Episode 4: “My Dearest Jane” — Meg Huskin, Opera and Jane Austen

In this episode of the Austen Pod Squad, hosts Marcia Johnson, Lady Sherry Lockwood, and Jen Mulsow interview JASNA Virtual Region member, composer, vocalist, opera artist, and Jane Austen fan, Meg Huskin. Meg’s work embraces theatricality, vocal lyricism, and genre-blending in order to tell modern stories. Her work often relies on the recontextualization of traditional forms and tropes, re-stylizing them in her own musical and literary language. Through her artistic work, Meg aims to honor the internal experiences of everyday people, especially those whose experiences are not often in the spotlight, including women, children, and neurodivergent people. She derives inspiration from her work as a teacher and teaching artist, as well as her training as a choral and opera singer.

Meg Huskin Composer/Vocalist

Meg has studied with composers Du Yun, Katherine Balch, and Gilda Lyons among others. Meg remains an active singer, and is currently employed as a regular choral singer at the Baltimore Basilica. As a writer, her articles have been published by I Care if You Listen.com and Lyric Opera of Chicago’s program books. She earned her Master’s degree in Composition from the Peabody Institute in 2023. Her Bachelor’s in Music and Creative Writing is from the University of Wisconsin. Committed to education, she has worked as a teaching artist with Arts for Maryland, and developed an arts-integrated curriculum designed to teach math and reading fundamentals to Baltimore fifth-graders by and through music.

In 2023, Meg  premiered My Dearest Jane: a Jane Austen Cabaret, which she composed and performed in, premiered to a sold out Baltimore Theater Project. The experimental work is an exploration of identity through art-making, and follows a young artist as she comes to learn more about herself by embodying the identities of her favorite Jane Austen heroines.  Meg composed the intro and exit music used for this and other Austen Pod Squad episodes with her permission for use.  See more information about Meg and her music, including the video and music version My Dearest Jane on her website at meghuskin.com