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Janet Perry was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As the daughter of musical parents,
she had early opportunity to receive lessons on piano and violin, and later,
ballet. She was active in young-people’s theater productions, and soon
discovered an unusual vocal talent which led her to her debut as child star
in “The Wizard of Oz” at St.Paul Civic Opera at age 11.
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On completing high school she
continued her studies at the Curtis Institute of Music under the care of
Eufemia Giannini Gregory. Her degree “Bachelor of Music” being completed, she
immediately left for Europe and was engaged forthwith at the Kammeroper of Vienna,
and then in the opera of Linz, Austria for two seasons.
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After further engagements in the
Gärtnerplatz Theater of Munich, Germany, and the Cologne opera, she returned
to Munich to the Bavarian State Opera. By then her career was firmly established
in the lighter Mozart, Strauss, and Italian opera roles. She subsequently
appeared as guest in most of the major European opera houses, and in numerous
festivals, notably Salzburg, Wiener Festwochen, Glyndbourne, Aix-en-Provence,
Bregenz, Granada, Martina Franca, Montpellier, and under such conductors as
Herbert v. Karajan, Carlos Kleiber, Karl Böhm, Riccardo Muti, Barenboim,
Harnoncourt, Rostropovitch, Kubelik, Sawallisch. She played principal roles
in many opera and operetta productions for television and film: Zürich
opera’s production of Monteverdi’s “Poppea” and “Il Ritorno di Ulisse” under
Ponnelle/Harnoncourt, Salzburg Festival’s “Rosenkavalier” and “Falstaff”
under Karajan, the Ponnelle/Böhm “Nozze di Figaro”, in Germany there were
“Zigeunerliebe”, Zigeunerbaron”, “Schwarzwaldmädel” television films. In
France there were productions of “Elisir d’amore”, and “Die
Fledermaus”,and Ponnelle/Barenboim’s
“Così fan tutte”.She sang the role of “Adele” in the famous Munich production
of “Die Fledermaus” for television and videodisc , under
Carlos Kleiber, directed by Otto Schenk.
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In concert, Janet Perry has an
extended repertoire from early music: Bach, Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Scarlatti,
to Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, Mahler, Bruckner, Poulenc, Faurè. She has sung
all the major Masses in her repertoire, and has recorded with Herbert
v.Karajan Mozart’s C-minor Mass, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Bruckner’s Te
Deum, with Kubelik Mozart’s C-minor Mass for television, and Bach’s
“Kaffeekantate” and Monteverdi’s 8th
Madrigal Book with Nicolas Harnoncourt.
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She has sung recitals in France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and in the USA.
She has produced a recital of her own creation - “A Salon in Paris,
1840” based on the music of composers living in Paris at the time, using
costumes of the period, and amusing conversations with the pianist. Robert
Fortune helped make the mise-en scene, and she performed this humorous and
delightful evening for audiences in France and Switzerland with the pianist
Helge Antoni.
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Most
recently, Janet Perry has been effectuating a change of repertoire, adding
roles of more lyric and dramatic quality: in Germany and USA she sang Donna
Anna (Giovanni), Cleopatra (Giulio
Cesare) Countess (Figaro) and Rosalinde(Fledermaus), and has revived her
“Despina” for Giorgio Strehler’s production in Milano’s Piccolo Teatro of “Cosi
fan tutte” for the winter of 1998, and on tour in ’99 and 2000 in Italy, France, Spain and Japan.
The tour of "Cosi fan tutte" continues in 2003 in Moscow and again
in Milan at the Piccolo Teatro.
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“Despina” in Milano
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In the summer of 2001, she sang
Micaela in the Carmen production of the Italian amphitheaters Taormina and
Fiesole.
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In the last years, she has also been
dedicating more time to teaching, sharing her experience and technical
knowledge with professionals as well as beginners. She has led Master
Classes in Italy, Switzerland and the USA, and has been a professor of voice
in the Conservatoire of Sion in Switzerland. She sits on the jury of
vocal competitions and exams for major schools. She has been invited to
be a professor of voice in Bern, Switzerland at the Hochschule fűr Musik,
starting in the fall of 2002.
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