Over four decades the American composer Louis Karchin has produced a much-admired portfolio of compositions. His one-act opera Romulus (8669030) won numerous accolades. Jane Eyre is his largest project to date, in which he and librettist Diane Osen fashion Charlotte Brontë’s beloved novel into a vivid and moving opera cast as a fluid and continuous entity. Karchin’s wide-ranging harmonic language and his flair for contrast ensure that the novel’s drama, its pastoral elements, and most importantly its characterization are fully developed via arias, monologues, ariosi and a quartet, to create a boldly engaging new work.

Louis Karchin has produced over 90 compositions, and co-founded new music groups including the Orchestra of the League of Composers, the Chamber Players of the League/ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music), the Washington Square Ensemble and the Harvard Group for New Music. The debut album of his first opera, Romulus (8669030), was hailed as one of the best recordings of 2011 by Fanfare magazine, and a choice of the month in BBC Music Magazine.

This recording features the original cast of the world premiere production in 2016. The title role was sung by soprano Jennifer Zetlan, in which Opera News described her performance as ‘nothing short of heroic’. Zetlan was also featured in a recent release of Falla’s El amor brujo and El retablo de Maese Pedro with the Perspectives Ensemble and conductor Angel Gil-Ordóñez (8573890).

Artists

Jennifer Zetlan (Jane Eyre), Ryan MacPherson (Mr Rochester), Tom Meglioranza (Roderick Ingram / St. John Rivers), Katrina Thurman (Blanche Ingram), Jessica Thompson (Diana / Mrs. Ingram), Adam Cannedy (Mr. Mason / Mr. Briggs), David Salsbery Fry (Mr. Wood)

Orchestra of the League of Composers, Louis Karchin