BIOGRAPHY
Winner of both the Royal Philharmonic Society's Singer Award and Gramophone Recording of the Year (Korngold's Die Tote Stadt / BSO Recordings), Jennifer Johnston is a former BBC New Generation Artist, and a graduate of Cambridge University and the Royal College of Music. She is particularly well-known for her interpretations of the works of Mahler, Wagner, Britten, and Elgar. She is closely associated 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 2022 for Korngold's Die Tote Stadt, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, for whom she was their Artist-In-Residence. She has appeared in multiple leading roles at the Teatro alla Scala, Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne Festival and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
A prolific concert performer, she has performed with many of the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors, including Jocaste in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex (Gardiner/Berlin Philharmonic & London Symphony Orchestras, released as an LSO Live disc), 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 and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras), Waltraute in Wagner’s Die Walküre (Sir Simon Rattle/Bayerische Rundfunks Symphony Orchestra and on disc), Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder (Madaras/Halle Orchestra), Mahler’s Second Symphony (V.Petrenko/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hrusa/Philharmonia Orchestra, Zinman/Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Lintu/Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra), Mahler’s Third Symphony (Makela/Oslo Filharmonien, Vanska/Minnesota Orchestra, Welser-Möst/Cleveland Orchestra, Zinman/Orchestre National de Lyon), Mahler’s Eighth Symphony (Welser-Möst/Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, V.Petrenko/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Mahler’s Rückert Lieder (Zinman/Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Sondergard/Royal Scottish National Orchestra), Mahler’s Das Lied Von Der Erde (Pintscher/Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Marin/Hamburg Symphony Orchestra), Mahler's Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen (V.Petrenko/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra), Elgar’s Sea Pictures (Slatkin/Irish National Symphony Orchestra, Tate/Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Angelico/BBC National Orchestra of Wales and on disc), 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, Gardner/Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Slatkin/Orchestra National de Lyon), Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri (Gatti/Accademia Di Santa Cecilia), Schumann’s Faustszenen (Harding/Gewandhausorchester, Schonwandt/Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra), Adès’s Totentanz (Adès/Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Harding/Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra) ,Janacek's Glagolitic Mass (Kanellakis/BBC Symphony Orchestra at the First Night of the Proms, Letonja/Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra), Britten's Phaedra (Brabbins/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra), Chausson's Poeme de l'Amour et de la Mer (De Billy/London Philharmonic Orchestra), Respighi's Il Tramonto (Petrenko/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra), and Pasqualita in Adams’ Doctor Atomic (Adams/BBC Symphony Orchestra, recorded for Nonesuch).
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, which was released as a single and 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.