Jennifer Smith Soprano
Biography
Born in Lisbon, Portugal on July 13th 1945.
Studied in Lisbon with Jorge Croner de Vasconcellos (singing and composition), Helena Lamas Pimentel and Maria Cristina Pimentel (piano), Gertrud Mersivosky (organ); and in London and Paris with Winifred Radford, Pierre Bernac, and Hans Keller.
Before arriving in London from her native Portugal to continue her studies on a Gulbenkian
Scholarship, the British soprano Jennifer Smith had already sung extensively in Europe and made records for Erato, Philips, DG Archiv and HMV. She has performed under the batons of many of the
world's leading conductors, including Pierre Boulez, Inbal, Rozhdestvensky,David Willcocks, Simon
Rattle, Raymond Leppard, Richard Hickox, Gustav Leonhardt, William Christie, Trevor Pinnock, John Eliot Gardiner, Charles Mackerras, Marc Minkowski, Andrew Parrott, Philippe Herreweghe, Michel
Corboz, Harry Christophers, Christophe Rousset and Rudolf Kempe.
Jennifer's voice may be heard on over fifty recordings, spanning many centuries of music, from the earliest medieval period to 20th-century works (Geoffrey Burgon's Requiem
and Revelations; Falla's El Retablo de Maese Pedro; Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella, Gabriel Fauré, and Olivier Greif). Her main output, however, has been in the Baroque
field, especially in the French repertoire of the 17thand 18th centuries, including Marin Marais' Alcyone, Mondonville's Titon et l'Aurore and Lully's
Phaeton with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre, but also many recordings of Handel, with John Eliot Gardiner.
Her operatic roles include The Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), The Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro), Aminta in Il Re Pastore, Euridice in Gluck's
Orpheo, Female Chorus in Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, Cybèle in Lully's Atys (at the Opéra Comique, Paris and New
York), as well as Diane in Offenbach's Orphée aux Enfers. She also sang Alphise in Rameau's Les Boréades, Diana and Phaedra in Hippolyte et Aricie
(Aix-en-Provence and Proms), Iole in George Frideric Handel's Hercules in Göttingen under John Eliot Gardiner and Drusilla in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea under Gustav
Leonhardt, this being also the first opera directed by Jean-Marie Villégier. Other directors she worked with include: David William, Nicholas Hytner, David Freeman, Jean-Louis Martinoty,
Pier-Luigi Pizzi, Alain Germain, Patrice Caurier & Moshe Leiser, Marshall Pynkowski, François Rochaix and Richard Eyre.
Her concert and oratorio repertoire is extensive, covering works from Bach, G.F. Handel, Purcell and Mozart, to Berlioz, Janacek, Francis Poulenc and B.
Britten. Her performances of Berlioz' Les Nuits d'Été with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Philharmonia Orchestra received critical acclaim. She travelled all over the world, singing in
Japan, Singapore, China, North America (a tour with the Songmakers’ Almanach), Mexico (recitals, and concerts with the Amaryllis Consort), and South America (Bolivia with the Segreis de Lisboa,
and Brazil for concerts and masterclasses). She sang for H.M. the Queen and Prince Philip on the occasion of their state visit to Portugal in 1985, and accompanied H.E. Jorge Sampaio, President
of Portugal, on his state visit to the Ukraine in 1998 as his musical ambassador.
As a recitalist Jennifer Smith worked with Christopher Ross, Lawrence Skrobacs, Graham Johnson, Geoffrey Parsons, John Fraser, Michel Kiener, Roger Vignoles and András Schiff. She figures prominently in "The complete Songs" by Gabriel Fauré, with Graham Johnson (Hyperion).
Jennifer Smith's television appearances have included Scarlatti's Salve Regina with the late George Malcolm; G.F. Handel's Judas Maccabaeus with Roger Norrington; Purcell's Come, ye sons of Art for the BBC, and Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria in the series'Christmas in Rome' with the English Consort, shown on BBC television at Christmas 1993. She was also a featured soloist in the film about Henry Purcell “England, my England”, directed by Tony Palmer.
She sang the title role in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride in the English Bach Festival's production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and at the Herodas Atticus Theatre, Athens. Subsequently she sang Theone in Lully's Phaeton for the re-opening of Lyon Opera. Other opera performances included Music in David Freeman's production of Monteverdi's Orfeo for English National Opera, the world tour of Lully's Atys with Les Arts Florissants, a tour to Japan of G.F. Handel's Ottone with The King's Consort, the Théatre de Caen's production of La Fée Urgele on tour in France, and Monteverdi's Orfeo for the Opéra d'Avignon, and Screech Owl in Janacek’s “Cunning Little Vixen” at ROH, Covent Garden. In 1995 Jennifer gave two performances (arias from G.F. Handel's Messiah and B. Britten's Les Illuminations) with the St. Petersburg Camerata in St Petersburg's Philharmonic Hall and in the Hermitage Theatre.
Other work includes: Handel “Xerxes” with Nicholas McGegan, performances and recording, La Folie in Rameau's Platée with Harry Christophers in Lisbon, appearances in the Macau Festival, and the title role in Artaserse by Terradellas at the GREC in Barcelona.
She was Professor of French Mélodie at the Royal College of Music, London, from 1995 to 2011, also piloting a Workshop/Course in Gregorian Chant there from 2007 to 2010, from which sprang the “Listening Gallery” recordings of Chant manuscripts in the Medieval Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Jennifer now lives in West France, where since 2015 she has painted icons. Please visit her icon site www.iconshandpainted.com
Jennifer Smith naquit au Portugal, où elle reçut une éducation française et où elle fréquenta le
Conservatoire de Musique de Lisbonne, complétant les cours de chant, d’orgue et de composition.
Avant de quitter le Portugal, elle suivit les cours de Musique Ancienne de Safford Cape, un des
initiateurs du renouveau de musique médiévale, et fondateur du groupe Pro Musica Antiqua de
Bruxelles, ainsi que les cours de celui-ci et de ses successeurs, se tenant à Bruges. À la suite de ces
cours, se fonda le Grupo de Música Antiga de Lisboa, avec lequel Jennifer Smith fit de nombreuses
tournées, parcourant le Portugal, mais aussi l’Europe. Aussi avant de quitter Lisbonne, elle
enregistra déjà des œuvres de compositeurs baroques portugais, et Jephte de Carissimi sous le
baton de Michel Corboz, et un disque de lieder de Schubert. Boursière de la Fondation Gulbenkian,
elle continua ses études avec Winifred Radford et Pierre Bernac, à Londres et à Paris. Elle se fixa
alors à Londres, d’où elle poursuivit sa carrière internationale. Elle participa à plus de cinquante
enregistrements d’œuvres allant du Moyen Age à Stravinsky, Geoffrey Burgon et Olivier Greif, en
passant par Bach, Monteverdi, Mozart, Berlioz et Schubert, sous la direction de Frans Brüggen,
Charles Mackerras, et Simon Rattle. Avec John Eliot Gardiner elle enregistra de nombreuses œuvres
de Purcell et Handel, ainsi que les Boréades de Rameau. Sous la direction de Marc Minkowski, ce fut
le tour des baroques français comme Mondonville, Marin Marais, Rameau (Platée) et Lully, ainsi que
Orphée aux Enfers de Offenbach, et La Resurrezione de Handel. Avec Graham Johnson, elle participa
à l’enregistrement de l’intégrale des Mélodies de Gabriel Fauré, notamment les cycles La Chanson
d’Ève et Le Jardin Clos.
A l’opéra, les rôles qu’elle interpréta témoignent d’une semblable diversité : Ellen Orford (Peter
Grimes), Iphigénie (… en Tauride), Cybèle (Atys), Contessa et Marcellina (Nozze di Figaro), la Reine de
la Nuit, la Folie (Platée), Praskovia Ossipovna et la Marchande de Bretzels (Le Nez), ainsi que Iole
(Hercules), Phèdre (Hippolyte et Aricie), et Aminta (Il Rè Pastore).
En récital, elle fut accompagnée par Geoffrey Parsons, Lawrence Scrobacs, Roger Vignoles, András
Schiff, Henri Barda, et Graham Johnson. Elle créa et enregistra Les Chants de l’Ame d’Olivier Greif,
avec le compositeur au piano.
Elle fut professeur de chant et de classe de Mélodie Française au Royal College of Music, à Londres,
entre 1997 et 2006, où elle crea aussi une classe-pilote de Chant Grégorien.
Depuis 2014 elle réside en Vendée, en France, et se dédie à l’iconographie. Veuillez visiter son site www.iconshandpainted.com