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 opera at the Teatro alla Scala (Mrs Grose/The Turn of the Screw, Gaia/CO2), Salzburg Festival (Carmi/La Betulia Liberata, Lady de Hautdesert/Gawain, Leda/Die Liebe Der Danae) and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (Dido/Dido and Aeneas), amongst others.
A prolific concert performer, she has performed with many of the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors, including Jocaste in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex (Sir John Eliot Gardiner/Berlin Philharmonic & London Symphony Orchestras, released as an LSO Live disc), Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (Sir John Eliot 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, Sir John Eliot Gardiner/Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, Hindoyan/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra), Waltraute in Wagner’s Die Walküre (Sir Simon Rattle/Bayerische Rundfunks Symphony Orchestra and on disc), Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder (Hindoyan/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Brabbins/BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Dausgaard/BBC National Orchestra Of Wales), Mahler’s Second Symphony (Rouvali/Philharmonia Orchestra, Hrusa/Philharmonia Orchestra, Petrenko/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Zinman/Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Lintu/Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, De la Parra/London Philharmonic Orchestra, Trevino/RTE Symphony Orchestra), Mahler’s Third Symphony (Makela/Oslo Filharmonien, Welser-Möst/Cleveland Orchestra, Zinman/Orchestre National de Lyon), Mahler’s Eighth Symphony (Welser-Möst/Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra), Mahler’s Rückert Lieder (Zinman/Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Kalmar/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Sondergard/Royal Scottish National Orchestra), Mahler’s Das Lied Von Der Erde (Pintscher/Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Marin/Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Trevino/Basque National Orchestra), Mahler's Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen (Collon/Aurora Orchestra, Hill/Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra), Elgar’s Sea Pictures (Sir Jeffrey Tate/Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Angelico/BBC National Orchestra of Wales and on disc, Hill/Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra), Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius (Brabbins/BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Hill/Bournemouth 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 and Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Schonwandt/Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra), Adès’s Totentanz (Adès/Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Harding/Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra) ,Janacek's Glagolitic Mass (First Night of the Proms - Kanellakis/BBC Symphony Orchestra, Letonja/Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra), Britten's Phaedra (Brabbins/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Gamba/Ulster 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 in recital on BBC Radio 3, at Glasgow's City Halls, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw 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.