"Her voice is a lovely instrument...she enhanced its natural beauty by imparting to the audience her response to the text. Her clear pure high notes shimmered with feeling."
(San Francisco Classical Voice)
Jacqueline Horner has a reputation as a versatile and accomplished soloist, performing music from Bach to Babbitt. She was born in N. Ireland and attended Queens University Belfast, receiving a Joint Honors degree in Music and English. She then went to Guildhall School of Music and Drama and City University London, receiving an MA in Music Performance Practice. After winning a Green Card she moved to the US and resides in New York City.
Recent solo work has included Bach cantata 213 with The Washington Bach Consort DC and Dr. J Reilly Lewis, Bach and Handel arias at Carmel Bach Festival with Bruno Weill, Bach’s Magnificat at Trinity Lutheran Church NYC, Haydn’s The Creation with Bucks County Choral Society PA, Faure’s Requiem with Riverside Choral Society NYC, John Rutter’s Mass of the Children with Fairfax Choral Society Virginia, Elijah with Ars Musica Chorale NJ, masterclasses and a recital at SUNY Oswego that included Bach solo cantata 202 (Wedding Cantata), Handel’s Dixit Dominus with Amor Artis, a guest solo appearance with the Capitol Hill Chorale DC that included songs by Purcell, Blow and Mozart’s Regina Coeli, Mendelssohn's Lobgesang with the Choral Society of Philadelphia and the premiere of new opera and concert works with Albany Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary music group Dogs of Desire, conducted by David Alan Miller.
Other performances of new music include Heinz Hollinger's The Seasons with Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt conducted by Hollinger, Berio’s Coro with Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris conducted by Berio, Stockhausen’s Sternklang with Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival UK directed by Stockhausen, George Crumb's Apparitions with Continuum, Joel Sachs conducting and Charles Jones' The Seasons with the Locrian Chamber Ensemble, as heard on the CRI CD The Music of Charles Jones.
She is equally at home on the operatic stage. She has appeared with such distinguished opera companies as The Royal Opera Covent Garden, English National Opera, Almedia Contemporary Opera, Opera Factory London and Zurich, Aldeburgh Festival, Broomhill International Opera and American Opera Projects. Roles include Zerlina, Despina, Susanna, Flora (Turn of the Screw), Eternity/Satirino/Fury (La Calisto - Cavalli), Filia (Jephte - Carissimi), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas) and the premiere performances of the roles of Jeannie (The Juniper Tree - Andrew Toovey), Bacchant (The Bacchae - Xenakis), Monk (Gawain - Sir Harrison Birtwistle), Jackie Kennedy (Jackie K - Andrew Lovett) and Clara (Heaven Ablaze in his Breast - Judith Weir).
She joined the world famous female vocal quartet Anonymous 4 in 1998 and has recorded eight award-winning CDs with the group, including American Angels which twice topped Billboard's classical music charts. The group was voted one of Billboard’s Top Classical Artists 2004. A4 has collaborated with distinguished artists The Chilingirian String Quartet, harpist Andrew Lawrence-King, writer Toni Morrison, composers Steve Reich, Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies and Sir John Tavener, and has toured extensively in the US, Europe and the Far East.
Jacqueline is also a voice teacher. She has thriving studios in NYC and Washington DC, is a member of the faculty at Trevor Conservatory of Music and Musica Deo Sacra. She gives masterclasses all over the US including SUNY Oswego and Mannes School of Music NYC. She also gives ensemble technique workshops, working with established choirs, small ensembles, school children, volunteer and ad hoc groups in NYC and beyond.