Hugh Hodgson School of Music is pleased to announce that Jay Ivey will be joining the faculty as assistant professor of voice August 1, 2026.

Jay Ivey joined the voice faculty at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music with a specialization in musical theatre and contemporary commercial styles. A versatile baritone, he brings to his teaching and performing the same quality that has defined his career: a commitment to storytelling that is immediate, stylistically informed, and deeply connected to text.

On the operatic stage, he has taken on some of the repertoire's most demanding baritone roles, including the title roles in Don Giovanni and Gianni Schicchi, as well as Rigoletto, Lescaut in Manon, and Morales in Carmen. His work with Opera Theatre of St. Louis has been a consistent highlight of his performing career — he appeared there as the British Ambassador in the world premiere of the revised edition of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles, and in roles spanning Spalanzani in Les contes d'Hoffmann, the Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly, and the Priest in Troilus and Cressida. He also served as the company's Artist in Residence, performing in concerts and outreach productions including Sharpless in Madama Butterfly.

As a concert, chamber and oratorio soloist, Ivey has appeared across a wide swath of the repertoire — from Baroque to contemporary — in works such as Carmina Burana, Belshazzar's Feast, Elijah, and numerous Requiem settings. He performed Barber’s Dover Beach with the St. Louis Symphony String Quartet. He has collaborated with university ensembles, regional orchestras, and festival organizations, and brings to the concert stage the same theatrical sensibility that informs his operatic work.

Ivey is also active as a composer and arranger. His arrangements of spirituals have been performed by mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, and his original works have been heard in venues that include Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Wigmore Hall. Other projects include an improvised score for a live performance of It's a Wonderful Life and a commissioned work for the International Women's Brass Conference. His compositional voice moves fluidly between classical, theatrical, and contemporary idioms — a natural outgrowth of his cross-genre life as a performer and teacher.

His recorded work includes the album A Dialogue of Songs: Self and Soul, on which he appears as both vocalist and pianist. Beyond the recording studio, he maintains an active and growing presence on TikTok (@jiveysings), where he regularly shares performances at the piano — a space where his dual identity as singer and pianist comes through in an intimate, immediate way that has connected with a wide audience.

A published scholar, Ivey is the author of Feuer und Eis: Duality in the Life and Lieder of Franz Schubert, which was selected for the recommended reading list at lieder.net — a recognition within the specialized world of art song scholarship. His research interests include vocal pedagogy, interdisciplinary approaches to singing and acting, and the evolving role of technology in performance practice.

His teaching and directing has earned recognition as well. Ivey received the Distinguished Higher Educator Award from the Florida Theatre Conference, and his students have gone on to careers across the profession — from Broadway productions including Hamilton, Bright Star, Jersey Boys, Fiddler on the Roof, and Oklahoma!, to television, regional theatre, voice-over work, theme parks, and cruise lines.

Before coming to Georgia, Ivey served on the faculties of Jacksonville University and Eastern Illinois University, and Indiana University. Over the course of his career he has collaborated with numerous artists across opera, theatre, and commercial music, including recipients of Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards.