Jane Eaglen has enjoyed one of the most formidable reputations in the modern era of opera. She enjoys unique success with opera’s great composers including Mozart, Bellini, Puccini and Strauss, but it is the music of Wagner that has led fans and critics alike to proclaim her a worthy successor to Leider, Flagstad, Traubel and Nilsson(i). Frequently compared, critics have said Ms. Eaglen’s “an Isolde with irresistible vocal passion rarely heard since the days of Nilsson,”(ii) and “the first soprano since Ms. Nilsson to make singing the role seem natural.”(iii).On the other end of the spectrum, for a 2010 opera premiere, “The best singing comes . . . when the great soprano Jane Eaglen sings. . . her hymn with impressive musicality and a calm yet commanding stage presence. For that shining, breathtaking moment, she reminds you why we love opera.”(iv) Whether Donna Anna, Norma, Turandot, Ariadne, Isolde, or the three Brünnhildes, Eaglen has gone on to perform these roles – and many others – to critical acclaim with the world’s leading opera houses including Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, l’Opéra National de Paris, Royal Opera Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Teatro alla Scala, and the Wiener Staatsoper.

Eaglen has an equally impressive reputation in concerts and recitals throughout the world. Notable performances include a concert with Sir Reginald Goodall for HRH The Prince Charles and Princess Diana of Wales in 1986; The MET Opera’s James Levine 25th Anniversary Gala in 1996; The MET Opera Millennium Gala Concert in 2000 where she reprised the MET production of Turandot with Luciano Pavarotti; Last Night of the Proms 2000; and Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 50th Anniversary Gala Concert in 2004. Others include Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Strauss’ final scene of Salome with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic, and Sir Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra; Verdi’s Nabucco with Riccardo Muti for the Ravenna Festival; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Sir Neville Marriner and St. Martin in the Fields, Kurt Masur and the London Philharmonic, Ricardo Muti and the Filarmonica della Scala, and Kent Nagano and the Hallé Orchestra; Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with James Levine and the Boston Symphony and London Philharmonic, Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra, and Klaus Tennstedt and the London Philharmonic; Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder with Claudio Abbado for the Salzburg and Edinburgh Festivals; and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with Daniel Barenboim with the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Berliner Philharmoniker, Daniele Gatti with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and James Levine with the London Philharmonia.

For her services to the arts, Eaglen was honored by Congress in the United States House of Representatives and named an honorary Doctor of Music by McGill University, Montreal, in 2005; awarded the 2008 Baccarat Award from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation; named Doctor of the University by Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln, England, and installed as Honorary Member of the Wagner Society of Northern California in 2009; and named International Fellow in Voice at the Royal Scottish Academy in 2010.

Eaglen’s exclusive contract with Sony Classical includes several solo albums, complete opera recordings, soundtracks, and DVDs. Wagner’s Tannhäuser with Barenboim for Teldec earned Eaglen a Grammy® Award for Best Complete Opera and her work on EMI’s ‘Bruckner: Mass No.3 and Te Deum’ with the London Philharmonic was likewise nominated. Other notable recordings include Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with Chailly for Decca and with Tennstedt for BBC, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Abbado for Sony, Norma with Muti for EMI, and in the title role of Opera Rara’s Medea in Corinto. In addition, Eaglen is featured on Sony’s soundtrack for the film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.

While continuing to perform concerts and recitals, Eaglen has increased her pedagogic endeavors. She served as Senior Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington School of Music from 2006-2010 and as Professor of Voice at Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory in Berea, Ohio from 2010-2013; served as the Principal Voice Instructor for the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program; teaches periodically at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice; and returns frequently to mentor the Merola Program at San Francisco Opera. In the autumn of 2010, Eaglen was named International Fellow in Voice at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, where she periodically gives master classes. She is a regular Master Teacher and mentor the San Francisco Opera Merola Program and Cardiff International Academy of Voice. Jane is now on the voice and opera faculty at the New England Conservatory in Boston, director of the American Wagner Festival and President of the Boston Wagner Society.

i Dirk Altenaer, review of Tristan und Isolde (Deutsche Oper am Rhein), Der Neue Merker, May 2007

ii Review of Tristan und Isolde (Deutsche Oper am Rhein), Opernnetz, May 5, 2007

iii Anthony Tommasini, review of Tristan und Isolde (Seattle), New York Times, August 3, 1998

iv Ronald Holden, reviews of Amelia (Seattle), Seattlest and Crosscut.com, May 14, 2010