Jill Feldman

Jill Feldman (born 21 April 1952 in Los Angeles) is an American soprano who has acquired an international reputation for her interpretation of medieval, baroque and classical repertoires.

Her highly expressive singing art combines great vocal agility with a profound dramatic sense of drama, in constant respect for the text.

Feldman obtained her musical diploma at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

She perfected her skills with Lillian Loran in San Francisco and Nicole Fallien in Paris, and in 1980 received an "Alfred Hertz Scholarship" to perfect her interpretation of early music under the direction of Andrea von Ramm in Basel.

As soon as she finished her studies, Jill Feldman took part successively in three prestigious productions: she appeared as La Musica in a production of Monteverdi's l'Orfeo, directed by Philip Brett at Berkeley in California, as Clerio in Cavalli's Erismena at Spoleto (Italy), and played a role in Ordo Virtutum by Hildegard von Bingen during a tour of the ensemble "Sequentia".

In 1981, at the request of her countryman William Christie, she joined in Paris the baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants which then was the spearhead of the "baroqueux" movement.

With this famous ensemble, she played the title role of Charpentier's Médée.

Its recording for the label Harmonia Mundi won the Gramophone Classical Music Awards in 1985, also the Prize of the Académie Charles Cros and the Grand Prix du Disque de Montreux.

Afterwards, Feldman recorded two discs with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Nicholas McGegan in works by Handel, the cantata Clori, Tirsi e Fileno, and the oratorio Susanna (Harmonia Mundi USA).

Later, she joined the Mala Punica medieval ensemble, with which she recorded five projects for Arcana and Erato.

Feldman was then invited by several conductors of the baroque repertoire.

She performed under the direction of Frans Brüggen (Haydn's Die Schöpfung), Andrew Parrott (Les Vêpres des Carmélites by Handel at EMI), Jordi Savall (Motets by Delalande), René Jacobs (Cesti's Orontea and Cavalli's Xerse at Harmonia Mundi).

She played the role of Armida in Alessandro Stradella's Lo Schiavo Liberato at the Théâtre de Modène and the Festival of Liège, as well as the title role in La Vita Humana by Marazzoli at the Tramway of Glasgow.

In the field of contemporary music, she performed at the Villa Medici in Rome, the Church of Santa Maria della Grazia in Milan, and the Ysbreker Festival in Amsterdam.

Feldman has been teaching at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the Netherlands, at the Music and Theatre College in Zurich, and at the Amici della Musica in Florence and the Accademia di musiga antiga of Portugal.

She gives master classes all over Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea.