Artist Roster

Biography

American mezzo-soprano Emily Langford Johnson has been hailed as “extremely stage savvy and sporting a fine chestnut-hued mezzo” by Opera News. Engagements for 2008-2009 included her role debut as Carmen with both Opera Santa Barbara and the Fox Valley Symphony, her return to Opera Roanoke for Meg in Verdi’s Falstaff, and an appearance in a concert featuring works by Bach with Opera New Jersey. In 2007-2008 Emily joined the roster of New York City Opera with performances in the VOX: American Composer’s Showcase and later covering the role of Dorothee in Cendrillon. In the 2009-2010 season she returns to New York City Opera to cover the role of Vashti in their production of Esther. Other recent engagements include a return to the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and a solo appearance with the Philadelphia Ballet in Messiah as well as her debut with Opera Roanoke as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel.

Emily appeared in the title role of Gotham Chamber Opera’s critically acclaimed, avant-garde work Ariadne Unhinged featuring works by Haydn, Monteverdi and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. In 2006-2007 she performed the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Western NY Chamber Orchestra, Jo March in Little Women with Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble and Marianna in Gotham Chamber Opera’s Il Signor Bruschino, a performance for which the New York Times called her “a sexy, Sophia Loren-like flirt”. Concerts include Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, Copland’s Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson with the Newport Symphony, New Jersey Opera Theatre’s gala concert, and a guest recital at Indiana University where she performed Rzewski’s challenging Antigone-Legend with collaborative pianist Kevin Class. Recently awarded 1st place at The Center for Contemporary Opera’s International Vocal Competition, Emily premiered works by Glen Cortese, Martin Hennessy and librettist Mark Campbell at the Winner’s Recital at Weill Hall at Carnegie in 2008.

During her tenure as a resident artist with Palm Beach Opera she was seen as Zweite Dame in their production of Die Zauberflöte on the mainstage. In addition, Emily performed the roles of Angelina and Tisbe in the tour of La Cenerentola, Amneris in the family matinee performance of Aida and Hansel in the family matinee performance of Hansel and Gretel. She was the resident mezzo in the Cincinnati Opera education ensemble and a member of the Glimmerglass Opera Young American Artist Program where she covered the role of Dorabella in Così fan tutte and performed and covered several roles in the production of Death in Venice. Concerts included the orchestral world premiere of the solo song cycle …In Dreams, with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra and the New Year’s Eve Concert for Peace at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York where she was a soloist in the world premiere of A Dream of Peace.

Other operatic engagements include Maddalena in Rigoletto and Meg Brockie in Brigadoon with Utah Festival Opera, Elisabeth Proctor in The Crucible with the Liederkranz Opera Theatre and Alice B. Toklas in a workshop production of the new work Gertrude Stein Invents a Jump Early On with Encompass New Opera Theatre. On the concert and recital platform Ms. Johnson has been seen as a soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Utah Festival Opera, Mozart’s Requiem at the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea on Palm Beach, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine’s New Year’s Eve Concert for Peace and “Fairy Tales and Legends: a concert of Opera Arias” with The Oregon Mozart Players, as well as her New York debut recital featuring contemporary American composers and poets.

Emily earned her BM from The Manhattan School of Music and MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School. She was a winner in the 2003 Liederkranz Foundation Competition, the 2004 Joyce Dutka Foundation Competition, the 4th place prizewinner in the 2005 Palm Beach Opera Competition, a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, and 1st place winner in the 2006 Center for Contemporary Opera’s International Competition.