Born in Sydney, Fiona Janes has had a distinguished career performing extensively in both Australia and Europe since winning numerous important singing competitions, scholarships and awards. Most notably the 1983 Joan Sutherland Scholarship, 1986 Australian Singing Competition, the inaugural 1991 Remy Martin Scholarship, the 1995 Vienna State Opera Award & Bull Fellowship. She joined Opera Australia as a Principal Artist in 1988 where she has performed all the major mezzo repertoire including: Adalgisa in Norma (Green Room Award win & Helpmann Award nomination), Angelina the title role in La Cenerentola (Green Room Award win and MO Award nomination), Donna Elvira and Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Mercedes in Carmen, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Green Room Award nomination), Sesto in both Julius Caesar & La Clemenza di Tito, Isabella in L’italiana in Algieri, Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Cherubino in oLe nozze di Figaro, Annio in La Clemenza di Tito, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, Lake Lost with Baz Luhrmann, Whitsunday with Neil Armfeld and the roles Romeo, Javotte, Kate Pinkerton and Tisbe.
She has also appeared as a soloist in Opera Australia’s Bellini Gala & New Year’s Eve Gala with Simone Young, A New Year’s Eve Gala with Richard Bonynge and 50th Anniversary Gala in 2006. Other performances have included: Siebel in Faust for Victoria State Opera and Opera Queensland, Nero in Agrippina at the Buxton Festival, U.K., Rosina for Netherlands Opera, English National Opera and Welsh National Opera, Second Lady in The Magic Flute and Meg in Falstaff for English National Opera, Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Bertarido in Rodelinda for JS & RB Foundation, Adalgisa for West Australian Opera, Idamante in Idomeneo for Flanders Philhamonic in Antwerp, Margherite in Damnation of Faust for Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Lyric Opera of Queensland, Ascanio in Les Trojans for London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Colin Davis, Angelina at the Semperoper Dresden and Opera New Zealand and Scitalce in Meyerbeer’s Semiramide for the Rossini Festival in Germany with Richard Bonynge. She has also worked for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden on La Cenerentola and Il barbiere di Siviglia and Scottish Opera on Le nozze di Figaro.
Fiona has sung extensively in concert with such orchestras as the Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, Queensland Symphony, Sydney Philharmonia, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, London Symphony, the London, Flanders, Bournemouth and Nottingham Philharmonic Orchestras, the National Orchestra of Spain in Madrid, New Zealand Symphony and at the Edinburgh Festival with Sir Charles Mackerras. Her repertoire includes: Verdi Requiem, Dream of Gerontius, Mahler’s Symphony No.2, Beethoven 9th Symphony, Mass in C and Missa Solemnis, Mozart Requiem, Rossini Stabat Mater, St Matthew Passion, Schubert Mass in A Flat and Coronation Mass, Handel’s L’Allegro il Penseroso and Messiah, Berlioz Romeo et Juliette and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. In 2004 she was invited to perform at Australia House in London for the Tate Foundation, conducted by Richard Bonynge in the presence of H.R.H. Prince Charles.
She is the Artistic Director, General Manager and on the Board of the Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation and is a member of Pacific Opera’s Council of Patrons. She gives Masterclasses and is a regular adjudicator for all the major singing competitions throughout Australia. Fiona is listed in Who’s Who of International Music, Contemporary Australian Women and Who’s Who of Australian Women.
October 2015
RECORDINGS/DVD'S
Lurline by William Vincent Wallace’s conducted by Richard Bonynge (Naxos - CD)
Semiramide by Meyerbeer conducted by Richard Bonynge (Naxos - CD)
Così fan tutte by Mozart - Opera Australia DVD
Don Giovanni by Mozart - Opera Australia DVD
Verdi Requiem - Royal Melbourne Philharmonic
Beethoven 9 Symphony conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras (Signum Classics)
Parisina by Donizetti (Opera Rara - CD)
Pulcinella by Stravinsky (Naxos - CD)
50th Anniversary Opera Australia Gala DVD
ABC/Opera Australia Mozart Bicentennial CD