"There is a radiance and lighter-than-air quality to Emily Richter’s soprano that was ideally suited to Handel’s alluring melodies. Richter’s trills and runs were exquisite, but it was her ability to caress a long, spinning phrase that was truly special. Her singing in ‘Il mio crudel martoro’, Ginevra’s expression of despair after she has been falsely accused of infidelity and told of Ariodante’s death, was as moving as it was lovely."
- Seen and Heard International, Ariodante, Pittsburgh Opera
BIO
Emily Richter is a lyric soprano based out of Pittsburgh, PA. Having benefited from growing up all over the world from Zimbabwe to Armenia and living in musical centers such as London and Tokyo, Emily truly has a global perspective on what it means to be an artist.
She is thrilled to be returning to Pittsburgh Opera's Resident Artist Program for the 2023/2024 Season, performing the role of Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Iphigénie in Iphegénie en Tauride, and Ma in Missy Mazzoli's contemporary opera Proving Up as well as covering the role of Violetta in La Traviata. This summer she will be an Apprentice Artist at Central City Opera where she will cover the role of Desdemona in Rossini's Othello. She has been selected to be a member of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble at the Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 2024/2025 season.
For her first year with Pittsburgh Opera as a Resident Artist for the 2022/2023 Season, she covered the role of Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with a matinee performance and sang the roles of 2nd Sprite in Rusalka, Ginevra in Ariodante, and Ines in Il Trovatore. In the 2022 Summer, Emily was an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera where she covered the role of Micaëla in Carmen and she sang the Act 1 Finale of Cosi fan Tutte as Fiordilgi in the Apprentice Scenes Program.
In the 2021/22 season at McGill, Emily sang the role of Donna Anna in a Dracula-inspired production of Don Giovanni with Opera McGill. She enjoyed collaborating with Grammy-nominated Luna Pearl Wolf's in her new opera Limit of the Sun. In 2021 she made her Canadian debut as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw which won 1st place at the NOA's Opera Production Competition. Additionally, in her time at McGill, she has been proud to perform and workshop new Candian works including The Digital Opera Projects in collaboration with Tapestry Opera and workshopping the new opera Vanishing Point by Parisa Sabet and Nika Khanjani Rosadiuk in collaboration with Musique 3 Femmes.
At Lawrence University she performed the role of Countess in La Nozze di Figaro. She spent the summer of 2021 at Seagle Festival where she performed the roles of Noémie in Cendrillon and Hucklebee in The Fantasticks. In her time at Lawrence University and at Seagle Festival she performed a wide variety of Opera Scenes as Fiordiligi in Cosi fan Tutte, Magda in The Consul, Costanze in Entführung aus dem Serail, Violetta in La Traviata, and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus.
Emily was the 2021 Wirth Prize Winner at McGill and was awarded $25,000 for an exemplary 30-minute program or song and opera repertoire. She was a first-place winner of the NOA Opera Scenes Competition for her performance as Nedda in I Pagliacci. She was named a 2023 Great Lakes Region 2nd Place Winner, a 2020 MONC Illinois District Winner and was awarded an Encouragement Award at the 2022 MONC Minnesota District.
Emily trained has trained as an emerging professional in Young Artist Programs with Santa Fe Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Central City Opera and Seagle Festival. She will be joining the Lyric Opera of Chicago this spring as a young artist. She is a graduate of McGill University’s Schulich School of Music where she received an MM in Vocal and Opera Performance under the tutelage of Dominique Labelle. Emily received her BM in Vocal Performance from Lawrence University, where she studied with Steven Paul Spears.
Emily aims to bring not just elegant lyrical singing to the stage but also hopes to use her unique perspective to connect to her audience. When not singing, Emily can be found knitting, reading, doing yoga, and exploring the streets of whatever city she finds herself in!