Jennifer France

Yma, mae Michael McCarthy yn ein harwain drwy gyflwyniad byr i gantorion Passion, ac yn nodi sut, yn ei farn ef, y byddant yn mynd i’r afael â’r heriau mae’r gwaith hwn yn eu taflu atynt!

Dim ond yn ddiweddar y mae Jenni wedi ymgymryd â chwarae’r rhan ‘HER’ yn Passion, ac rydym yn rhyfeddu at ei hymrwymiad i waith newydd a’i pharodrwydd i ddysgu’r darn hwn, sy’n gofyn cymaint ganddi, mewn cyfnod hynod fyr. Gyda’i chefndir ym myd y ddawns, mae cyfraniad corfforol Jenni ar y llwyfan yn rhyfeddol. Fodd bynnag, mae symudiadau Passion yn gwbl wahanol i’r camau dawns a geir fel arfer mewn opera – gan ei gwneud yn arbennig o gyffrous a heriol i bob un ohonom! Ond, tra bo symudiadau’n rhan hanfodol o’r cynhyrchiad hwn, mae arnom hefyd angen rhywun sy’n gallu canu’r rôl – ac mae’n debyg mai hon yw’r rôl fwyaf eithafol ac ymestynnol mewn unrhyw opera y gwn i amdani. Mae’n gofyn am gantores a chanddi reolaeth gywrain o liw a dwyster y llais ar draws ystod cwbl eithriadol. Cafodd ei chyfansoddi ar gyfer un soprano benodol, sef Barbara Hannigan, sydd wedi creu ei hunaniaeth ei hun fel cantores a pherfformwraig, a bellach hefyd yn fyd-eang fel arweinydd a mentor. Daw Jenni â’i rhinweddau unigryw ei hun i’r ystafell ymarfer a’r llwyfan, ac ni allem ddymuno am berfformwraig fwy cyffrous ar gyfer Passion.

Nominated for The Outstanding Achievement in an Operatic Role for the 2017 WhatsOnStage Opera Poll, for a 2016 Schaunard Award by Place de l’Opera, for The Times Breakthrough Award in Opera at the 2016 South Bank Sky Arts Awards, Winner of the Song Prize at the 2014 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and of a 2014 Leonard Ingrams Award from Garsington Opera, Jennifer France graduated from the Opera Course at the Royal Academy of Music and was an Emerging Artist at Scottish Opera where she sang Dalinda in Ariodante and Despina in Così fan tutte. She has returned to Scottish Opera as The Controller in Flight, Giulia in La Scala di Seta, and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos.

With a growing reputation in contemporary music, she appeared in the première of George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (also at the Dutch National Opera) and as Ophelia in Brett Dean’s Hamlet for Glyndebourne On Tour. Her engagements elsewhere have included Marzelline in Fidelio for Garsington Opera at Wormsley and at the Winterthur Festival, First Niece in Peter Grimes, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and Esmeralda in The Bartered Bride for Opera North, First Niece in Peter Grimes at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, The Controller in Flight, Adele in Die Fledermaus and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos for Opera Holland Park, Florinda in Rodrigo for La Nuova Musica in Florence, the title role in Semele at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro for Garsington Opera at Wormsley, Le Feu / Le Rossignol L’enfant et les sortilèges with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, La Comtesse Adele in Le Comte Ory at the 2017 Dorset Opera Festival and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos for the Nederlandse Reisopera.

Concert engagements have included Marzelline in Fidelio and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Flavio in Il Vologeso with Classical Opera, Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Oxford Philomusica, Dixit Dominus at the 2017 International Handel Festival in Karlsruhe, Handel’s Messiah with the Huddersfield Choral Society and the Nederlandse Reisopera, A Concert for the Eve of St Cecilia’s Day with the London Handel Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the 2016 Three Choirs Festival, Mozart’s Requiem with the London Mozart Players, Lieder and Other Arts Songs (Music by Fauré and Schumann) on tour with the Israel Camerata, Viennese Concerts with Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Viennese Whirl with the Orchestra of Opera North. She made her BBC Proms debut in 2017.

Her current engagements include the German premiere of George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence at Hamburg State Opera The Princess in Philip Glass’s Orphée for English National Opera, creating Ice in Stuart MacRae’s Anthropocene for Scottish Opera, Princess Elsbeth in Fantasio for Garsington Opera at Wormsley, Brett Dean’s And Once I Played Ophelia with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Mozart’s Women with the London Mozart Players, and Viennese Concerts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Hallé.

Winner of the Loveday Song Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, her recordings include Debussy Songs – Vol. 3 with Malcolm Martineau on Hyperion CD and Elgar’s Une Voix dans le désert with the Hallé conducted by Sir Mark Elder on Hallé CD.