Janet Fairbank
Janet Fairbank was an American operatic singer.
She was the daughter of novelist and suffragette Janet Ayer Fairbank and Kellogg Fairbank, the son of industrialist N. K. Fairbank; she was also the niece of Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Margaret Ayer Barnes.
A soprano, she made occasional performances with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Chicago Opera, the Grant Park Orchestra, and the San Carlo Opera Company. She was also a patron of contemporary music, and provided encouragement and support to numerous recognized and aspiring composers including Virgil Thomson, David Diamond, Francis Poulenc, Benjamin Britten, Lou Harrison, Olivier Messiaen, Ned Rorem, Paul Bowles, Gottfried von Einem, and John Cage.
She died in Chicago in 1947 of malignant leukemia.
