 
American mezzo-soprano Janine Hawley has achieved accolades for her
critically acclaimed performances of such roles as Carmen,
Cherubino, and Isabella in opera houses throughout the United States. In particular
she was honored as Young Artist of the Year by the Washington Opera,
Kennedy Center, while performing the Page in Salome with Maria Ewing
under the baton of Gerard Schwarz. She has worked with the
Metropolitan Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, New Orleans
Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Boston Lyric
Opera, Tulsa Opera, Connecticut Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Santa
Fe Opera, Sacramento Opera, Chautauqua Opera, among others.
Other
roles performed have been Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Hänsel in
Hänsel und Gretel, Komponiste in Ariadne auf Naxos, Stèphano in
Romèo et Juliette, Siebel in Faust, Angelina in La Cenerentola, and
Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, receiving great critiques that praise her
lush quality, dark timbre, technical facility and charming stage presence.
Concert performances are an equally important aspect of Ms. Hawley's
art and conductors are drawn to her impressive musicianship, mastery of
styles and sensitive interpretations. She has worked with the famed
Detroit Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Omaha Symphony, and in such
concert venues as Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and
Weill Recital Hall. Ms. Hawley made her international debut this season
with the Jerusalem International Symphony singing Mahler’s famed
Second Symphony in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Other recent
engagements include Mahler’s Third Symphony with the Chautauqua
Symphony (NY) and Louisville Orchestra, Berg’s Sieben Frühe Lieder
with the Peninsula Music Festival (WI), Verdi Requiem with Omaha
Symphony, and a recital on the acclaimed concert series at Trinity
Church (NYC). Ms. Hawley performed the New York premiere of Gian
Carlo Menotti's autobiographical cantata, Landscapes and
Remembrances, in celebration of the composer's 85th birthday with the
Little Orchestra Society. She has performed the Verdi Requiem
numerous times and when performed with the Cedar Rapids Symphony,
the Gazette wrote "Hawley's voice is gorgeous and her style so
convincing". Her Carnegie Hall debut was as soloist in Vivaldi's Gloria,
and she returned to sing Handel’s Messiah, both with John Rutter
conducting. Other recent appearances have included the American
premiere of Tchaikovsky's Hamlet, with Mark Lamos and the Hartford
Symphony, Respighi's Laud to the Nativity and Il Tramonto, de Falla's
El Amor Brujo, Handel's Belshazzar, Bach's Magnificat, the Mozart
and Duruflè Requiems, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and another
Verdi Requiem in Chicago’s newly remodeled Orchestra Hall.
Ms. Hawley has further distinguished herself in several productions of
Carmen, where the critics wrote "Hawley triumphed as Carmen." Opera
News noted that "she placed her stamp on Bizet's Gypsy at her first
entrance, a tough provocative Carmen providing the sensual centerpiece
for the evening, negotiating all the arias with lithe grace, her portrayal
gaining in tragic stature as the opera reached its climax."
Upcoming engagements take the mezzo to Massachusetts for Mozart’s
C Minor Mass, Utah for Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Michigan for
Maddalena in Rigoletto, Chattanooga for Handel’s Messiah, back to
Omaha Symphony for Mahler’s Rückert Lieder and she will perform on
her home turf as Siebel in Faust with Connecticut Opera.
Ms. Hawley was born in Nebraska, is a graduate of Indiana and
Columbia Universities and presently resides in Connecticut with her
husband and 9 month old son.
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