned to Charleston to sing the soprano solo in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass at The Colour of Music Festival and has since sung this work at Moores Opera House in Houston. In her growing oratorio appearances, she has sung the Seven Last Words of Christ by Dubois, Haydn’s Missa Brevis, the Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, Rossini’s Stabat Mater and multiple performances of Handel’s Messiah. Other career highlights include riveting title-role Cio-cio San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at Carnegie Hall and Suor Angelica with the California Opera Association. Additionally, Pamina in The Magic Flute with the Metropolitan Opera Guild, Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Micaëla in Carmen at Lincoln Center. Although she enjoys performing well-known soprano roles like these, her most rewarding work is found in renderings of prominent black women such as Margaret Washington, wife of Booker T. Washington, Nancy Turner, mother of slave rebellion leader, Nat Turner, and Elizabeth Eckford of the Little Rock Nine, a new work by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Tania León. She regards world-premiere operas by BIPOC composers as the voice of true heroines in Black history. Filmed for Opera America-affiliated companies, she also starred as the doubly enslaved African princess, Imoinda, in a new opera by UK resident and Cuban-American composer, Odaline de la Martinez. This, just after playing Essie Robeson in the world premier of Adolphus Hailstork’s biopic Robeson: The Opera at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and reprised role in the 2020-21 season. Manna’s distinguished honors include awards and recognitions from: Talents of the World, Inc., Riccardo Zandonai International Competition, Paris Opera Awards, Benjamin Mathews, Opera Birmingham, Art Song Preservation Society, and the International Thespian Festival. She is also winner of an American Prize for Opera, the Elaine Malbin Vocal Competition in New York, the Lily Pons Scholarship from the Palm Springs Opera Guild, the Alabama National Society of Arts and Letters Vocal Competition, three-time winner in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Vocal Competition, and Mid-South District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. When Manna sang for Marilyn Horne, the legendary mezzo-soprano pronounced her voice, “An incredible instrument."