UW News

May 4, 2006

World-class opera soprano to be artist in residence at School of Music

The UW School of Music has announced that internationally acclaimed soprano Jane Eaglen will join the faculty as artist in residence in September. Her appointment runs Sept. 16, 2006 though June 15, 2007.

“We are delighted to welcome Jane Eaglen as a faculty colleague,” said Robin McCabe, director of the School of Music. “Her luminous career will continue to span the globe, but we are fortunate that she is able to take a small, talented, and extremely lucky group of our students under her wing.”

Soprano Jane Eaglen has one of the most formidable reputations in the opera world today. Enjoying unique success in the contrasting roles of Isolde (for the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Teatro Liceu Barcelona, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and in Puerto Rico); Leonore (debuted for the Seattle Opera this spring) and Brunnhilde (performed in Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Milan, New York and the U.K.), she has garnered spectacular reviews worldwide.

Other memorable operatic performances include Norma (performed for the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Ravenna Festival with Maestro Muti, and the Bastille); Ariadne for Seattle Opera and in London; Senta (Die fliegende Holländer) in concert with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra; Ortrud (Lohengrin) for Seattle Opera; La Gioconda in Chicago and London; Donna Anna in New York, Vienna, Los Angeles, Munich and Bologna; and many others.

Her equally impressive reputation on the concert platform includes performances of Strauss’ Four Last Songs with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Strauss’ final scene Salome with Zubin Mehta and the New York Phiharmonic, and Sir Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra; Wagner’s Immolation Scene with both Bernard Haitink and Jeffrey Tate and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Zubin Mehta and the NY Philharmonic; and many others.

Eaglen has an exclusive contract with Sony Classical; her many solo albums include arias by Wagner and Bellini, arias by Strauss and Mozart; Strauss’ Four Last Songs and other song cycles, and Italian Opera Arias. Her recording of Wagner’s Tannhauser with Barenboim for Teldec earned a Grammy for Best Complete Opera. She may also be heard in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with Chailly for Decca; in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Abbado for Sony; as Tosca for Chandos; as Norma with Muti for EMI, and in the title role of Opera Rara’s recently rereleased Medea in Corinto. In addition, Eaglen is featured on Sony’s soundtrack for the film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.

Future plans include Tristan und Isolde in Spain; Lady Macbeth in Macbeth in Vancouver; Senta in Die Fliegende Hollander in the U.S.; Tosca in Japan; and Ariadne auf Naxos in Budapest. She will appear in concert in Washington, D.C., Montreal, Italy, Budapest, Seattle, Prague, Oslo, Barcelona, the U.K., and other venues worldwide.

Eaglen was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music in 2005 from McGill University, Montreal.