Jane Metcalfe
Biography
Jane began her first career as an opera singer after training at the Royal College of Music and in Geneva. She performed extensively as a soloist in England and abroad. Notably she sang principle roles with D’Oyly Carte, recording several Gilbert & Sullivan operas for the company and touring North America. She also sang for English National Opera and Glyndebourne among others and gave recitals in London at The Wigmore Hall and the South Bank and many other British venues. She devised her own shows and with dancer/director Clare Whistler created contemporary performance pieces and collaborated, as singer and writer, with composer Jonathan Dove, CBE, in early experimental vocal works.
For a number of years Jane taught singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, working with actors, music therapy students and postgraduates on performance and communication skills. She is leader of The ParkinSongsters, a choir for people with Parkinson’s, who regularly perform to appreciative audiences. In 2016, she co-produced a film about the group: The ParkinSongsters: A little film about the large benefits of singing for people with Parkinson’s which can be watched at www.parkinsongsters.co.uk
As writer, performer and director, work includes Creative Reminiscence sessions for the older generation in East Sussex, leading to the writing and performing of pen-portraits based on their early memories; site specific performances focussed on various decades and topics, including: A Season For Marbles – 2005 performed on Eastbourne Bandstand, inspired by memories in wartime Sussex; We Were There- The Mods and The Rockers at Hastings Museum and a play based on memories of Eastbourne in the 1950s : A Weekend Away, plus many others. Most of the above are printed in booklet form for the community to access in libraries or can be found online at www.shapingvoices.org. Under Shaping Voices and Sound Architect she has run creative writing workshops and courses for different social groups in the community. She wrote a short play for the Sound Architect project Jubilations, celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s silver jubilee, performed at The Birley Centre, Eastbourne in 2017.
After an experience of cancer Jane took a sabbatical from her singing/teaching career for a couple of years and worked for a holistic cancer centre in Bristol, which had helped in her own recovery process. She is co-author, with Liz Hodgkinson, of The Bristol Experience, based on the pioneering work of the Bristol Cancer Help Centre, Vermilion, 1995 (op)
A love of literature and writing led Jane to study for an MA in Creative Writing at Sussex University, (2001) where her experience and skills at writing were both challenged and honed. Apart from her work as writer for Shaping Voices and Sound Architect projects, Jane has independently written a series of linked monologues, Second Thoughts, performed in a number of venues in Sussex; her poetry has appeared in informal collections, and she has had a modest success in poetry competitions. During the first Covid-19 Lockdown in 2020, she extensively documented her daily walks, through observation, reflection and photography, inspired by the unexpected gift of free time.
Jane recently completed and published her first book, Things in Heaven and Earth, a project that demanded thoughtful editing of complex material, as well as a narrative providing context and commentary. With her experience of editing many life stories, as well as teaching and helping people to put their voice onto the page in a way that speaks directly to others, Jane is confident that she has created a readable narrative of deep interest, not only to spiritual seekers looking for guidance on their journey, but to others who will find this true story of love, mystery and transformation uplifting on many levels.
Jane lives on the South East coast of England and is blessed with an uninterrupted view of the sea.