Full Biography
Rising American soprano Emily Pogorelc is considered as one of the most gifted singers of her generation and is praised by critics and audience alike for her soaring, unique voice and her captivating stage presence.
Emily Pogorelc’s 23/24 season is marked by five major role and house debuts, respectively. She begins the season with a house and role debut singing Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito at the Royal Danish Opera Copenhagen, a role which is also the vehicle for her debut with the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2024. The soprano returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich for her final season as an ensemble member, making her role debut as Ilia in Idomeneo and reprising her successful portrayals of Pamina in Zauberflöte and Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore. She returns to the Semperoper Dresden for a revival of Rolando Villazón’s production of La Sonnambula, a role she debuted to critical acclaim in the 22/23 season. Emily Pogorelc makes another house and role debut as Lucia di Lammermoor at Staatsoper Hamburg later in the season. In her native US, Emily Pogorelc makes her eagerly awaited house debut as Lisette in Puccini’s La Rondine at the Met before celebrating another role debut, Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
On the concert stage, Emily Pogorelc joins Rolando Villazón for an open-air gala in Bratislava. She collaborates with the Camerata Salzburg, presenting Mozart arias, and later returns to Salzburg to perform Mozart’s Requiem with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg under the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado.
Last season, Emily Pogorelc made six role debuts, most notably a celebrated portrayal of Amina in La Sonnambula at Semperoper Dresden and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette in her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She made her recital debut at the Kennedy Center in DC and appeared in concert at the Mozartwoche festival in Salzburg. As an ensemble member of Bayerische Staatsoper, she made debuts as Soeur Constance in Dialogues des Carmelites and Xenia in Boris Gudonov, and appeared as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel and the Vierte Magd in Elektra under the baton of Maestro Vladimir Jurowski. Pogorelc’s schedule also included performances as Der Hirt in Tännhäuser at the Salzburg Osterfestspiele, Norma in Marina Abramovic’s 7 Deaths of Maria Callas at the Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam, and a Blumenmädchen in Parsifal with Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic. She also became part of Deutsche Grammophon’s new series “Rising Stars” on STAGE+, showcasing the best young talents in classical music.
Among other roles of Emily Pogorelc’ operatic repertoire are Musetta in La Bohème, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Sofia in Il signor Bruschino. She debuted at the Glyndebourne Festival 2022 as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. During her time as a member of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s prestigious Ryan Opera Center, she performed as Masha in Queen of Spades, Noémie in Cendrillon, and the Trainbearer in Elektra. In 2018, while still an undergraduate at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute, she debuted at the Washington National Opera as Cunegonde in Bernstein’s Candide. At the Glimmerglass Festival, she starred as Romilda in Handel’s Xerxes, Johanna Barker in Sweeney Todd, and Berenice in Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro.
Off the operatic stage, Emily Pogorelc performed Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Bertrand de Billy, Mozart arias in a concert with Rolando Villazón and the Luxembourg Philharmonie and a program of arias written and heard by Mozart in 1771 with Classical Opera in London. She performed with Madison Symphony Orchestra as Mater Gloriosa in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the New Jersey Symphony, soprano soloist in Faure’s Requiem with the Fox Valley Orchestra, and the soprano soloist in Richard Hynson’s Evensong with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee. She was also a soloist for Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and Ludovic Morlot, which traveled to Carnegie Hall.
Emily Pogorelc is passionate about performing new works. In 2016, she made her debut with Opera Philadelphia in Daniel Schnyder’s Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, singing Chan Parker in the opera’s New York premiere. It was the first opera to be performed at the historic Apollo Theatre in Harlem and was broadcast on New York City’s classical music station, 105.9FM WQXR (distributed nationally by the WFMT Radio Network). She also participated in Opera Philadelphia’s Double Exposure project, portraying the title role in David Hertzberg’s The Rose Elf, and performed in a masterclass with Dawn Upshaw as part of Opera Philadelphia’s Composer-in-Residence program, singing an aria from Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrick’s opera, Breaking The Waves.
At the inaugural Glyndebourne Opera Cup, Emily Pogorelc was the youngest finalist and the recipient of The Ginette Theano Prize for Most Promising Talent. She was a semi-finalist in the 2019 Queen Sonja International Music Competition, receiving the honor of performing for Queen Sonja of Norway. She was also awarded the Lynne Cooper Harvey Foundation Award from the Musicians Club of Women and the 2020 Luminarts Classical Voice Fellowship. Previously, she received first prize in The Carolyn Bailey and Dominick Argento Vocal Competition, first place in the Hal Leonard Art Song Competition, a grant from the Gerda Lissner/Liederkranz Foundation’s Lieder/Art Song competition, and an Emerging Artist Award from Opera Index. She took second place in the Upper-Midwest Region of the 2017 Metropolitan National Opera Council Auditions. In October 2021, she received the third prize for best female singer of the Operalia Competition 2021 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
Emily Pogorelc is a proud native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
