Jane Edwards
Jane Edwards appears regularly in concert throughout Australia, and has performed at all our major festivals,including Melbourne, Sydney, Huntington, Barossa, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. She was a long time member of The Song Company, and prior to moving to Tasmania in 2006, was a Lecturer in Voice at the Sydney Conservatorium for many years.
Jane has given numerous world premieres, creating the role of Milena in Michael Smetanin's The Burrow, and appearing with Synergy in Jonathan Mills' Ethereal Eye (also an ABC Classics CD). Andrew Ford is currently composing a new song cycle for her, and his Learning To Howl, also written for Jane, won the Australian Music Centre/APRA Composition of the Year in 2004.
Jane is especially known for her interpretations of early music, in frequent collaboration with our foremost baroque experts. In addition, she regularly performs lieder and chamber repertoire in association with leading musicians including David Bollard, Marshall McGuire, David Miller, Sharolyn Kimmorley and Ian Munro. Recent performances include Beethoven Folksongs with Elizabeth Wallfisch, Tavener's Akhmatova Songs with Richard Tognetti, Holst's Four Songs with Dene Olding and Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben with Michael Kieran Harvey.
Her solo recordings include On a Poet's Lips and The Gentle Muse for Artworks, Haydn's Arianna a Naxos, Scarlatti's Olimpia and the recital disc Love Me Sweet for ABC Classics, Salut! for Walsingham and Down Longford Way for Tall Poppies. She can also be heard in Martin Wesley-Smith's Boojum! and the soundtracks of Carl Vine's The Battlers, Paul Cox's Cactus and the Oscar winning film Shine.
Career highlights include many engagements with both the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, and solo appearances with the Danish National Radio Choir and Stockholm Bach Choir. She performed in the Victoria State Opera/Melbourne Festival production of Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten, toured nationally with British baroque ensemble Florilegium, sang the Soprano Evangelist in Arvo Pärt's Passio in the presence of the composer, appeared in recital within Paul Keating's lecture at the University of NSW, and performed with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in celebration of Peter Sculthorpe's 70th birthday.
Most recently she appeared with The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Elision, Australia Ensemble, The Queensland Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, in recital at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Melbourne Festival, Musica Viva Yarra Valley Festival and Art Gallery of NSW, and in partnership with artists such as Derek Lee Ragin, Australian String Quartet, Brodsky Quartet, Geoffrey Morris, and Goldner String Quartet.
Jane's teaching studio includes professional singers, many of whom have been finalists and winners in major Australian and international competitions. She is in demand for adjudication and masterclasses throughout Australia, has been a regular NSW judge for the Marianne Mathy Singing Competition, and examines to Fellowship level for the AMEB. She is a registered peer assessor and participating advisor for the Australia Council Music Board, and was a juror for the inaugural Freedman Fellowship in Classical Music. Most recently she was a panel member for the ABC Classic FM Choir of the Year Tasmanian auditions.
