Janet Perry

Janet Perry (born December 27, 1947, Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a celebrated operatic soprano. In 1959, aged 11, she was seen in a stage-version of The Wizard of Oz, at the St Paul Civic Opera. Following high school, she matriculated at the Curtis Institute of Music, under the tutelage of Mme Eufemia Giannini Gregory.

Having earned her Bachelor of Music, she left for Europe, where she debuted at the Linz Opera, as Zerlina in Don Giovanni, in 1969. In subsequent seasons, Perry was featured in most of the Continent's major opera houses, as well as most of its famed festivals, including those of Salzburg, Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence and Bregenz.

A particular favorite of Herbert von Karajan, the soprano also sang under Carlos Kleiber, Karl Böhm, Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mstislav Rostropovich, Rafael Kubelík, and Wolfgang Sawallisch, as well as the stage directors Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and Giorgio Strehler.

Abridged discography

• Smetana: The Bartered Bride [as Esmaralda] {in German} (Stratas, Kollo; Krombholc, 1975) Eurodisc
• Verdi: Falstaff [as Nannetta] (Kabaivanska, Ludwig, Araiza, Taddei; Karajan, 1980) Philips
• Mozart: Die Zauberflöte [as Papagena] (Mathis, Ott, Araiza, van Dam; Karajan, 1980) Deutsche Grammophon
• Mozart: Thamos, König in Ägypten (Harnoncourt, 1980) Teldec
• Mozart: "Great" Mass in C minor (Hendricks, Schreier, Luxon; Karajan, 1982) Deutsche Grammophon
• R.Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier [as Sophie] (Tomowa-Sintow, Baltsa, Moll; Karajan, 1982) Deutsche Grammophon
• Beethoven: Ninth Symphony (Baltsa, Cole, van Dam; Karajan, 1983) Deutsche Grammophon
• Bruckner: Te Deum (Karajan, 1984) Deutsche Grammophon
• Mercadante: Il bravo (Aprea, 1990) [live] Nuova Era

Abridged videography

• Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro [as Barbarina] (Freni, Te Kanawa, Ewing, Prey, Fischer-Dieskau; Böhm, Ponnelle, 1976)
• Monteverdi: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria [as Melanto] (Hollweg, Schmidt, Araiza, Estes; Harnoncourt, Ponnelle, 1979)
• Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea [as Drusilla] (Yakar, Schmidt, Esswood, Tappy, Araiza, Salminen; Harnoncourt, Ponnelle, 1980)
• Verdi: Falstaff (Kabaivanska, Ludwig, Araiza, Taddei; Karajan, Karajan, 1982) [live]
• Bach: Kaffeekantate (Schreier, Holl; Harnoncourt, 1984) [live]
• R.Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (Tomowa-Sintow, Baltsa, Moll; Karajan, Karajan, 1984) [live]
• J.Strauß II: Die Fledermaus [as Adele] (Coburn, Faßbaender, Wächter; C.Kleiber, Schenk, 1987) [live]

External links

• Janet Perry in an excerpt from Der Rosenkavalier (1984) on YouTube.
• The Essential Janet Perry [1].