Hubbry Logo
Jane ManningJane ManningMain
Open search
Jane Manning
Community hub
Jane Manning
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Jane Manning
Jane Manning
Jane Manning
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Jane Marian Manning OBE (20 September 1938 – 31 March 2021) was an English concert and opera soprano, writer on music, and visiting professor at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Royal College of Music.[1][2] A specialist in contemporary classical music, she was described by one critic as "the irrepressible, incomparable, unstoppable Ms. Manning – life and soul of British contemporary music".[3]

Key Information

Manning and her husband, the composer Anthony Payne were avid supporters of contemporary British music.[4] They founded the virtuoso new music group Jane's Minstrels and many of Payne's works were premiered by Manning and the ensemble.

Early life

[edit]

Manning was born in Norwich on 20 September 1938 to Gerald Manville Manning and Lily Manning (née Thompson).[5] She was educated at Norwich High School for Girls, the Royal Academy of Music (graduating LRAM in 1958), and the Scuola di Canto at Cureglia, Switzerland. She was promoted to ARCM in 1962.[6][7] She described her musical upbringing as one of a "very traditional background in oratorio and Gilbert & Sullivan".[5]

Career

[edit]

Manning's London debut came in 1964, at a Park Lane Group concert together with her mentor Susan Bradshaw.[5] She gave her first BBC broadcast the following year, singing Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire. She first sang at a Henry Wood Promenade Concert in 1972,[5] and was part of The Matrix with Alan Hacker.[8] She co-founded her own virtuoso ensemble, called Jane's Minstrels, in 1988, together with her husband. The group played music by Henry Purcell, Edward Elgar, Frank Bridge, Percy Grainger, Anton Webern and Arnold Schoenberg.[9]

Manning specialised in contemporary classical music. Her voice and sense of pitch made her a leading performer of new music. She was noted as a performer of Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire.[9] She sang regularly in concert halls and festivals throughout Europe, with more than three hundred world premières given. She toured Australia and New Zealand in 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1996, 2000 and 2002, and the United States in 1981, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996 and 1997.[6] She was the author of a textbook, New Vocal Repertory in two volumes.[10][11] A follow-up, Vocal Repertoire for the 21st Century, was published in 2020. Volume 1 covers works from the second half of the 20th century, Volume 2, works written from 2000 onwards.[12][13]

In his preface to Manning's 65th birthday concert at Wigmore Hall in 2003, the British critic Bayan Northcott wrote:

It was an inspired choice to present Jane Manning as Miss Donnithorne, not only because she is an artist of astonishing gift but because she is also one of the greatest performers of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, and in her performance of the Maxwell Davies, the two pieces are palpably linked.... Her performance is desperately touching, the more disturbing for being played as reminiscence.... a performance of scorching intensity (without conductor).[3]

Several leading composers composed new works for Manning including Harrison Birtwistle, Naresh Sohal, James MacMillan and Colin Matthews. She commissioned the opera King Harald's Saga from Judith Weir in 1979.[9] Richard Rodney Bennett's choral work Spells was written for her,[14] as was Matthew King's The Snow Queen (1992).[15]

The critic Ivan Hewett wrote of Manning:

For many people Jane Manning is simply the voice of contemporary classical music in this country. Anyone who took an interest in this burgeoning area of music in the 1970s and '80s grew up with the sound of her astonishing voice in their ears. It's instantly recognisable, but it’s also a chameleon. Whether she's faced with the pure angular leaps of Anton Webern, the throaty suggestiveness of Schoenberg or the black, crazed humour of György Ligeti, Jane Manning is always equal to the task.[16]

Her world premieres include the role of Max in Oliver Knussen's Where the Wild Things Are (1980), Kavita I, II and III (1970/72) by Naresh Sohal, and Night's Poet (1971) by the same composer.[5][9] Judith Weir created a one-woman opera for her, King Harald's Saga, premiered in 1979.[9] She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2007 (along with her husband Anthony Payne) by Durham University. This marked the first time the university honoured a married couple in this manner.[17]

Personal life

[edit]

Manning married the composer Anthony Payne in 1966. He composed his first piece for her one decade later, titled The World’s Winter. She subsequently sang it at the Cheltenham Festival in 1976, with the Nash Ensemble. She did not use her married name professionally.[5]

Manning died on 31 March 2021, at the age of 82.[5][9] A month later, Payne died; his health was reportedly affected by Manning's death.[4] Payne's colleague and fellow composer Colin Matthews noted that "They were inseparable in life, and I suppose it's not a surprise that he would follow her so soon after".[4] Payne and Manning had no children,[18] but were survived by a nephew and two nieces.[19]

Appointments

[edit]

Publications

[edit]

Honours

[edit]


References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Jane Manning

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Jane Manning was a British soprano renowned for her pioneering work in contemporary classical music, premiering hundreds of new compositions and championing the vocal music of modern British composers. Her career, spanning more than six decades, established her as one of the foremost interpreters of 20th- and 21st-century vocal repertoire, with a particular affinity for challenging, avant-garde works that demanded exceptional technical skill and expressive range. Born in Norwich, England, in 1938, she trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London and later taught as a professor, mentoring generations of singers in the performance of new music. Manning collaborated closely with numerous composers, including Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle, and her husband Anthony Payne, often giving first performances of their vocal pieces in concerts and recordings worldwide. Her dedication extended beyond performance; she authored influential books on singing contemporary music and advocated tirelessly for the inclusion of new works in the standard repertoire. In recognition of her services to music, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1990 . Manning continued her influential career until her death in 2021.

Early life and education

Early life

Jane Marian Manning was born on 20 September 1938 in Norwich, England, the daughter of Gerald Manning and Lily (née Thompson), both amateur musicians. She grew up in a very traditional musical environment that emphasized oratorio and Gilbert & Sullivan. Manning recalled knowing all the standard oratorios from the age of ten, reflecting the conventional vocal repertoire that shaped her early years. She attended Norwich High School for Girls, where her early interest in singing emerged amid this traditional background.

Education

Jane Manning studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She emerged from the institution with a solid classical foundation but limited exposure to modern composers. She pursued further vocal refinement with Frederick Husler at the Scuola di Canto in Cureglia, Lugano, Switzerland. In the early 1960s, Manning attended the Dartington summer school, where her encounter with Anton Webern’s songs ignited a lasting interest in contemporary music. Upon completing these studies, she transitioned to professional performances.

Performing career

Early career

Jane Manning made her professional London debut in 1964 at a Park Lane Group concert, accompanied by her mentor Susan Bradshaw, where she performed works by modernists including Webern, Dallapiccola, and Messiaen. The following year, she gave her first BBC broadcast in 1965, performing Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, a work that would become closely associated with her interpretive style. She went on to perform Pierrot Lunaire in a notable concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall alongside Daniel Barenboim, Jacqueline du Pré, Pinchas Zukerman, and Zubin Mehta. In 1966, Manning married the composer Anthony Payne, who later composed several works for her voice. These early engagements with demanding contemporary repertoire quickly established her as a committed interpreter of new music and laid the groundwork for her subsequent specialization in the field.

Contemporary music specialization

Jane Manning established herself as a leading interpreter of contemporary vocal music, earning a reputation as the pre-eminent British soprano for new works through her dedication to challenging and innovative repertoire. She gave more than 350 world premieres during her career, collaborating with many of the most significant composers of her time. Her notable premieres included Harrison Birtwistle's Nenia: the Death of Orpheus (1972), Oliver Knussen's Where the Wild Things Are (in the role of Max at the 1980 premiere), Peter Maxwell Davies's Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot, and Judith Weir's one-woman opera King Harald’s Saga (1979). She also gave first performances of works by Richard Rodney Bennett and Anthony Payne. Manning was particularly celebrated for her performances of Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, which she championed extensively and recorded notably with the Nash Ensemble under Simon Rattle in 1977. Her interpretations of avant-garde vocal music were acclaimed for her superhuman range and ability to meet extreme technical demands, as highlighted in a 1977 Gramophone review of her Pierrot Lunaire that praised her "arsenal of sinister snarls to girly whimpers and her superhuman range."

Jane’s Minstrels

Jane's Minstrels was a virtuoso chamber ensemble dedicated to contemporary music, co-founded in 1988 by soprano Jane Manning and her husband, the composer Anthony Payne. The group championed young performers while promoting new commissions and established works in the modern repertoire, serving as a key advocate for 20th-century and contemporary chamber music in Britain. The ensemble performed a range of challenging vocal-instrumental pieces in concerts and made several recordings, often featuring Manning as soprano alongside instrumentalists including Roger Montgomery on French horn. Their repertoire included landmark works such as Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, William Walton's Façade, and Peter Maxwell Davies's Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot, as well as pieces by composers like Elisabeth Lutyens. Through its activities, Jane's Minstrels contributed significantly to the performance and dissemination of new music, building on Manning's individual specialization in the field.

Teaching career

Publications

Personal life

Awards and honours

Jane Manning received several awards and honours in recognition of her services to contemporary classical music.
  • 1973: Special Award from the Composers' Guild of Great Britain
  • 1988: Honorary doctorate from the University of York
  • Honorary doctorates from the Universities of Keele, Durham, and Kingston
  • 1990: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to music
  • Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music

Death and legacy

Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.