Mezzo-soprano Emily Fons is impressing audiences and critics alike through her remarkable versatility as an interpreter of music ranging from Baroque to modern composers. In the current season, she sings Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Opera San Antonio; and returns to Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Inland Northwest Opera and to Nicklausse/The Muse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in her Palm Beach Opera debut. The performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on November 24 and 25 mark her debut with Music of the Baroque.
Highlights of previous seasons include returns to the Canadian Opera Company for her celebrated Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro; the New Orleans Opera for Hansel in Hansel and Gretel; and the San Diego Opera for Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and the world premiere of Nicolas Reveles’ Ghost. She also made debuts with Nashville Opera as Angelina in La Cenerentola and with Cincinnati Opera as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Other recent projects include Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Dallas Opera; debuts with San Diego Opera as Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Seiji Ozawa’s Ongaku-Juku in the title role of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges; Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in her role debut with the Madison Opera and a reprisal with Opera Theatre of St. Louis; Ruby in the world premiere of Cold Mountain with the Santa Fe Opera; Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Siébel in Faust with the Atlanta Opera, the title role in Handel’s Faramondo at the Göttingen Festival (a performance that was recorded commercially for the Accent label); Sesto in Handel’s Giulio Cesare with Michigan Opera Theatre; and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at Santa Fe Opera. Concert highlights include Handel’s Messiah with conductor Jory Vinikour and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra; Mozart’s Requiem with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; and de Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat with the Cleveland Orchestra.
Emily Fons was a 2010 semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has received awards from the Santa Fe Opera; the Milwaukee Civic Music Association; the National Association of Teachers of Singing; and Polanki, the Milwaukee Polish Women’s Organization. A native of Wisconsin, she completed her Master’s Degree in Opera and Music Theatre at Southern Illinois University, and is a graduate of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
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