Guy Lochhead, 21/02/12
Born in Pennsylvania in 1868, Jenkins came from a turbulent background but used music to carve a successful, if unorthodox, career in music, supported partly by a large inheritance left to her by her controlling father. After an arm injury stalled her ambitions as a pianist, she switched to singing. Jenkins missed a lot of notes as a soprano, but her passion was clear. She designed and hand-made her elaborate costumes. Partly due to this, and partly due to her comedy value, Jenkins managed to fill concert halls on her annual recital at the Ritz-Carlton ballroom in New York City. Her recorded output is thin at nine arias, but she tackled some of the greats… Similarly to Anton Maiden, the passion is the difference here. Many people get into singing for the reasons. She takes a running jump at some of the most difficult pieces of vocal music in history and makes those untouchable operatic whales that much more tangible. As we teach our children, it’s not the winning it’s the taking part. Why should that change when you become an adult? I will include ‘Murder On the High Cs’.