Mezzo-Soprano Emily Fons has made several exciting role and company debuts in recent seasons that have set her apart as a versatile, powerful, and engaging performer. Ms. Fons was hailed by Opera News as one of opera’s rising stars and one of the best singing actresses of her generation, and received a Grammy nomination for her work on Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain.

Ms. Fons has been lauded for her virtuosic abilities in Baroque and Bel Canto repertoire, her winning portrayals of opera’s traditional “trouser roles”, and the dramatic commitment and musicality she brings to modern works. In the past few seasons Ms. Fons has sung with The Berlin Philharmonic, The Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, The International Händel Festspiele, the Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera Omaha, Boston Lyric Opera, the Florentine Opera, Madison Opera, Opéra de Lille, the Ongaku-Juku Festival, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

In the summer of 2018 Ms. Fons will make her company debut with the highly acclaimed Haymarket Opera Company in Chicago. Ms. Fons will sing the title role in Cesti’s Orontea. The 2018-2019 season will continue with performances of Cherubino in Le Nozze Di Figaro at San Diego Opera, and recitals of modern American song in Wisconsin and Illinois. Ms. Fons begins 2019 at Seattle Opera singing the role of Laurene Powell Jobs in Mason Bates’ The {R}evolution of Steve Jobs. Ms. Fons will then return to Michigan Opera Theatre to sing Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, and to Opera Theatre St. Louis for the title role in Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea.

The 2017-2018 season featured Ms. Fons’ return to the Cleveland Orchestra as the mezzo-soprano soloist in the Mozart Requiem. Ms. Fons then made her company debut with Opera North Carolina reprising the role of Ruby Thewes in Jennifer Higdon’s Grammy nominated opera Cold Mountain. Ms. Fons created the role of Ruby in the opera’s premiere at the Santa Fe Opera in 2015. Ms. Fons then made a successful role and company debut with Kentucky Opera as Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. Ms. Fons appeared in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, followed by two performances as the title role in Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortilèges, first with the Berlin Philharmonic, and then in Japan as part of the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nagoya. Ms. Fons also had the honor of premiering art songs by James Stephenson on a recital at the Polish Center of Wisconsin, and performing for the second time Kathleen Ginther’s “The River Merchant’s Wife” which she premiered with the Southern Illinois University concert choir and wind ensemble at Orchestra Hall in Chicago in 2011.

Recent notable performances include the title role in Rossini’s La Cenerentola in a new production by Jean Bellorini for Opéra de Lille, Stéphano in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with the Santa Fe Opera, Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro in Claus Guth’s acclaimed production at the Canadian Opera Company, Dorabella in Opera Omaha’s new production of Cosi Fan Tutte, a role debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Florentine Opera, the title role in Handel’s oratorio Susanna with the International Händel Festspiele, and the title role in Ravel’s _L’enfant et les Sortilège_s with maestro Seiji Ozawa.

Ms. Fons is enjoying a successful international career while also staying committed to performing in and giving back to her community and home state through master classes, recitals, a scholarship fund, and by working with the high quality opera companies that Wisconsin is fortunate to have.