BIOGRAPHY
Winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society's Singer Award, Jennifer Johnston is a former BBC New Generation Artist, and a graduate of Cambridge University and the Royal College of Music. She has enjoyed close collaborations with both the Bayerische Staatsoper, where she has sung over 80 performances as a guest artist and with whom she won Recording of the Year at the Gramophone Awards for Korngold's Die Tote Stadt, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, for whom she was their Artist-In-Residence for two seasons.
Her operatic roles have included Brigitta in Korngold's Die Tote Stadt (Petrenko/Bayerische Staatstoper, Gramophone's Recording of the Year), Mrs Sedley in Britten's Peter Grimes (Gardiner/Bayerische Staatsoper), Hedwige in Rossini's Guillaume Tell (Ettinger/Bayerische Staatsoper), Second Norn in Wagner's Götterdämmerung (Petrenko/Bayerische Staatsoper), Mrs Grose in Britten's The Turn of the Screw (Eschenbach/La Scala), Juno in Handel's Semele (Luks/Glyndebourne Festival), Lady de Hautdesert in Birtwistle's Gawain (Metzmacher/Salzburg Festival), Jocasta in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex (Gardiner/Berlin Philharmonic & London Symphony Orchestras and on disc), Judith in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle (Yankovskaya/English National Opera, Mäkelä/Oslo Filharmonien), Dido in Purcell's Dido & Aeneas (Weiss/Festival d'Aix-en-Provence), Waltraute in Wagner’s Die Walküre (Rattle/Bayerische Rundfunks Symphony Orchestra on disc), and Pasqualita in Adams’ Doctor Atomic (Adams/BBC Symphony Orchestra and on disc).
The works of Mahler lie at the heart of her repertoire, particularly his Second Symphony (Rouvali/Philharmonia Orchestra on disc, Zinman/Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Lintu/Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Petrenko/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Third Symphony (Vänskä/Minnesota Orchestra on disc, Mäkelä/Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Welser-Möst & Mäkelä/Cleveland Orchestra), Eighth Symphony (Bychkov/NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Welser-Möst/Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Petrenko/Bayerisches Staatsorchester), Rückert Lieder (Zinman/Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Søndergård/Royal Scottish National Orchestra), Das Lied Von Der Erde (Marin/Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Pintscher/Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Trevino/Basque National Orchestra), and Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen (Hindoyan/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Collin/Aurora Orchestra).
In huge demand on the concert platform, she has collaborated with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, particularly Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (Gardiner/Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique at the BBC Proms, Carnegie Hall and on disc), Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (Welser-Möst/Cleveland & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras), Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder (Madaras/Halle Orchestra), Elgar’s Sea Pictures (Slatkin/Irish National Symphony Orchestra), Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius (Brabbins/BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra), Verdi’s Requiem (Oramo/BBC Symphony Orchestra at the First Night of the Proms, Slatkin/Orchestra National de Lyon), Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri (Gatti/Accademia Di Santa Cecilia), Schumann’s Faustszenen (Harding/Gewandhausorchester), Ravel's Schéhérezade (Oramo / BBC Symphony Orchestra), Adès’s Totentanz (Adès/Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) ,Janacek's Glagolitic Mass (Kanellakis/BBC Symphony Orchestra at the First Night of the Proms), Britten's Phaedra (Brabbins/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra), Chausson's Poeme de l'Amour et de la Mer (De Billy/London Philharmonic Orchestra), and Respighi's Il Tramonto (Petrenko/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra).
She has appeared extensively in recital with Malcolm Martineau, Joseph Middleton, Alisdair Hogarth and James Baillieu for BBC Radio 3, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Leeds Lieder and the Aldeburgh Festival. Her extensive discography includes the release of her debut solo album 'A Love Letter To Liverpool' (Rubicon Classics) including You'll Never Walk Alone with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, which as a single reached #1 in the iTunes Classical Chart, and Anthony Payne’s arrangement of Vaughan Williams’ Four Last Songs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins for Albion Records, which she premiered at the BBC Proms (Vänska/BBCSO) and which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
She is a Creative Consultant for the London Transport Museum, a member of the Liverpool City Region Music Board, Performing Arts Network Lead at the Royal Society of Arts, a contributing writer for publications including the Guardian, Opera Now, London Book Review and The Stage, and a commentator on the arts for BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, Classic FM and Times Radio. A former Barrister, she received the Royal Philharmonic Society's Enterprise Award, supporting her participation in Harvard University's Women in Leadership Programme.