Emily Richter
Soprano
MEDIA
"Just over the last decade or so, many much-gifted sopranos have come and gone, talented all, but Emily Richter is perhaps the most astonishing of them.
A gloriously pure, powerful soprano voice, always under her control, is matched with no little dramatic ability. Her tones ring out, squarely placed, like a golden bell, with plenty of volume and clarity that are quite thrilling. Her voice is fine in all registers, and her breathing technique allows her to send the highest fortissimo to the softest pianissimo sailing out over her audiences. It also allows her to sing true legato; one phrase melts seamlessly into the next. A part such as Iphigénie suits her talents to a tee, and she sings it brilliantly. We’ve been lucky in that we’ve had the pleasure of watching this star be born."
OnStage Pittsburgh, Iphigénie en Tauride, 2024
"[Emily Richter] sang, of course, gloriously, her powerful and plush soprano voice filling the studio with its wonted brilliance and warmth, but a touch of pathos must have been felt by many in the audience. These are the last performances she will give as a Resident Artist with Pittsburgh Opera... We have not heard the last of her; that she won’t be engaged by Pittsburgh Opera for future productions is unfathomable. Until that time, one of the greatest of vocal artists who have come this way will be very much missed, indeed."
OnStage Pittsburgh, Proving Up, 2024
OnStage Pittsburgh, Ariodante, 2023
“There’s no point in not saying outright that Emily Richter, as the Princess Ginevra, created an outstanding sensation. In her largest role to date with Pittsburgh Opera, she astonished with the size and purity of her powerful soprano voice. Her tones rang like a large golden bell, with ample volume and a clarity that was quite overwhelming. Her voice is evenly fine in all registers, and sends the highest fortissimo to the softest pianissimo sailing out over the audience.”
"...Soprano Emily Richter imbues the role of Ginevra — the eponymous protagonist Ariodante’s object of desire — with sonorous vivacity: joyful when expressing love, and deeply melancholy during the torment when her character thinks she has lost her intended. Her duets with mezzo-soprano Jazmine Olwalia (Ariodante) are scintillating, and the latter’s melancholy aria “Gods! To let me live so as to give me a thousand deaths” is radiant.
Pittsburgh Quarterly, Ariodante, 2023
Pittsburgh Quarterly, Iphigénie, 2024
"Iphigénie, brilliantly evoked by soprano Emily Richter... "
Seen and Heard International, Ariodante, 2023
"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."
