Werther!.. qui m'aurait dit la place - Werther (Jules Massenet)
Emily Edmonds, mezzo-soprano
Jack Symonds, piano
April 2022

Praised as a "superb singer-actor" with a “coloured and thrilling” voice, Australian mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds is sought out for her interpretations of both contemporary and traditional work. The 2021-2022 season saw Ms. Edmonds performing as the mezzo-soprano for Britten/Styles’ Canticles/Awakening Shadow with the Sydney Chamber Opera, and returning to Phoenix Central Park and Sydney Chamber Opera to perform Saariaho’s Quatre instants. In 2019-2020, Ms. Edmonds garnered widespread critical acclaim for her performance as the mezzo-soprano in Venables’ Denis & Katya, first performing in the world premiere at Opera Philadelphia, where she offered a “molasses-and-honey mezzo” (Broadway World) and “riveting artistry” (The Arts Desk), then went on to join Music Theatre Wales in the UK premiere and subsequent UK tour of the work. Also during this period, Ms. Edmonds reprised the title role for the award-winning virtual production of Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges produced by Vopera and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and debuted the role of Dorabella in Classical Opera Company’s Così fan tutte.

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In 2018-2019, she returned to the Royal Opera House to sing Varvara in Richard Jones' production of Katya Kabanova, debuted the title role of L'enfant et les sortilèges at the Komische Oper Berlin, returned to Pinchgut Opera to sing Semira in the Australian premiere of Hasse’s Artaserse, and joined the Verbier Festival to sing Mlle. Dangeville in Adriana Lecouvreur.  

Ms. Edmonds enjoyed a two-year tenure as a Young Artist with the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Young Artist Programme. In the 2016/17 Royal Opera House season, she sang Agathe/Dargelos in Philip Glass' Les Enfants Terribles for the Royal Opera and Ballet at the Barbican, Madrigal Singer in Manon Lescaut, Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and Tebaldo in Don Carlo, and covered Magdalene in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Emilia in Otello, and Dorabella in Così fan tutte. In 2015-2016, Ms Edmonds was in the world premiere of Philip Venables’ 4.48 Psychosis for the Royal Opera at Lyric Hammersmith, and sang Aglaea/Atropos/Bacchus in Orpheus at Shakespeare’s Globe, Käthchen in Werther, and Suor Cercatrice in Suor Angelica. Also in 2015, she made her company debut with Pinchgut Opera as Asteria in Vivaldi’s Bajazet, available as a CD recording on the Pinchgut Live label along with her later performance as Semira in Artaserse.

Her 2014 season included two performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, as the soloist in Elgar’s Sea Pictures and as Dritte Magd in Strauss’ Elektra. 2013 performances include Into the Little Hill and Kate Julian in Owen Wingrave with Sydney Chamber Opera, as well as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera New England.

Ms. Edmonds holds a myriad of prestigious awards and grants for her vocal artistry. She was awarded the Dame Heather Begg Memorial Award in the 2017-2018 season, received awards from the Australian Music Foundation in 2016, the Tait Memorial Trust in the 2015-2016 season, and in 2015, was awarded an Australia Council for the Arts ArtStart grant in support of her vocal and language development abroad. In the 2013-2014 season, Ms. Edmonds was named a Dame Nellie Melba Scholar and Patrick & Vivian Gordon awardee for the Melba Opera Trust.

Ms. Edmonds was a member of the Atelier Lyrique vocal programme at the Verbier Festival in 2018. Before her tenure at the Royal Opera House, she was a Resident Artist for Sydney Chamber Opera and a Young Artist with Pacific Opera Young Artist Programme. A passionate member of the artist community, she is an official mentor for the Jette Parker Young Artist flagship mentoring scheme. 

Ms. Edmonds holds a First-Class Honours Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.