BIO
Emily Richter is a lyric soprano based out of Chicago, IL. 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.
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Soprano Emily Richter is a 2024 Grand Finals Winner of The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. She is thrilled to be joining the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 seasons. This season, she is excited to be covering Fiordiligi in Cosî fan Tutte, 1st Frida Image in El Ultimo Sueño, Glauce in Medea, and performing First Handmaiden in Medea. In the 2024/2025 season, she covered Marzelline in Fidelio, Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro, Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, and Claire Devon in Missy Mazzoli's new work The Listeners. Her time at Lyric includes exciting performances with the Civic Orchestra at the Symphony Center and performances in Millennium Park. Concert work includes Messiahs with The Camerata Chicago and the Illinois Symphony. She will additionally cover the Carmina Burana solos at Lyric in the upcoming season. She will spend her 2025 summer in the Résidence Voix de L'Académie at La Féstival D'Aix en Provence.
Emily spent two seasons as a Resident Artist at Pittsburgh Opera. In her 2023/2024 season, she performed the role of Iphigénie in Iphegénie en Tauride, Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Ma in Proving Up, as well as covering the role of Violetta in La Traviata. In her 2022/2023 season, as a first-year Resident Artist, she covered the role of Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with a matinee performance. She also sang the roles of 2nd Woodsprite in Rusalka, Ginevra in Ariodante, and Ines in Il Trovatore. She made her Seattle Symphony Debut as the Soprano Soloist in Handel's Messiah, as well as her Verdi's Requiem Debut with the Westmoreland Symphony. ​
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​Emily is a 2024 Grand Finals Winner of The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition.
She was the 1st place winner of the 2023 Mildred Miller Competition. Emily was the 2021 Wirth Prize Winner at McGill and was awarded $25,000 for an exemplary 30-minute program of song and opera repertoire.
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Emily has trained as an emerging professional in Young Artist Programs with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Féstival d'Aix-en-Provence, Central City Opera, and Seagle Festival. 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.
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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!