A 2012 winner of Operalia (Beijing) and of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Janai Brugger’s recent season engagements include her highly successful role debut in the title role of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah at Opera Theatre of St Louis, followed by her performances as Pamina The Magic Flute at Ravinia Festival, a role she also sang at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London, and at the Metropolitan Opera of New York. The artist sang the role of Glauce in Cherubini’s Medea at the Metropolitan Opera, Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro at Los Angeles Opera, Liu Turandot at Opera Colorado. Concert engagements include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and with Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Festival under the baton of Marin Alsop, Poulenc’s Gloria with Bozeman Symphony Orchestra and Mahler’s Second Symphony with Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Jader Bignamini conducting.

Last season, Miss Brugger returned to Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and revived Pamina Die Zauberflote for performances at Palm Beach Opera’s first Outdoor Opera Festival. More recently she appeared as Michaela Carmen at Cincinnati Opera and returned to Dutch National Opera for their acclaimed Missa in tempore Belli (Haydn) conducted by Lorenzo Viotti and directed by Barbora Horáková. Miss Brugger appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in the role of Clara in their celebrated new production of Porgy and Bess in which she previously appeared at Dutch National Opera. She traveled to Michigan for performances of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with Detroit Symphony Orchestra before joining the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall to sing Elgar’s The Kingdom. With the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra she performed in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and Mass in C with Louis Langree.

Other past appearances include Grant Park Music Festival in performances of Haydn’s Theresienmesse. She made her Salzburg Festival debut in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with musicAeterna conducted by Teodor Currentzis and journeyed to St Petersburg to record it with him. At Lyric Opera of Chicago she sang the role of Ilia Idomeneo and at Cincinnati Opera she appeared as Susanna Le nozze di Figaro. In her artistic home at Los Angeles Opera, she sang the role of Servilia _La Clemenza di Tito), a role she previously sang at Dutch National Opera. Miss Brugger travelled to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden for revival performances of Pamina Die Zauberflöte; she revived the role of Liù Turandot at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and at Palm Beach Opera made her debut in the role of Susanna.

Recent career highlights include performances at the Metropolitan Opera in her role debut as Jemmy Guillaume Tell, Michaela Carmen, Pamina and Marzelline © Fidelio (role debut). Identified by Opera News as one of their top 25 “brilliant young artists” (October 2015 issue), Janai appeared in the Met’s Rising Stars concert series, and in earlier seasons as Liù and as Helena The Enchanted Island. She also sang performances with Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra both for Mahler’s Fourth Symphony under the baton of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, and in her home town of Chicago she starred in Emmy award-winning composer Laura Karpman’s multimedia setting of Langston Hughes’s epic 1961 poem, Ask your Mama, with Chicago Sinfonietta.

Janai Brugger made her debut as Juliette Roméo et Juliette and Norina Don Pasquale at Palm Beach Opera, and as Pamina in Barrie Kosky’s celebrated cinematic production at Los Angeles Opera; she sang Michaela Carmen with Opera Colorado and High Priestess Aida at the Hollywood Bowl with Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.

A native of Chicago, the artist obtained a Master’s degree from the University of Michigan, where she studied with the late Shirley Verrett. She won her Bachelor’s degree from DePaul University where she studied with Elsa Charlston. In 2010, Miss Brugger participated in The Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, and went onto become a young artist at Los Angeles Opera for two seasons.