Jessica Comeau is a native of Pensacola, Florida, and has been playing the mountain dulcimer since 2003. As a lover of music and literature, she is passionate about the ability of music to nurture hope and affirm the goodness and beauty of life. Jessica is a singer-songwriter as well as an interpreter of folk, Celtic, British, medieval European, and world music. She also loves to share music as a teacher. Within the workshop setting, Jessica gives her students group instruction, individual guidance, and space for personal experimentation with the goal of helping people to make the music their own. In addition to her dulcimer teaching and performing experience, Jessica holds a B.A. degree in English and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction. Her most recent musical release is a multi-instrumental, fantasy-themed album called Faerie Memories: Fantasy Music with an Acoustic Heart. Website:www.JessicaComeauDulcimer.com
Performer Bio
Jessica Comeau is a native of Pensacola, Florida, and has been playing the mountain dulcimer since 2003. As a lover of music and literature, Jessica Comeau is passionate about the ability of music tonurture hope and affirm the goodness and beauty of life. Jessica is a singer-songwriter as well as an interpreter of folk, Celtic, British, medieval European, and world music. In concert, Jessica’s singing and playing is meant to guide the listener along a moving musical journey that stirs the soul and elevates the spirit.
Long-Form Performer Bio
Jessica Comeau is a native of Pensacola, Florida, and has been playing the mountain dulcimer since 2003. Her lifelong admiration for literature, music, and culture, has led her to develop astyle that incorporates a Romantic blend of medieval, Celtic, folk, and world music along with newer influences. She is a singer-songwriter as well as an “interpreter of songs,” and in concert, Jessica’s singing and mountain dulcimer playing guides the listener along a moving musical journey that stirs the soul and elevates the spirit.
Music has been an integral part of Jessica’s life through involvement with music ministry and cantoring from an early age. Her dulcimer journey began at a local dulcimer club. A few years later, she received a Youth Scholarship for Western Carolina University Mountain Dulcimer Week two years in a row (Cullowhee, North Carolina) (2005, 2006); at these events, she received instruction in musical technique and witnessed the diverse potential of the mountain dulcimer from some of the most renowned mountain dulcimer players in the United States and the world.
She now regularly participates as a mountain dulcimer instructor and performer at mountain dulcimer festivals, including the internationally known QuaranTune Virtual Dulcimer Fest and North Georgia Foothills Dulcimer Association Online Festival. She has also taught and performed at the weeklong events Dulcimerville (Black Mountain, North Carolina, 2013) and Kentucky Music Week (Louisville, Kentucky, 2019) and other national and regional festivals. In 2024, she also taught internationally at the 9th Masterclass at the International Festival of Villa Faraldi (Imperia, Liguria, Italy). Besides this, she is a self-employed music instructor, offering private lessons and independently hosting online workshops for mountain dulcimer featuring a variety of musical themes and genres.
Among her other distinctions, she has competed in multiple state and national competitions, winning 1st place in the Louisiana State Dulcimer Championship (Port Allen, Louisiana) (2006) and the Deep South Dulcimer Championship (Hattiesburg, MS) (2014) and placing as a finalist at the National Mountain Dulcimer Championship at the Walnut Valley Festival (Winfield, Kansas) in 2006. She also spent several years (2012-2017) performing and ministering with Saint Paul Catholic Church (Pensacola, Florida) as a cantor, choir member, ensemble vocalist, and mountain dulcimer instrumentalist. In addition to her dulcimer teaching and performing experience, Jessica holds a B.A. degree in English and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction. She has produced books of mountain dulcimer arrangements of traditional folk and early music, Christmas music, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria, with an Irish collection on the way. Her recordings include Songs of the Earthly Pilgrimage: Medieval and World Folk Music on the Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer andher most recent musical release, a multi-instrumental, fantasy-themed album calledFaerie Memories: Fantasy Music with an Acoustic Heart. Website:www.JessicaComeauDulcimer.com