Jennifer Johnston

Born in Liverpool, Jennifer Johnston read Law at Cambridge University and practiced as a Barrister, before graduating from the RCM’s Opera Course with Distinction. An alumnus of both the National Opera Studio and the Britten Pears’ Young Artists Programme, she continues to study with Lillian Watson. Named by the Financial Times as the Face to Watch in Opera 2007, she is the recipient of numerous awards, including in 2005 Second Prize in the Montserrat Caballé International Singing Competition. She is the first young artist to have received two Susan Chilcott Scholarships (2005 and 2007), is a Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist and is a Trustee of the Young Singers’ Welfare Foundation.

During the summer of 2006, she made her debuts at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (Title role/Dido and Aeneas) and the Salzburg Festival (Carmi/La Betulia Liberata, released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon), and she has a close relationship with Scottish Opera for whom she has sung a number of roles, including Suzuki/Madama Butterfly, Irene/Tamerlano, Mercedes/Carmen and Hansel/Hansel and Gretel. In 2008 she sang the Title Role/Dido and Aeneas at Opera de Lille and in Madrid.

Recent concert engagements include Bernstein’s Candide in the opening concert of the Edinburgh International Festival 2007 under Spano with the BBCSNO, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas also for the EIF under McGegan with the SCO, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella under Slatkin with the RPO, Handel’s Messiah at the Berlin Philharmonie, and Mahler’s Second Symphony under Haitink. With the Prince Consort, she has also recently undertaken a residency at Aldeburgh, and recitals for the Aldeburgh and Oxford Lieder Festivals and at the Purcell Room. Her future engagements include a solo recital of Britten songs at the Aldeburgh Festival with Malcolm Martineau, and, with the Prince Consort, recitals at the Wigmore Hall and the South Bank Centre, the European Premiere of Rorem’s ‘Evidence of Things Not Seen’ at the Oxford Lieder Festival, and the release of a recording of Ned Rorem songs for Linn Records