| Jean Stilwell |
Introduction “The amazing Jean Stilwell dominates the stage whenever she’s on it. She’s comic gold, and while always giving complete value to the music, she knows how to spit out the lyrics with total clarity as well.” The Toronto Star, Richard Ouzounian BiographyJean Stilwell, has been hailed on three continents for her complex portrayal of Carmen and is renowned among mezzo-sopranos of her generation. Since first assuming the role in Vancouver, Bizet's fascinating gypsy has opened many doors for Ms. Stilwell and she has appeared with the Buxton Festival, New York City Opera, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Opera Zuid of Holland, Connecticut Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and all the opera companies of Canada. Ms Stilwell has welcomed the opportunities to expand her repertoire and she has appeared for Vancouver Opera as Amneris in AIDA, Marie in WOZZECK for Pacific Opera Victoria and the premiere of FACING SOUTH with Tapestry New Opera Works. For the Festival of the Sound, she sang Mahler’s DAS LIED VON DER ERDE and was Genevieve in PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE for Festival Vancouver. Recent seasons have also included Katisha in MIKADO (Arizona Opera), the Beggar Woman in SWEENEY TODD (Calgary Opera), and Jenny in THE THREEPENNY OPERA (Vancouver Opera). An engaging personality both on and offstage, Ms. Stilwell can be heard daily on Classical 96.3 FM’s Good Day GTA with co-host Mike Duncan and she was seen on TV as part of the selection panel for the hit show ‘Bathroom Divas’. Of particular note are her performances in Eric Idle’s NOT THE MESSIAH. She appeared in the premiere of Eric Idle’s NOT THE MESSIAH for the Luminato Festival in Toronto and at the Caramoor Festival and toured to Houston, Wolf Trap, and the Hollywood Bowl. She also appeared in the world premiere of TRANSIT OF VENUS by Victor Davies for Manitoba Opera and sang the role of Peronskaya in Prokofiev’s WAR & PEACE with the Canadian Opera Company. She was hailed as Madame d’Urfe in CASANOVA’S HOMECOMING for Minnesota Opera, was heard in Huntsville, at the Richmond Hill Centre and Haliburton in her cabaret show ‘Carmen UnZipped’ and sang Ruth in PIRATES OF PENZANCE for Toronto Operetta Theatre. She was engaged by Houston’s Da Camera for Berio’s FOLKSONGS and recently took part in a tribute to Maureen Forrester presented by Stratford Summer Music. Ms. Stilwell appeared as Serena Joy in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of THE HANDMAID’S TALE and was at the Calgary Opera for Weill’s SEVEN DEADLY SINS. In concert, she was in Budapest for an International Gala Opera evening, in Halifax for Brahms’ ALTO RHAPSODY with Symphony Nova Scotia and in Hamilton, Ontario for Opera Ontario’s POPERA. For Hawaii Opera, she debuted as Ruth in PIRATES OF PENZANCE, and took on the dual roles of Mother and the Witch in HANSEL AND GRETEL and Jenny in THE THREEPENNY OPERA for Opera Columbus. Past credits include concerts in Winnipeg, recitals in Vancouver for Music in the Morning, Maddalena in RIGOLETTO for Pacific Opera Victoria and Orchestra London, CARMEN LA GITANA with Rex Harrington, Brad Hampton’s Cabaret show in Montreal, Elizabeth’s ‘Concert of Hope’ for the Regina ALS Society, and a Festival of the Sound concert with Mary Lou Fallis. Further engagements included Symphony Nova Scotia’s LIEDER EINES FAHRENDEN GESELLEN, her debut with Toronto Operetta Theatre as The Old Lady in Bernstein’s CANDIDE and Tapestry New Opera Works’ ‘Three Divas’ with Teresa Tova and Patricia O’Callaghan. She lectured and performed for the Vancouver Opera Club and launched a new CD, CARMEN UNZIPPED, with pianist Patti Loach, which became the basis for a popular touring cabaret. Ms. Stilwell is internationally renowned for the variety of her repertoire with engagements ranging from DIALOGUES DES CARMELITES for Calgary Opera to DIE FLEDERMAUS for Kentucky Opera and Opera Saskatchewan. Selected career highlights include Beethoven’s SYMPHONY No. 9 with the Toronto Symphony, ZIGEUNERBARON at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Dido in DIDO AND AENEAS with Opera Atelier in Singapore and the Berio FOLK SONGS at the Avanti Festival in Finland conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Ms. Stilwell has also performed Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in Edmonton and Vancouver and Schafer's ADIEU, ROBERT SCHUMANN for L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. She has been engaged by the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York (Trevor Pinnock) and the symphonies of St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo. In Canada, her conductors have included Andrew Davis, Mario Bernardi, Bramwell Tovey, Gunther Herbig, Jukka Pekka Saraste and Sergiu Comissiona. In Japan Ms. Stilwell appeared for Sony Music Communications and she was artist-in-residence at the Takefu Festival. She is frequently heard on CBC broadcasts and her discography includes the music of Berio, Weill, Poulenc, Somers and Spohr on the CBC and CMC labels. January 2012
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Reviews“Certainly the most convincing portrayal came from Jean Stilwell as Jenny. Her vivid rendition of ‘Pirate Jenny’ demonstrated all too clearly what had been, to that point in the performance, so sorely missing: someone who could sell a song.” The Columbus Dispatch“…Jean Stilwell, in her company debut…her intelligent performance was smoothly delivered and well-focused vocally.” (title role - Carmen) The New York Times“Jean Stilwell shines as a angry avant-garde Carmen. Stilwell who shifted with subtle ease between the vivacious and the emotionally fragile, gave a touch of the chanteuse to the Habanera and an even lighter touch to the Seguedilla.” The Toronto Star“But it was Jean Stilwell who held the stage every time she was on it. Looking every bit the chaste, beautiful, ultimately suicidal woman, Stilwell’s sense of her character was so complete, one almost overlooked the haunting lyrical singing.”(title role - The Rape of Lucretia) The Edmonton Journal“Lacking only a chimpanzee and a bar or two of moon walking to look the spitting image of Michael Jackson, Stilwell shows what an amazing artist she is. It seems that every role she takes, she makes it so her own, one can hardly imagine anyone else ever doing it but her.” ( Prince Orlowsky in Die Fledermaus) The Hamilton Spectator“Canadian mezzo-soprano Jean Stilwell was engaging as Eboli, particularly in her Act III aria, in which she tests the credulity of the audience by cursing her own good looks.” The Gazette (Montreal)“Jean Stilwell made an indelible impression as Maddalena, both in her brief, wordless scenes in Act I and in her dealings with the Duke in Act III.” Tulsa World“The statuesque Stilwell has a burnished voice that floats effortlessly through the entire mezzo range. The passages where she sings in octave unison with soprano Feubel produced a sound that was unearthly, that is to say heavenly.” (Verdi Requiem) Sunday Free Press (Winnipeg)“Jean Stilwell. Whom we saw and heard here in a magnificent Carmen at the Quebec Opera, performed this strange and fascinating composition in which numerous quotes from the works of Schumann were to be found…Without eclipsing the memory that the great Maureen Forester left of this creation, Jean Stilwell interpreted its pages with conviction and the vocal means to render justice to the text.” Le Soleil (Quebec City)“Jean Stilwell and Janice Taylor are superb in their contralto roles…Stilwell, her voice glowing as usual with a lithe and unmistakable sensuousness.” (Mahler’s Symphony No. 8) The Vancouver Sun |