Jennifer Lane, Mezzo-Soprano

Critical Acclaim

“Leopold’s Regina cœli, full of expressive Italianate gestures reminiscent of Monteverdi’s later music, featured mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane. Her dark, focused voice brought special poignancy to the nuances of the text, accompanied by instrumental lines decorated by chromaticism and lemon-juice-in-the-eye cross relations.”

Regina cœli

Daniel Hathaway,
Clevelandclassical.com, July 2, 2013

“… mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane delivered marvelously refined ornaments…”

Tempesta di Mare’s Messiah

David Stearns,
Philadelphia Enquirer, March 19, 2013

“… five fine vocal soloists… especially delightful were Samuelson and Lane in the duet Et in unum Dominum.” [Santa Rosa Symphony’s B Minor Mass} Niels Swinkels San Francisco Classical Voice, December 15, 2012 .”

Santa Rosa Symphony’s B Minor Mass

Niels Swinkels,
San Francisco Classical Voice, December 15, 2012

“A female 'male alto'
The program's second vocal item introduced a major addition to Tempesta's musical resources. The soloist, Jennifer Lane, is an alto with a voice that can best be described as a "female male alto". As we all know, the alto parts in Baroque works were sung by castrati. Nowadays, they're usually sung by mezzo-sopranos. The small number of men who possess natural male altos always steal the show when they show up on a Baroque program. Their voices combine the color of the female alto with the extra power and resonance created by the male chest. Lane possesses the extra range and the distinctive timbre of the male alto. She isn't quite as powerful, but that's an irrelevant consideration in a chamber concert presented in a small space. Her text was a passage from St. Augustine — "O Thou Who Givest All Good Gifts" — set by a composer, Johann Rosenmuller, who was born in 1619, the year after the Thirty Years War began. Lane's voice colored it with one of the rarest and most distinctive sounds of Baroque music .”

"O Thou Who Givest All Good Gifts"

Tom Purdom,
The Broad Street Review, December 11, 2012

“The one possibly great composer was Johann Rosenmüller, represented by the vocal work "O Dives omnium bonarum dapum" that shows him looking back to the more vocally rhapsodic manner of Schutz. Few singers project such an ideal union of clean vocal line and discreet vibrato as contralto Jennifer Lane. Music of this era repays subsequent visits on YouTube if only because it goes down so easily that you can miss the subtleties. But don't expect ever to hear Rosenmüller sung so well”

"O Dives omnium bonarum dapum"

David Patrick Stearns,
Philadelphia Inquirer, December 11, 2012

“Jennifer Lane wrapped her penetrating mezzo-soprano around every utterance, especially in the aria “Erbarme dich” in collaboration with Julian Ross’ affecting violin solo.”

St. Matthew Passion

Donald Rosenberg,
The Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 15, 2012

“Lane [as Irene] was a wonderful foil to Ava Pine in a vocal sense; her tone is velvet-smooth, with a rich darkness that carries a subtle gravitas in the music.”

Handel’s Theodora

John Norine, Jr.,
TheaterJones, February 24, 2012

“Also on the list of high points were Lane’s moving “Defend her, Heav’n” and Pine’s and Angel’s beautifully sung duet “Thither let our hearts aspire.”

Theodora

Olin Chism,
Art & Seek, February 24, 2012

“Distinguished contributions from… Jennifer Lane,… ”

St. Matthew Passion

John von Rhein,
Chicago Tribune, April 21, 2011

“The musical forces could hardly have been bettered…there was an excellent quartet of soloists… Jennifer Lane rounded out the group solidly, the interplay with Deborah Nemtanu’s violin quite effective in Erbarme Dich”

St. Matthew Passion, Soli Deo Gloria

Mark Thomas Ketterson,
ConcertoNet.com, April 20, 2011

“Jennifer Lane, in her Chautauqua debut… Ms. Lane handled her deeply-felt solo in the fourth movement expertly.”

Mahler's Symphony No. 3, Chautauqua

Robert Finn,
The Chautauquan Daily, August 2, 2010

“Jennifer Lane wrapped her voice poignantly around the mezzo-soprano phrases of the oratorio’s most anguished aria, “Es ist vollbracht,” with Schiffer as eloquent gamba soloist.””

"Es ist vollbracht"

Donald Rosenberg,
The Cleveland Plain Dealer, April, 18, 2010

“Jennifer Lane, the mezzo-soprano, performed these sections with a dramatic intensity that honored the texts... The Salve Regina, in F minor, is darkly melancholy, with a lyrical undercurrent that Ms. Lane projected beautifully.”

Pergolesi Tricentennial, Sinfonia New York

Allan Kozinn,
New York Times, March 30, 2010

“Where some historically informed performances have a soprano and male alto, Clarke's had a soprano and mezzo-soprano. The singers made his choice convincing . . . Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane's dusky timbre persuasively shaded her darker solos, underlining their anticipation of late Mozart. Duets had ardor, warmth of rapport and a blending of timbres that sustained long phrases with discreet expression.”
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The Stabat Mater, with the Baroque Band, Chicago, Gary Clarke conducting

Alan G. Artner,
Chicago Tribune,
January 11, 2010

“Both of the vocalists' voices were full of ardor and finesse. Lane's darkly hued and resounding mezzo evocatively anchored Kampani’s airy and nimble soprano. The two women, garbed in wonderfully ornate wardrobes, appeared to have a genuine rapport with each other. The highlight was the No. 5 Duet, where the mother of Christ is grieving for her mutilated son. The soloists sung the 14th-century Latin text with such pleading drama and clean articulation, you could almost conjure her pained visage through the lachrymose expression.”
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The Stabat Mater, with the Baroque Band, Chicago, Gary Clarke conducting

Bryant Manning,
January 9, 2010

“Purcell conjured up beautiful heartache music for Dido, and Clarke pulled a rabbit out of his hat convincing mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane to perform. Lane's voice has an exceptional strong dark quality, and she sings with clear tone and sophisticated phrasing. "When I am laid in earth," Dido's lament at losing her love, is one of Purcell's great creations, and Lane found all the tears in it, convincing us that one can surely die of a broken heart. Lane was equally adept with the music of the Sorceress, filling the church with wicked, frightening incantations...............The big finish was supplied by Giovanni B. Ferrandini, whose "Il pianto di Maria" had until recently been attributed to Handel. Lane, Clarke and the band gave this splendid music full glory. Lane was bold when the music called for it but knew when to throttle things down. Her deep lower register had a burning intensity. The instrumentalists rose to the occasion and drew out the unusual dissonances we associate with more modern music. Applause was augmented with foot stomping, and I stopped counting the number of times Clarke and Lane returned to the stage to acknowledge the well-deserved appreciation of the audience.”

Dido and Aeneas, with the Baroque Band, Chicago, Gary Clarke conducting

M.I. Rantala,
Hyde Park Herald,
July 1, 2009

“(Chicago’s) Baroque Band did the honors…..Jennifer Lane was in the solo spotlight—actually on the small raised platform—for excerpts from Purcell’s Dido. For a singer with a background primarily in early music, Lane possesses an imposing mezzo instrument….rising to the expressive height of When I am Laid in Earth with refined eloquence. Lanes’s voice and temprament suited to the boldly Italianate passions of Ferrandini’s setting, the mezzo singing with big dusky tone and dramatic intensity...”
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Dido and Aeneas, with the Baroque Band, Chicago, Gary Clarke conducting

Lawrence A. Johnson,
Chicago Classical Rview.org,
June 4, 2009

“Egarr had a superb, agile group of vocal soloists to work with . . . mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane, . . . and he gave everyone the freedom in tempo to indulge in elaborate ornamentation.”
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