Jane Struss

JANE STRUSS will soon have her own web page, but for now I include below some biography and concert reviews with links.

"Her voice is a marvelous instrument. Few singers compare with her in vocal equipment; fewer still in artistry," "The unique artistry of Jane Sruss." "Utter control, perfect singing and beautiful tone." "The most expressive Mahler singer of her generation." "A Boston treasure". These comments were written in recent seasons by THE BOSTON GLOBE and other papers, and they echo those of the large body of admirerers Jane Struss has attracted, both in the audience and on the stage.

A noted performer of Mahler, Jane Struss has long been associated with Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic. She has performed the Mahler Second Symphony with them three times in Symphony Hall and Carnegie Hall; as well as the Beethoven Ninth Symphony, the Brahms Alto Rhapsody, and Mahler's Symphony No.3, Kindertotenlieder,and Das Lied von der Erde. She has also appeared with virtually every major musical organization in the Boston area.

Miss Struss has twice received a Fromm Foundation Fellowship to Tanglewood, and has appeared throughout the United States with opera companies, orchestras, choral societies, and at music festivals; most notably the Tanglewood, Aspen, Blossom and Ambler Festivals where she has performed such works as Bach's Mass in B Minor with conductor Robert Shaw, and Mahler's Kindertotenlieder with William Smith conducting. She made her New York dedut in the Mahler Second Symphony with the Boston Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, and her international debut with the National Orchestra of Brazil in Rio de Janiero in the same work.

On the opera stage, Jane Struss has given notable performances in the title role of Holst's Savitri; as the Old Prioress in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites; and in many other roles ranging from Monteverdi to Britten. She created several new roles in operas by the Boston composer Newell Hendricks, and gave the American premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies monodrama The Medium, performances which earned her "best performance of the year" awards from all Boston newspapers.

Miss Struss gives frequent recitals and is currently in great demand as a performer of new music. The list of composers who have written for her is long, and includes such composers as Milton Babbitt and Peter Maxwell Davies. She is a member of The Music Production Company, with whom she performed in Edinburgh as well as at the Gardner Museum and Harvard University. She has performed with Extension Works and Composers in Red Sneakers as well as a great many performances at the Longy School of Music where she is a member of the voice faculty and the Department of American Music. She is also co-director of the chamber group Janus 21. In summing up her many performances of Winterreise in recent years, Lloyd Schwartz, Pulitzer Prize winning critic for the BOSTON PHOENIX and NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO stated: "Her renditions of the tragic song literature are among the deepest in my concertgoing experience..fascinating, revealing.. memorable."

LLOYD SCHWARTZ
Pulitzer Prize Winner for Music Criticism
Music Critic for THE BOSTON PHOENIX and NPR'S FRESH AIR

"LOWELL'S PHAEDRA SINGS BRITTEN'S MUSIC AND BOSTON DOES IT BETTER"

"She's a dramatic mezzo, at home in the weightier contralto range, but with surprising power and freedom at the top. She is also capable of tremendous empathy with characters in complex, tragic situations…Her stage presence (even when she wasn't singing), her vivid shaping of phrases (she knew what Lowell's words meant) and her sense of where it was all leading breathed the air of experience not of the rehearsal hall. Her all-out intensity encompassed the unbelievable range of emotions demanded in the score---whispered resignation and hysterical declamation, passion and irony, fear and brazenness, defensiveness and candor, self hatred and heroism."

"Over the distant bass chorale, Struss's plea rose up de profundis, floating out over the orchestra, quietly filling Symphony Hall with her splendid warmth and fervor, every emotional turn reflected…Easy full ocatave leaps ascended to the sublime arch of 'heaven'. 'I don't think she's ever sounded more beautiful,' I remarked afterward. 'Has anyone?' was the reply."

Mahler: SECOND SYMPHONY ('RESURRECTION')
Boston Philharmonic Orchestra,
Benjamin Zander, Conductor

"In DER ABSCHIED Struss rose to the real test…in one of her most chilling and private performances…she was Mahler's surrogate for his own fear of death, self deprecating, self-annihilating-except in those soaring, high arched phrases where her voice assumed the very beauty that she longs to keep, but knows won't last…she sang meltingly…The most expressive Mahler singer of her generation."

Mahler: DAS LIED VON DER ERDE
Boston Philharmonic Orchestra,
Benjamin Zander, Conductor

"THE STUNNING SCHUBERT OF JANE STRUSS"

"Nothing was forced, nothing wrenched. Phrasing was natural and sometimes terrifyingly direct. Struss revived the narrator's memories of former joy with radiant nostalgia and felt the weight of his desolation, the urgency of his desire for death, with heartbreaking unvarnished sincerity. This was no longer 'acting' but a living-through of one of the most painful experiences ever to be turned into beautiful music…Struss may not be a perfect singer, but at her best she is a great one."

"She has a an unusual intensity of concentration and haunting quality of tone. When the crowning song came, she was equal to it, singing with a harrowing and heartbreaking raptness, the final notes vanishing into the texture of the orchestra… The applause was prolonged."

Mahler: DAS LIED VON DER ERDE
Boston Philharmonic, Benjamin Zander, conductor
-Richard Dyer-

""Struss has an intimate and tender way of singing "Urlicht" and the way she floated the notes was extremely beautiful."

Mahler: SECOND SYMPHONY
Boston Philharmonic, Benjamin Zander, conductor
-Richard Dyer-

"A skillful vocalist and effective performer…proof that opera singers can do a whole lot more than they are usually asked to. She sings with a beauty of tone unusual even for her."

"This performance gave the audience the opportunity to hear and observe the unique artistry of Jane Struss. She has a fine voice which she uses with wit and intelligence while her facial expressions enlightened the texts delightfully."

Vaughn-Williams: FIVE TUDOR PORTRAITS
Masterworks Chorale, Allen Lannom, Conductor
-Arthur Hepner-

"Hugo Wolf's darkly colored, hypnotically powerful music make an ideal medium for the talents of Jane Struss…the performances were enormous in dynamic range and full of high-level chancetaking- in short, intensely communicative. The enthusiastic applause was well deserved."

Max Reger/Hugo Wolf: GEISTLICHES LIEDER
With Organist Barry Turley, Old West Organ Series
-Derrick Henry-

"So excellent was the alto, in fact, that the work could have been much less good in its other particulars and still worthwhile…Jane Struss's sound was large, rich, deep and beautifully controlled, her musicianship consummate…the kind of singing one simply accepts without cavil and can take in a state of trust and awe. We ought to hear more of this admirable artist."

"Unique Artistry…utter control…soul-stilling intentness and vivid character."

Recital with Rodney Lister and the Music Production Company
Harvard University
-Anthony Thomasinni-

"The clinching triumph of the whole undertaking was contralto Jane Struss' riveting performances…her voice is a marvelous instrument. She sings with commanding authority, dramatic intensity and an incredibly alive feeling for the phrase. Few singers compare with her in vocal equipment; fewer still in artistry, in bar-to-bar inventiveness. Her sublime vocal presentation was the most moving music I have listened to all year…Her vocal beauty transformed Bach's B Minor Mass into an experience not to be forgotten."

"CONTRALTO EXCELLS IN UNUSUAL CONCERT"

"Jane Struss rose to the imposing technical challenge of the poignant songs…she displayed superb musicianship in the sweeping melodic lines…she is a singer of great beauty, and one longs to hear her accomplished voice again."

"Songs of tormented beauty, finely sung by Jane Struss, a richly-toned, vibrant mezzo-soprano."

Edinburgh Fringe Festival Concerts with the Boston Music Production Company
Christopher Grier: THE SCOTSMAN (Edinburgh)