Jeni Bern

Jeni Bern is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Opera School of the Royal College of Music where she was the winner of many major awards and prizes, including the prestigious President Emerita Award. She is also a Samling Artist.

Among her recent highlights are Professor Prentice in the world premiere of Anthropocene, First Lady The Magic Flute (Scottish Opera); Greta Fiorentino Street Scene (Teatro Real, Opéra de Monte-Carlo); Lilli Vanessi/Katharine Kiss Me, Kate (Welsh National Opera, Opera North; Woglinde and Waldvogel Der Ring des Nibelungen (Opera North); Susie Trevor Lady, Be Good! (Teatro de la Zarzuela, Teatro di San Carlos); and her first Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro (West Green House Opera).

Her varied stage roles have included Paquette Candide (Théâtre du Châtelet, Teatro alla Scala and Hyogo Performing Arts Centre, Japan); also for Théâtre du Châtelet – Zdenka Arabella and Sister Margaretta/Baroness Elsa The Sound of Music; Tytania A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Musetta La bohème, Susanna The Marriage of Figaro, Trixie Let ‘em Eat Cake, Gretel Hansel & Gretel and La Princesse L’enfant et les sortilèges (Opera North); Emma Jones Street Scene (Opéra de Toulon). Roles for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden include Guardian of the Threshold Die Frau ohne Schatten, First Heavenly Voice Palestrina, Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro and Blumenmädchen Parsifal (with Plácido Domingo); Fiordiligi Così fan tutte, Mabel The Pirates of Penzance, Yum Yum The Mikado, and Sophie Der Rosenkavalier (English National Opera); Amour Orphée et Eurydice (Welsh National Opera); Medea Teseo and Susanna The Marriage of Figaro (English Touring Opera); Eurydice Orpheus in the Underworld (Opera Holland Park); Musetta La bohème and Oscar Un ballo in maschera (Opera Zuid). She has also performed the title role in Deidamia and Sigismondo Arminio (London Handel Festival); Atalanta Xerxes and Dalinda Ariodante (Early Opera Company); and Narcissa Philemon und Baucis with Trevor Pinnock.

An accomplished oratorio and concert artist, Jeni has performed Cunegonde Candide (Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra); Carmina Burana, Mozart Exsultate Jubilate and the world premiere of Michael Torke’s Book of Proverbs with Marin Alsop (Royal Scottish National Orchestra); and Handel Messiah under Sir David Willcocks (The Bach Choir). She has also performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, The Sixteen, The Academy of St Martin in the Fields, St. Gallen Bachchor and the Doelen Ensemble.

She has appeared on BBC Radio 2’s iconic Friday Night is Music Night and broadcasts for BBC Radios 3 & 4 and with the Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra as Anne Truelove in the television series Of Beauty and Consolation. Her CD Let the Bright Seraphim with Baroque trumpeter Crispian Steele-Perkins (Carlton Classics) received considerable critical acclaim. Other recordings include Acis and Galatea with the Oxford Philomusica (Nimbus); Haydn Stabat Mater with Christ Church Cathedral Choir (Griffin) and Edward Joseph Collins Hymn to the Earth with the RSNO and Marin Alsop. Film and television work includes soundtracks for the BBC’s Daniel Deronda, the film Cashback and Disney’s African Cats.