Jacob Pence
BIOGRAPHY
Jacob Pence has been hailed by Ken Herman of the San Diego Story for his “robust and colorful” singing and described by performing arts writer Tom Alvarez as “showing finesse...” in his blog On the Aisle.
Jacob's 2025 season began with an exciting start as January marked Jacob's portrayal of the Slave in the Opera Tampa's production of Candide at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. Opera Tampa's mainstage production of Don Pasquale followed quickly in February, where Jacob performed the role of the Majordomo to great audience acclaim, and contributing to Don Pasquale winning the Theatre Tampa Bay Gala Award for Outstanding Performance.
Jacob's Fall 2025 engagements featured back-to-back performances from the musical world of Stephen Sondheim. Jacob made his Athens Theater debut as the sinister Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with several sold out performances during the show's month long run in Deland, Florida ending in October. November Audiences saw Jacob at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing arts portraying both the characters of Franz and Denis in Central Florida Vocal Arts' production of Sunday in the Park with George, in the Pugh Theater, once again to critical acclaim as extolled by Matt Palm of the Orlando Sentinel:
"Paradoxically for a musical coming from a vocal-arts organization, the spoken-word scenes are on the whole more moving than the songs. That's in part because of the talent in the supporting cast and Demps' focused direction...Contemporary George is talking about choices with a friend and colleague (Jacob Pence, shining in a pivotal moment)"
Jacob was delighted to return as a concert soloist with Aaron Collins and The SpaceCoast Symphony Orchestra in their December performance of Handel's Messiah and to join First Coast Opera as Morales in their mainstage production of Carmen in the Lewis Auditorium at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida to bring 2025 to a close.
Jacob's previous performances include the operatic roles of Boy Chapel and Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 2022 and 2021 Orlando premiers of No.5, Chanel and War Brides by Nathan Felix, Sam in First Coast Opera's The Stranger's Tale in 2023, Le Corporal in St. Petersburg Opera's La fille du Regiment in 2022, Simone in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Orlando in February 2023, the role of the Police Sergeant in The Pirates of Penzance with Central Florida Vocal Arts in 2024, and the roles of Dax and The Client in Robert Patterson’s contemporary opera Three Way during the 2018 Orlando Fringe Festival.
Jacob has performed in productions with the St. Petersburg Opera Company, Opera Orlando, Kentucky Opera, and Indianapolis Opera, appearing as an Emerging Artist with The Crested Butte Music Festival, Music by the Lake at Aurora University, Columbus Opera, The Lexington Opera Society, OperaNeo, and the Martina Arroyo Foundation. Jacob has prepared and performed over 20 roles encompassing the familiar personae of the Operatic Repertoire alongside the colorful characters of Operetta and the Musical Theatre genres.
Jacob is a frequent concert soloist, familiar with many sacred compositions including: F.J. Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and “The Creation,” J.S. Bach’s Cantata No. 61 and Christmas Oratorio, W.A. Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and Coronation Mass, G.F. Händel’s Messiah, G. Rossini’s Petite Solemn Mass, and the Requiem Masses of Duruflé, Fauré, and Schumann. He is at home with modern compositions, frequently working alongside composers premiering new work or introducing enthusiastic audiences to the less performed musical selections of the past century.
A native of Crestwood, Kentucky, Jacob is a graduate of The Ohio State University and the University of Evansville, residing in Orlando, Florida. He performs regularly as a soloist and bass section leader at All-Saint’s Episcopal Church in Winter Park, Florida.
