IN THE PRESS
REVIEWS
JUNO / HANDEL'S SEMELE
Vaclav Luks / Glyndebourne Festival
July / August 2023
"The vengeful Juno, Jove's wife, a role superbly inhabited by Jennifer Johnston...And, displaying impeccable timing, Johnston's Juno relishes her revenge."
Rebecca Franks, The Times
"Joelle Harvey and Jennifer Johnston are ravishing...Both mezzos are outstanding, with Johnston's formidable hauteur superbly contrasted with Wake-Edwards' passionate intensity."
Tim Ashley, the Guardian
"The drama centres, though, on Semele and her vengeful antagonist, Juno...Jennifer Johnston brings all the requisite authority and technical skill to leave her regal stamp on Jove's power-dressing consort."
George Hall, The Stage
"Jennifer Johnston's Juno is so formidable that I wish she had more to sing."
Patrick Marmion, Daily Mail
"Jennifer Johnston makes a scarily imperious Juno."
Stephen Pritchard, Observer
"Jennifer Johnston - despite the apparent absence of any directorial input - conveys Juno's vehement desire for vengeance with commanding focus, delivering the heated recitative with which she makes the drowsy Somnus...with delicious dastardliness."
Claire Seymour, Opera Today
"Juno (Jennifer Johnston, dressed like a peacock, with Flash Gordon headwear) gurgles with pantomime malice as she plots their downfall with her sidekick Iris...The singing hits the spot throughout - from the moments when Johnston reveals her full vocal majesty to the grumpy, half-mumbled aria of the sleep-god Somnus."
Richard Bratby, Spectator
MAHLER'S SECOND SYMPHONY
Vasily Petrenko / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
30/03/23
"You couldn't have asked for more from the singers. Jennifer Johnston was nothing less than sublime in Urlicht, bringing the audience from the melancholic depth of humanity's pain and need, in her resonant chest voice, to the radiant hope of everlasting life in her upper register."
David Karlin, Backtrack
CHAUSSON'S POEME DE L'AMOUR ET DE LA MER
Bertrand de Billy / London Philharmonic Orchestra
25/02/23
"We got mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston, who demonstrated clearly why the piece works brilliantly with a voice with a slightly lower core. Much of the vocal writing is in the part of the voice where a firm and velvety middle register is needed and Johnston's singing was textually alert and pointed, and both expansive and voluptuous. She was clearly relishing the Wagnerian influences of Chausson's writing."
Alexander Campbell, Classical Source
MAHLER'S EIGHTH SYMPHONY
Vasily Petrenko / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
23/10/22
"Some especially lyrical vocal writing is given to the mezzo-soprano, persuasively sung by Jennifer Johnston."
Fiona Maddocks, Observer
"The solo singers were somewhat uneven, but outstanding contribution from mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston..."
Jessica Duchen, iNews
VERDI'S REQUIEM - FIRST NIGHT OF THE PROMS
Sakari Oramo / BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Two, BBC Radio 3
15/07/22
"Jennifer Johnston's polished, grave mezzo-soprano was unfailingly musical."
Neil Fisher, Times
"Soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha and mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston stole the show...Jennifer Johnston's rendition of the Liber Scriptus and tender Recorder was beautifully done."
Ivan Hewett, Telegraph
"Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston was fearless in the 'Liber Scriptus', her voice ringing out thrillingly, ably accompanied by some sonorous brass playing. Johnston was equally effective in the Recorder, her voice blending superbly with soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha."
Keith McDonnell, MusicOMH
"By contrast, Jennifer Johnston showed the flexibility and intensity that Verdi expected of his mezzo-sopranos. Her duets with Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha shimmered like exquisite jewels."
Nick Kimberley, Evening Standard
MAHLER'S SECOND SYMPHONY
Santu-Mattias Rouvali / Philharmonia Orchestra
BBC Radio 3
08/06/22
"The standard of orchestral playing was mostly exemplary up until the end of the third movement, but from the moment mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston began singing 'Urlicht' with achingly beautiful tone, and scrupulous attention to the text, vocal colours, and dynamics, the entire performance shifted up a gear, and remained on an exalted level until its shattering close. Too much of a stranger in her own land - scandalously she's yet be invited to sing in either of London's opera houses - this hugely talented mezzo from Liverpool possesses a voice of rare quality - richly bronzed, and even throughout its range. Her finely poised, pitch-perfect interpretation of 'Urlicht' held the packed audience in thrall."
Keith McDonnell, MusicOMH
" 'Urlicht' can sometimes - possibly more often than not - leave me rather cold in many live performances. Not here. The mezzo Jennifer Johnston was spellbinding - again almost stereophonic in that way in which a halo of rich sound seemed to surround her, most of it her own magnificent voice like a crown wrapped in gold and velvet."
Marc Brindle, Opera Today
MAHLER'S THIRD SYMPHONY
Klaus Makela / Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
10/05/22
"Jennifer Johnston, breathtaking, made Nietzsche's text sparkle with a perfectly controlled voice and a diction that would make the most finicky linguists blush."
Aurore Tillac, Forum Opera
"In the fourth movement, Jennifer Johnston, placed in the middle of the first violins, lives up to the preceding pages. Her dark timbre, without the show being closed, is perfect, the noble vocals, the power and the legato serve the text best. Magnificent."
ConcertoNet
A LOVE LETTER TO LIVERPOOL - DEBUT SOLO ALBUM
RUBICON CLASSICS
Alisdair Hogarth - piano
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir
Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Company
"A fierce, big-hearted and atmospheric tribute to Johnston's home city, celebrated in rewardingly unsoupy arrangements of popular, romantic, traditional and Beatles songs - Johnston handles them all with rich colours, elegance and feeling...I have no claims on Liverpool, this disc made me wish I had."
Fiona Maddocks, Observer
"A seamless musical panorama, exquisitely sung throughout. A beauty."
Hugh Canning, Sunday Times
ARTICLES
'GO AND DO SOMETHING USEFUL'
14 OCT 2020 - THE LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS
'When lockdown began, live music stopped and my career as an opera singer ground to a halt. I've tried to hold on to a nugget of hope that the arts won't be allowed to fall over the edge of a cliff into a bottomless abyss. But that hope has been steadily chipped away..."
'YES, CLASSICAL MUSIC HAS A HARASSMENT PROBLEM– AND NOW'S THE TIME FOR CHANGE.'
08 DEC 2017 - THE GUARDIAN
'The cult of the maestro has both nurtured great performances and led to abuses of power. The industry needs a code of conduct – and a change of culture – or its future is at stake, writes mezzo Jennifer Johnston'
'ARE OPERA SINGERS NOW TO BE JUDGED ON THEIR LOOKS NOT THEIR VOICE?'
19 MAY 2014 - THE GUARDIAN
'A storm of protest has erupted over critics’ disparaging comments about a Glyndebourne singer’s size and shape. If there is a line over which opera critics should not step, then it is into the realms of a singers’ personal appearance, writes mezzo soprano Jennifer Johnston '
'We must not let Music Education become extinct'
27 MAY 2018 - SWAP'RA BLOG
'Music education in the UK has hit crisis point. An open letter published in the Guardian, signed by over 100 leading artists, expresses grave concerns about the exclusion of arts and creative subjects from the new English baccalaureate (Ebacc) for secondary school children, which they believe will seriously damage the future of many young people in this country'