“Mr. Sykes, a fiery baritone imbued with a ferocious immediacy…the underlying theme…inspired.” – New York Times
“…From arias to spirituals, baritone Jubilant Sykes keeps expanding…the stylistic fluency and quick study reflected here all seems very natural…a man whose voice is the unforced center of his personal expression…grand…relaxed…artistic…intimate.” – Los Angeles Times
“The rafters rang…every note, every rest bore his imprint….Sykes is a charismatic baritone of multifarious resources, a powerful and welcome presence in Bach and Mozart.” – Los Angeles Times
“Sykes is a distinctive (and wonderfully uncategorizable) singer by any standard. His voice is rich and beautifully controlled, with a molten bottom and shimmering top, the articulation razor-sharp…” – Washington Post
“And they all cooperatively allowed the evening to be stolen by Jubilant Sykes who endowed the role…with the abashed charm and vocal lushness of a young Parsifal.” – The Village Voice
“We were mainly swept away by the genius of Jubilant Sykes.” – National Public Radio NPR-John Burnett
“Jubilant Sykes…his performance is frankly, revelatory.” – Broadway World
“Sykes’ voice is impossible to pigeonhole… touches of gospel, jazz, opera… echoes of William Warfield, Joe Williams, and Al Jarreau, but in the end those echoes are too fleeting. He simply reminds you that there’s no one else like him. A striking range…concrete floor at the deep lower end and a hovering, assured, stratospheric top.” – Orange county Register
“Jubilant Sykes’s voice is extraordinary. He isn’t merely an outstanding singer. His voice is art at its highest expression.” – The Atlanta Journal- Constitution.
“Baritone Jubilant Sykes…stole the show…strutting and twirling across the stage…with full-throated ardor, rhythmic looseness and inspired gestures…” – Detroit Free Press
“Most remarkable of all was Jubilant Sykes…whose realization was utterly compelling, both for its athletic grace and vocal appeal. Sykes has the necessary power and smooth delivery to ride the big operatic moments as well as the ability to scale the tone down to convey the easy charm. … Sykes seemed willing to risk everything to make a musical-dramatic point – a crucial quality in performing a remarkably risky work that asks for nothing less.” – Musical America
“Sykes is authentically passionate and vocally enthralling, masterfully fusing his classical, jazz and gospel backgrounds . . . a compelling, almost shamanistic power I’ve not heard elsewhere.” – Opera News
“Strikingly, distinctive the baritone phrases throughout with an immediacy and naturalness that draws the listener into a truly redemptive experience.” – Baltimore Sun.
“Sykes…acquitted himself with the bold charisma and confidence, with the theatrical flair that made him a smash on the Met stage…” – South Bend Tribune
"Jubilant, thanks for giving your gift to the world!" – US President, Barack Obama
Bio
Perhaps no vocalist of our time possesses a more exquisitely versatile instrument than the American baritone Jubilant Sykes. Known for bringing a unique dimension to the traditional career of the classically trained vocalist by drawing on gospel, jazz and folk influences to deliver performances in differing musical genre.
His unique gifts, have taken him from such diverse stages as the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Arena di Verona in Italy, London’s Barbican Center to the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Apollo Theater and Hollywood Bowl, among hundreds of other venues around the world.
Mr. Sykes has performed with a number of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors, including the Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, Baltimore Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, London Symphony, Louisville Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco and Pittsburgh Symphonies, St. Louis, Seattle, and Vancouver Symphonies. He has worked with such conductors as Teddy Abrams, Marin Alsop, John Axelrod, Christoph Eschenbach, Marvin Hamlisch, Krisjan Jarvi, Andrew Litton, Keith Lockhart, Lorin Maazel, Wayne Marshall, Kurt Masur, John Nelson, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin and John Williams.
Jubilant has collaborated with such artists as Julie Andrews, Terence Blanchard, John Beasley, Renée Fleming, Josh Groban, Christopher Parkening, Patrice Rushen, Carlos Santana, Jennifer Warren, and Brian Wilson.
The Grammy nominated baritone was named “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone Magazine for his recording of Leonard Bernstein‘s “Mass.”
He made his film debut in the movie Freedom playing the African slave Ozias. He later played the lead in the play Breath and Imagination by Daniel Beaty on the life of Roland Hayes at the Hartford Stage. In New York at the New York City Center, he portrayed Pompey in the musical Bloomer Girl and Henry Richard Lee in the musical 1776. In late 2023, he will appear in the suspense/thriller Fin.
Jubilant resides in Southern California with his wife, Cecelia they have three sons.
