Jane Archibald
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A native of Nova Scotia, Jane Archibald began her professional career after graduating with an Honours Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Wilfrid Laurier University. She also attended training programs at the Orford Arts Centre and the Tanglewood Music Center. Her first contracts included engagements with Canadian organizations such as Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, Opera Ontario (for Delibes' Lakmé, her professional operatic debut), Toronto Operetta Theatre, Opera in Concert, Roy Thomson Hall, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, the Indian River Festival and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, among many others.
Jane Archibald's career trajectory, which began in Truro Nova Scotia, has taken her from Toronto to San Francisco to the Vienna State Opera. Her artistry is now generating excitement across Europe and North America with upcoming engagements including the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor and Konstanze in Zurich, Olympia and Cleopatra at the Opéra National de Paris, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) at La Scala in Milan and in Berlin, Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) at Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and in Munich, and Semele with the Canadian Opera Company (2012).
Recent concert highlights include Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with George Prêtre and the Orchestra of La Scala, Brahms’ Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Michael Tilson-Thomas, Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi with Christian Thielemann and the Berlin Philharmonic and Mozart arias with the Camerata Salzburg and Louis Langree.
Ms. Archibald’s February 2009 performance as Zerbinetta at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper garnered her rave reviews from the European press. Heralded as “the coloratura of our time", Ms. Archibald has achieved stunning success as a Canadian singer on the world stage, very recently in a house and role debut at the Metropolitan Opera where she stepped in at short notice for Natalie Dessay as Ophélie.
More recently, she has appeared as Lucia di Lammermoor in Berlin, as Zerbinetta and Cleopatra at the Opéra National de Paris, Eudoxie in Halevy's La Juive, Aminta (Die schweigsame Frau) and Sophie (Werther) at the Vienna State Opera, Konstanze at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples with Jeffrey Tate, Adele and Rosina in Geneva, Zerbinetta at the Canadian Opera Company and in Munich, and made her Deutsche Oper Berlin debut as Zerbinetta, and her Berlin Philharmonic debut as Angelica in Haydn's Orlando Paladino with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, which is available for viewing in the Digital Concert Hall archives.
At Vienna State Opera, Ms. Archibald successfully debuted major coloratura roles including the Queen of the Night, Olympia, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier and Werther) and Musetta. The 2007/2008 season also included performances of Queen of the Night for the Grand Théâtre de Genève and her role debut as Cleopatra for the Opéra de Marseille. In 2006/2007, she gave a significant role debut as Zerbinetta in Geneva, replacing another singer on short notice, to universal acclaim:
Jane Archibald was the revelation of the evening. (Opéra) ... an unbelievable mastery of singing, controlled with apparent ease… technical ease combined with a remarkable dramatic presence. (Le Figaro) ... one of the surest operatic talents of the future. (Res musica) This role debut was truly an event. (Neue Zürcher Zeitung)
Ms. Archibald made her San Francisco Opera debut in 2005 as Elvira in Italiana in Algeri. Her affiliation with the San Francisco Opera began in 2003 with her participation in the famous Merola summer program, leading to a two-year tenure as an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera Center. While with the San Francisco Opera Center, she sang such parts as Masha in Pasatieri's The Seagull and the title roles in Ibert's Angélique, Donizetti's Rita, and Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona.
Highlights from earlier seasons include Poppea (Agrippina) and Susanna for the Chicago Opera Theater, Queen of the Night in Japan, Konstanze for the Festivals of Antibes and Lacoste, the title role in Alcina for the Opéra de Lyon, an appearance with Chicago's Music of the Baroque, recitals with the New York Festival of Song, Mozart's Mass in C Minor with both the Atlanta and Madison Symphonies and concert debuts with the Toronto Symphony, Festival de Lanaudière (Montréal), and the Ensemble Mattheus (Spain).
She has been critically acclaimed for her recordings of works by Vivaldi and Charpentier with the Aradia Ensemble for Naxos. Her first solo CD, a programme of Haydn coloratura arias with the Symphony Orchestra of Bienne, has been released on the ATMA Classique label. Further recording plans include Strauss' Deutsche Motette with Accentus for the Naïve label. A Canada Council grant recipient, she was also the 2006 winner of the Sylva Gelber Foundation award for the most talented musician under 30.