Concert and Recital Work
Throughout her career, Norman has spent much of her time giving recitals and concerts and continues to do so today. In addition to her operatic recitals, Norman has given regular recitals encompassing the classical German repertory as well as contemporary masterpieces, such as Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder and the French moderns, which she invariably performed in the original tongue.
This combination of scholarship and artistry contributed to her consistently successful career as one of the most versatile concert and operatic singers of her time. Often cited for her innovative programming and fervent advocacy of contemporary music, she has earned the recognition of "one of those once-in-a-generation singers who isn’t simply following in the footsteps of others, but is staking out her own niche in the history of singing."
Norman frequently collaborates with the world's best symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, and other classical solo artists in her recital work. She has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Stockholm Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, and Berlin Philharmonic to name a few.
Norman premiered the song cycle woman.life.song by composer Judith Weir, a work commissioned for her by Carnegie Hall, with texts by Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou and Clarissa Pinkola Estés; performed a selection of sacred music of Duke Ellington; recorded a jazz album, Jessye Norman Sings Michel Legrand; and was the soprano co-lead in Vangelis' project Mythodea.Norman commended herself in Mussorgsky's songs, which she performed in Moscow in the original Russian. Other of Norman's diverse projects have included her 1984 album, With a Song in My Heart, which contains numbers from films and musical comedies, and a 1990 performance of American spirituals with soprano Kathleen Battle at Carnegie Hall.
Read more about this topic: Jessye Norman
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