About Jane
My name is Jane Hanson. My story comes in three parts.
Part One: Farm Girl
I grew up on a horse farm in the tiny, rural town of Oakham in Central Massachusetts. My mother, despite having grown up on Central Park West in Manhattan and acquiring a college degree in Romance Languages, became a card-carrying, hippie back-to-the-lander.
Despite several setbacks along the way, she realized her dream of having her own horse farm and riding school, and she raised my brother, Alex, and I on a steady diet of 4-H, French classes, trail rides, crockpot stews, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
My mother supported all of my many musical endeavors, and is the strength behind my success.
Part Two: Jane goes to school and does wicked professional things (Here come the Third-Person Credentials)
From a 2010 bio:
Jane Hanson holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Music Education with a minor in collaborative piano from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass), and a Master of Music Degree in Choral Conducting from Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music (CCM). While at CCM, Ms. Hanson served as conductor in residence and vocal soloist in the Music ’97 and Music ’98 international composition festivals and the CCM Grandin Festival. From 1999-2001, she served on the faculty of the Dept. Of Music and Dance at UMass, Amherst, where she taught courses in Aural Skills, Instrumental Conducting, and Choral Methods in the Public Schools.
As founder and director of Jane Hanson Productions, LLC, Ms. Hanson has but one mission for the organization: joy and excellence through the performing arts, providing an ideal balance of passion and technique. The Proficient Musician, founded in 2001, is a division of Jane Hanson Productions LLC dedicated to providing exceptional skills-based professional development opportunities to music educators and performers. These skills act as a catalyst for the integration of innate musical ability and newfound proficiency, fostering a greater self-knowledge and a deeper enjoyment of music.
Under this branch of JHP, Ms. Hanson offers private voice instruction and coaching, master classes, professional development seminars, and residencies. Ms. Hanson directs two summer performing arts programs for teens: the Summer Musical Theater Intensive for ages 12-18 and the Summer Vocal Music Academy for ages 14-18.
Ms. Hanson has been fortunate to work with many different arts organizations on varied and interesting projects. In 2006 she directed and conducted Old Deerfield Productions’ presentation of New York-based composer Paula Kimper’s opera The Captivation of Eunice Williams at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. In fall of 2007, Ms. Hanson directed a workshop premier performance of another of Kimper’s operas: The Bridge of San Luis Rey.
In spring 2008, she music-directed and conducted PACE Theater’s hip-hop-inflected version of “West Side Story”, and the Keene Chorale’s Earth Day Celebration, featuring the New Hampshire premiere of Missa Gaia/Earth Mass. In 2009, she collaborated with Pioneer Valley Ballet on their 40th Anniversary Benefit Concert: “Let’s Fall in Love! A Night of Cole Porter”, held at the historic Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton, MA. She also led the Keene Chorale in their 30th anniversary celebration concert of Beethoven’s Mass in C and Choral Fantasy with guest soloist Vladimir Odinokikh.
Ms. Hanson studied voice and vocal pedagogy for more than a decade with the internationally renowned (late) Dr. Oren Brown (Juilliard Faculty Emeritus), and has been a featured mezzo-soprano soloist with Commonwealth Opera, The Keene Chorale, The Pioneer Valley Symphony, The Tuesday Morning Music Club of Springfield, the Chamber Music Series at Wistariahurst Museum, and through her own concert series.
*and scene.
Hear Jane sing:
Part Three: Life is like a box of manure…
In 2010, I suffered a severe brain infection, aphasia, and a neurological attack that revealed lesions on my brain and spine. I had a lengthy hospitalization, and was later diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I closed my business, secured disability status, and began intensive therapies to deal with the brain damage that resulted from the episode, including the devastating loss of my upper singing range - the result of a lesion on my superior laryngeal nerve.
The past decade has been filled with medical challenges; if you want to read the gory details, you can click here.
Now, after a decade of rest, recovery, and reflection, I find myself with a renewed sense of purpose. Paradoxically, the pandemic has made it possible for me to return to my vocation by removing the geographical limits that hampered me in the past. Having a fifteen foot commute to work is ideal for someone in my circumstances, freeing me up to be more present and engaged with students. I am excited to be able to pursue my mission — to help people discover and develop their most authentic voice within a framework of healthy, sustainable vocal technique — on a global scale!
Notes:
I live in Western Massachusetts with my wonderful son and two small, cute (but obnoxious) dogs. I am partial to blank books, dangly earrings, and bad British sitcoms.
