Janna Baty

"As Lady Jane, powerhouse JANNA BATY showed off talents including a mulled-wine mezzo voice, deliciously rolled Rs, a sassy cello solo at the beginning of Act II, and amazing comedic chemistry with Engebreth. The two were applauded back out for an even more ridiculous encore of “So go to him and say to him”.Zoë MadonnaThe Boston Globe
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"The words and the mezzo-soprano are entirely clear (JANNA BATY in this recording does wonders with this role)."Thomas HealyClassical Voice of New England
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"Among the standouts were Janna Baty, who was a lustrous-voiced Hermione."David WeinigerThe Boston Globe
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"Particularly effective is mezzo-soprano Baty, a vocally and interpretively commanding presence as the principal actress of the company. Hers is a rich voice, well placed and solid through the range."Charles H. ParsonsAmerican Record Guide
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"Janna Baty, as Laura Keene, the proprietress of the troupe and the lead in Cousin, sang with full, round tone and a strong presence."David PerkinsThe Boston Globe
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"Soprano Janna Baty brought a poignant depth to her portayal of Laura Keene, the manager of the company that presented Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in 1865. Beyond her consistently beautiful and intentional singing, Baty’s immersion in her character made the audience care about Keene. Prior to the performance Baty shared some of her research into Keene’s history that informed her interpretation, revealing the scope of Keene’s accomplishments in the development and advancement of American drama. Such thorough artistry enables such a transcendent performance as Baty gave.

Tenor Alan Schneider brought a similar blend of top-notch vocalism and characterization to the part of Harry Hawk, the actor playing the titular Cousin, who regales his British hosts, and by extension, the president and Mrs. Lincoln and the assemble audience of soldiers, freedmen, nurses, wives and widows, etc. with a homespun tall tale of Possum herdin' worthy of Mark Twain, in what was the most memorable set piece of the evening. Through their solid, bel canto vocal approach, Schneider and Baty succeeded in softening the edges of Sawyer’s often (and no doubt intentionally) angular and fidgety phrases, bringing them closer to the realm of singer-friendly opera whose lineage can be traced back through Barber, Moore, and Floyd, to Puccini and Verdi."Clifton J. Noble, Jr.The Republican
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"This expressive song cycle is perhaps more conventional than both the Flute Concerto and Deylaman but is no less effective. With her rich and colourful voice soprano Janna Baty is well suited to these songs and gives a characterful performance."Michael CooksonClassical Music Web
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"Janna Baty, as Infanta, found a neat intersection of Broadway brass and the dark richness of opera's long list of mezzo-soprano antagonists."Matthew J. LeeThe Boston Globe
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"The soloist was the extraordinary soprano Janna Baty - the sex- crazed Duchess in Opera Unlimited's production of Thomas Ades's "Powder Her Face" last spring. Baty has presence, intelligence, musicianship, and a voice far more opulent in tone and richer in interpretive possibilities than anyone associates with new-music singers.

She warmed up on two quirky settings of Gertrude Stein by Virgil Thomson ("Pigeons on the grass, alas") before moving on to Shulamit Ran's substantial setting of Sylvia Plath's "Apprehensions" for soprano, clarinet, and piano. The poem is about the walls that were closing in on the poet before her suicide - walls of white, gray, red, and black. They are related through thematic development in the music, which moves from rage to resignation and from pain to numbness. Pianist Nina Ferrigno and clarinetist William Kirkley let the emotions devour them as fearlessly as Baty did...

The program ended with "A Mirror on Which to Dwell," six poems by Elizabeth Bishop, glitteringly set by Elliott Carter for soprano and a chamelonic chamber ensemble of nine. It was capably conducted by Michael Adelson, superbly played, and sung with intimacy and exuberance by Baty."Richard DyerThe Boston Globe
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"Janna Baty was outstanding as the Duchess; her soprano sounded glamorously rouged and exuded a rich perfume. Her characterization was complicated - brave, horrifying, hilarous, and touching; her distress was genuine and her dignity true, even in her most undignified moments. At the ultimate crisis all the Duchess could think to do was adjust her lipstick and walk out carrying the phonograph that represents her past; she was just as heroic as Bruennhilde brandishing her spear and mounting the pyre."

Richard DyerThe Boston Globe
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"Baty sang with a rich, viola-like tone and a rapturous, luminous lyricism."David WeinigerThe Boston Globe
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"Berio's "O King" is a sound-tapestry in which one of the threads presents the vowels and consonants of the name of Martin Luther King, vocalized atmospherically by soprano Janna Baty, the unforgettably concupiscent heroine of Thomas Ades's "Powder Her Face" at Opera Unlimited last spring... the voluptuous tones of Baty (often singing an octave, or even two, below her usual range) made the poetry feel accessible, the music absolutely erotic."

David WeinigerThe Boston Globe
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"Mezzo Janna Baty poured out opulent tone as the Angel."David WeinigerThe Boston Globe
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"Friday's performance was largely carried by the vocal strengths and charisma of Stephen Salters as Smirnov and Janna Baty as Popova -- and one felt grateful to them (and to Simon Dyer as Luka) for pouring such vibrant life into this opera's relatively slight frame."Jeremy EichlerThe Boston Globe
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"Janna Baty was scrumptiously sexy as the maid Berta."David WeinigerThe Boston Globe
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Soprano Janna Baty, expertly delighting in the deconstruction of each word into its constituent parts, began by trading phonemes with Huhn's harp; her sounds and choreographed gestures soon brought two percussionists (Douglas Perkins and Nicholas Tolle) to vociferous life. The pair's development of explosive autonomy prompted echoes of the opening: a creation myth acted out, then ritualized. The performance was terrific, wide-awake and strikingly entertaining. With the "Folk Songs"... Baty's traditional singing and the group's untraditional playing were united with seamless ingenuity."Matthew GuerrieriThe Boston Globe
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"Janna Baty came close to stealing the show – no mean feat with everyone performing at such a high level. Lady Jane is the most sympathetic of Gilbert’s older women, thanks mostly to Sullivan’s sympathetic setting of her words, particularly “Silvered is the raven hair”, which is Marschallin-like in its lament at the passage of time. Baty not only played the cello during the recitative, but she also transitioned smoothly and convincingly to the rueful elegy of the aria itself. "Kevin WellsBachTrack
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"Even Lady Jane (a stellar performance by Janna Baty), who is mocked within the show for her age and supposed lack of beauty by sexist 19th century standards, comes out triumphant both in character arc and stage presence. Baty and Engebreth have exquisite chemistry."Gillian DanielsNew England Theatre Geek
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"Perhaps surprisingly, the biggest hit in the show was made by Janna Baty as Lady Jane. This would be no surprise to anyone who has heard her in previous performances here in which she showed both her vocal art and her remarkable acting ability. I particularly remember the tragic role of the Duchess, extremely challenging both musically and dramatically, in Thomas Adés’s Powder Her Face in 2003, and the extremely funny performance of the widow Popova in William Walton’s The Bear two years ago.... And in the person of Janna Baty, the role of Lady Jane has an actress/singer who can play it for full strength and full comic effect. From the earliest production Lady Jane’s song “Silvered is the raven hair,” was usually performed with the actress holding a double bass, or perhaps a cello...Until this production, I had never seen Lady Jane actually play the cello while singing the number. It seems that Janna Baty studied cello as a girl, though she says she has not touched it for well over a quarter-century. Nonetheless, her determined performance on the instrument played right into the character of Lady Jane and made the number one of the highlights of the show. So overwhelming was the audience response that she actually broke character and returned to the stage to take a bow before the show could continue. And, amidst a cast received with great enthusiasm during the curtain calls, the response to her appearance was utterly ecstatic."Steven LedbetterThe Boston Musical Intelligencer
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"In the role of Popova, Janna Baty was nothing short of superb. This is a role that demands a singing actress who can straddle the fine line between overplaying the character’s wild swings of mood and reducing the part to parody. Baty pulled it off: whether lamenting Popova’s widowhood through tears and laughter or listing her grievances against her late husband (in the snappy aria, “I was a constant, faithful wife”) or falling – by degrees – for Smirnov, she was wholly convincing. Hers was a tour-de-force performance, fully lived in, oftentimes brilliantly funny but totally sympathetic."Jonathan BlumhoferFuse Concert Reviews
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"As the widow Popova, soprano Janna Baty extravagantly warbled and blubbered over portraits of her late husband and of her horse, making it clear which one she held in higher affection. A smart comedienne, Baty was not above borrowing a page or two from Miss Piggy, alternately wheedling and raging as she confronted the oafish landowner Smirnov and his demands for repayment of her husband’s debt. "David WrightBoston Classical Review
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Mezzo Janna Baty as Popova and baritone Stephen Salters as Smirnov are both well-known to local operagoers for their rich, superbly trained voices, their musicianship, and their acting ability. Just to name one earlier occasion in which they were featured here, Baty played the role of the Duchess in the 2003 production of Powder Her Face... [Baty and Salters are] at the peak of singing actors currently active in opera. Baty and Salters both fully inhabit their roles in a way that fills the theater and positively forces the listener to attend to everything they say and do. Their diction is extraordinarily clear, making supertitles otiose, and keeping the developing story clear and very funny. In addition to this, their musicianship keeps them attuned to the pinpoint parodic touches in the orchestra, many of which are very precisely timed. The orchestra—directed with humor and elan by Gil Rose—and the singers create moments of laughter precisely because the timing is so exact."Steven LedbetterThe Boston Musical Intelligencer
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"Sparks kept flying between mezzo-soprano Janna Baty, who could bring down the house with the twitch of a single eyebrow (and she’s got a lot more than an eyebrow to work with), and baritone Stephen Salters, the vocal and physical embodiment of the title role. The electricity between these two was an object lesson for any singers who share a stage."Lloyd SchwartzNew York Arts
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"Janna Baty's lush mezzo and Frank Kelley's edgy tenor pungently created the chemistry of the Lady and the Cavalier."Heidi WalesonThe Wall Street Journal
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"Janna Baty lavished a lustrous soprano on the role of the Lady, who lures a Cavalier to purchase jewels."Jeremy EichlerThe Boston Globe
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"Mezzo-soprano Janna Baty... laced her “Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris’’ with a kind of theatrically insinuating lyricism"Matthew GuerrieriThe Boston Globe
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"Mezzo-soprano Janna Baty was the vocally rich and dramatically forceful soloist in "Phaedra"."Jeremy EichlerThe Boston Globe
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"Janna Baty, the Despina, has more of a natural Fiordiligi voice...she brought substance, humor, and spark-plug energy to this part. From Thomas Ades's "Powder Her Face" last season, we know that she is an uninhibited and original actress."Richard DyerThe Boston Globe
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