Jane Marian Manning, born in Norwich and educated at the Royal Academy of Music, was a soprano particularly praised for her expertise in contemporary music. She performed in such operas as King Harald’s Saga by Judith Weir, and Where the Wild Things Are by Oliver Knussen. Other works she excelled in included Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Birtwhistle’s Nenia: The Death of Orpheus and works by Cage, Messiaen and her husband Anthony Payne. (I met both when Payne came to the  York and N.E Branch of the Elgar Society in York a few years ago.) She premiered over 350 works; her sight reading was phenomenal. She taught at the GSHD and at Dartington.

Philip L. Scowcroft