Jennifer Larmore is one of the most distinguished mezzo-sopranos of our time. She has a wide ranging repertoire, excelling in the coloratura roles of Baroque and bel canto, in addition to music from the Romantic and Contemporary periods.
Current and future engagements include Herodias in Salome at the New National Theatre in Tokyo, Countess in The Queen of Spades and Madelon in Andrea Chénier at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Recent performances include Marcellina in a new production of Le nozze di Figaro at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées of Paris and for her role debut in concert with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, her role debut as Herodias in Salome at the Atlanta Opera, the title role in a new production of La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein and Fidalma in Il matrimonio segreto at Oper Köln, the title role of La belle Hélène at the Hamburg State Opera and Die Dame in Cardillac at the Maggio Musicale in Florence.
In recent years Ms Larmore has evolved into an exciting singing actress, adding roles such as Countess Geschwitz in Lulu(Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro Real Madrid, Dutch National Opera Amsterdam, Rome Opera House), Kostelnička in Jenufa (Deutsche Oper Berlin, New National Theatre Tokyo), Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth (Geneva, Bologna), Eboli in Don Carlos (Caramoor Festival), Mère Marie in The Dialogues of the Carmelites(Caramoor Festival), the title role of La belle Hélène (Hamburg State Opera), Marie in Wozzeck(Geneva) and Anna 1 in Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins (Atlanta).
Among her many career highlights are her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in 1995, where she later sang the title roles of Giulio Cesare, La Cenerentolaand L’italiana in Algeri; Giulietta in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Gertrude in Hamlet by Thomas and the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy. Other engagements have led her to virtually every major opera house in the world, including La Scala, Paris Opera, Berlin Deutsche Oper, Vienna State Opera and Covent Garden.
Originally from Atlanta, Ms Larmore studied with Dr. Robert McIver at the Westminster Choir College of Princeton, New Jersey and then privately with John Bullock and Regina Resnik. She made her professional debut in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito in 1986 at the Opéra de Nice. During the same period, she sang her first Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in Strasbourg. Rosina quickly became her signature role, having performed it more than six hundred times.
She has sung with all the major international orchestras and under the baton of many of the most prestigious conductors such as Muti, López-Cobos, Perez, Bernstein, Runnicles, Sinopoli, Masur, von Dohnányi, Jacobs, Mackerras, Spinosi, Guidarini, Kalmar, Rudel, Barenboim, Queler, Bonynge, Maazel, Osawa and Hengelbrock.
Since the beginning of her career, Jennifer Larmore has recorded widely for the Teldec, RCA, Harmonia Mundi, Deutsch Grammophon, Arabesque, Opera Rara, Bayer, Naive, Chandos, VAI and Cedille labels in over one hundred CDs to date. In addition to her many activities, travels, performances and causes, “author” Jennifer Larmore has released the book “Una Voce” which addresses issues pertaining to the opera singer’s life.
In collaboration with double bass player Davide Vittone, Jennifer Larmore has created an ensemble called Jennifer Larmore and OpusFive. The three programs they offer are entertaining and varied with Songs and Arias, Cabaret/Operetta, Movies and Broadway which feature string quintet and voice. They have given concerts in Seville, Pamplona, Valencia, Las Palmas, Mallorca, Menorca, Venice, Aix en Provence, Amiens, Olten, Paris, Mersin and Dublin