B i o g r a p h y
American mezzo-soprano Emily Harmon has been praised for her "velvety mezzo-soprano voice" (onStage Pittsburgh), her "Horne-like, rock solid mezzo" (Opera Today), and her "scene-stealing performances" (Schmopera and Bachtrack.com). Most recently, she made her mainstage debut with Winter Opera St. Louis as Little Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore, where she was noted for singing "astonishingly well... [with] a wonderful sense of comedy" (Broadway World). Up next, she will be returning to the company to perform Lady Sangazure in The Sorcerer in November 2025.
Emily was a Herndon Foundation Emerging Artist with Virginia Opera for the 2023/24 season, where she sang Berta (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and covered Suzuki (Madama Butterfly). She was a Young Artist at the Glimmerglass Festival in both 2023 and 2024, where she made her company and role debuts as Doris/Witness #3 in Elizabeth Cree, covered Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance, performed Ruthie/Shamana #3 in the workshop performance of The House on Mango Street, and sang in the one-time concert performance of Cantico with with Natalie Merchant and Anthony Roth Costanzo.
She recently won Third Place in the 10th Annual Mildred Miller International Voice Competition and was a semifinalist in both the 2022 Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition and the 2021 James Toland Vocal Arts Competition.
In 2019, Emily made her company debut with Central City Opera as a Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Apprentice Artist, with whom she covered and performed the role of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. Emily was a young artist at Pittsburgh Festival Opera for two summers, where she performed the role of Amastre (Xerxes) and covered Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd).
A native New Englander, Emily performed with many companies in the northeastern US, including Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Opera Collaborative, MassOpera, and Opera del West. Prior to its cancellation due to the pandemic, Emily was prepared to flex her musical theatre muscles as Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd) with Lowell House Opera.
On the concert stage, Emily made her Boston Symphony Hall solo debut as the alto soloist in an excerpt of Purcell's Come, Ye Sons of Art, Z.323 with the Handel+Haydn Society's Collaborative Youth Concerts. Emily has sung the alto solos in Beethoven's Symphony No.9 with both the Boston Civic Symphony and Worcester Youth Orchestras, and has also performed Handel’s Messiah and Utrecht Jubilate Deo, Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, and Arvo Pärt's Stabat Mater.
Outside the classical world, Emily has appeared as a soloist and in backup ensembles with touring artists such as Josh Groban, Sarah Brightman, and Natalie Merchant.
Emily received both her M.M. and her B.M. (magna cum laude) in Voice Performance from Boston University, and she currently studies with Dr. Rebecca Folsom of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Emily is a member of AGMA and is represented by Victoria Atwater and Bruce Reed of Atwater Reed Artists. She is also the proud mom of a rescue dog named Captain, who is a very good boy when allowed to visit the rehearsal room!