Janice Baird
{{short description|American dramatic soprano|bot=PearBOT 5}}
Janice Baird (born 10 January 1963) is an American dramatic soprano, best known for her interpretation of Wagner and Strauss.[http://www.seattleopera.org/bios/index.aspx?name=janice_baird Seattle Opera - Janice Baird Bio] Baird was born in New York City.
{{Infobox person
| name = Janice Baird
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1963|01|10}}
| birth_place = New York City
| occupation = dramatic soprano
| website = [http://www.janicebaird.com Janice Baird]
}}
Education and life
Janice Baird was born and raised in a musical family in New York City, her mother a singer and her father a voice teacher. Baird has studied flute, voice, and acting, and speaks German, English, Italian, and Spanish. Married to a German actor, she currently lives in Berlin, Germany and in Andalucia, Spain.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mennicken-pr.com/baird/opera_2007_04.htm |title=Opéra Magazine, April 2007 (French) |access-date=2007-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208115358/http://www.mennicken-pr.com/baird/opera_2007_04.htm |archive-date=2012-02-08 |url-status=dead }}
Work
Baird began her career as a mezzo-soprano and sang in German opera houses. Her roles included Tosca, Giulietta in Tales of Hoffmann, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Leonore in La forza del destino, Elisabetta in Don Carlos, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, and Salome.
She studied with Astrid Varnay to develop the seminal dramatic soprano roles of Wagner and Strauss (Ortrud, Brünnhilde, Isolde, Elektra, and Salome) and took master classes with Birgit Nilsson.[http://www.concertartist.info/bio/BAI001e.html World Concert Artist Directory] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318172848/http://www.concertartist.info/bio/BAI001e.html |date=2008-03-18 }}
She has sung most of the major Wagner dramatic soprano roles: Isolde in Tristan und Isolde in Buenos Aires, Rome, Hamburg, and Toulouse; Ortrud in Lohengrin at Semperoper Dresden and Bilbao; and Senta in Der fliegende Holländer at Santiago de Chile. She has sung Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen in numerous houses in Europe, including the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Opéra de Marseille, and will make her American debut in the role at Seattle in 2009.[http://www.seattleopera.org/bios/index.aspx?name=janice_baird Seattle Opera, ibid.]
She has sung Kundry in Parsifal and Venus in Tannhäuser.[http://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/20070306.FIG000000143_janice_baird_de_retour_au_capitole.html Le Figaro, March 6, 2007 (French)]
She frequently sings the Strauss dramatic soprano roles of Salome, Elektra, and the Dyer's Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten. Her Italian repertoire includes the title role in Turandot,{{cite news|title=Seattle's New Flame|last=Whitson|first=James|work=The Opera News|date=June 2009}} Abigaille in Nabucco, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, and Minnie in La fanciulla del West.
She has sung Leonore in Fidelio for Deutsche Oper Berlin and in Avignon and Leipzig.
Baird first sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on March 14, 2008 when she came on in the middle of Act II of Tristan und Isolde to replace an ailing Isolde, Deborah Voigt.[http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2008/03/31/080331crmu_music_ross Alex Ross, The New Yorker, March 31, 2008] She made her full debut at the Met singing Isolde to Ben Heppner's Tristan on March 25, 2008.[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/arts/music/27hepp.html?em&ex=1206676800&en=972fe90ebf5a5098&ei=5087%0A Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, March 27, 2008]
Literature
- International Who’s who in Classical Music. 23rd Edition, Routledge, London and New York 2007, {{ISBN|978-1-85743-416-3}}, {{ISSN|1740-0155}}, p. 40 [https://books.google.com/books?id=GhL1AAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Baird+Janice%22 (google books)]
References
External links
- [http://www.janicebaird.com Official website]
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Category:American operatic sopranos
Category:21st-century American women opera singers
Category:Singers from New York City