Jenny Lind
(1820-1887)
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A Swedish soprano known for her generosity who toured America in the early 1850s under the management of legendary showman P. T. Barnum.
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After a remarkable career in opera and oratorio in Europe, Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind popularized classical vocal music in the United States through her concert tour in the early 1850s. Her legacy remains a part of American life; countless products and places still bear her name.
Emily Lapisardi’s portrayal of Jenny Lind includes the performance of arias and songs from the “Swedish Nightingale’s” American tour repertoire, as well as stories told in first-person about Miss Lind’s life and art. Musical selections include works by Donizetti, Handel, Weber, Mozart, Bellini, Benedict, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Haydn, Taubert, Lindblad, and Isak Berg, as well as traditional Swedish, Scottish, and Irish melodies; all of these pieces were performed by Miss Lind in the United States.
Emily Lapisardi has performed as Jenny Lind for the National Road Festival 1998-2006 and 2011. In addition to these presentations at the National Park Service’s Mt. Washington Tavern (Fort Necessity) and Brownsville’s Flatiron Heritage Center and Christ Church Anglican, she has presented this portrayal at Nemacolin Castle, the Center in the Woods, Brownsville General Hospital, Caileigh’s Restaurant, Wharton Furnace Union Church, and for the Pennsylvania Federation of Music Clubs, the Washington County Homeschool Association, the Waynesburg Elderhostel, the Tri-County Christian Men’s Association, a Swedish Rotary Team, the Greater Monessen Historical Society, Uniontown's "Homes for the Holidays" tours, the Women’s Studies Program at California University of Pennsylvania, and as the featured guest artist for the Grand Concert at the Windham (NY) Music and Heritage Festival. The 64 Crayons Cultural Centre has twice presented “Jenny Lind’s Swedish Christmas” featuring Emily.
Jenny Lind did not tour America alone then, nor does she now. The members of the Jenny Lind Troupe bring to life members of her party—pianist Otto Goldschmidt, conductor Julius Benedict, baritone Giovanni Belletti, manager P. T. Barnum, and Jenny Lind herself—through song and story.
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Pictured at right: Jenny Lind (Emily Lapisardi) with fellow musicians Julius Benedict (Chuck Krepley) and Giovanni Belletti (Tom Crytzer) gave a candlelight concert at the Our House Museum in Gallipolis, Ohio, where the Lind company had performed 150 years earlier.
