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Karen Chia-Ling Ho
Winner of the prestigious Renee Fleming Award from the Eastman School of Music, soprano Karen Chia-ling Ho began her musical career at the age of six singing in the Taipei Hua-Hsin Children’s Choir of Taiwan.
Recent and upcoming: Ms. Ho made her debut with the San Francisco Opera in a world première of Dream of the Red Chamber by Bright Sheng as Princess Jia and made her Carnegie Hall debut with the American Symphony Orchestra in Krenek’s Der Diktator under the baton of Leon Botstein. Ms. Ho reprised her role in Dream of the Red Chamber with the Hong Kong Arts Festival and during the 2017-18 season she toured China with a number of performances of Dream of the Red Chamber and sang Violetta in La traviata with the Philharmonia Orchestra of New York at Rose Theater, Lincoln Center this spring. This season Ms. Ho is presented in concert with the National Orchestra of Taiwan in San Jose; sings a role debut in the title role of Tosca in Hong Kong; and is guest soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Philharmonia Orchestra of New York. In the 2019-20 season she makes her Metropolitan Opera debut.
She recently sang Strauss’s Op. 27 and the Yellow River Cantata with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra and was presented in concert with the American Composers Orchestra in music by Li Shaosheng at a presentation to the China-US Composers Project produced by China’s Ministry of Culture. She made her role and company debut as Liù in Turandot with St. Petersburg Opera and participated in the final rounds of the Belvedere Competition in Amsterdam. Ms. Ho was a member of the Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera where she was feature in the role of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni under the direction of James Darrah.
Ms. Ho has been honored as a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions winner for the South Carolina District and participated in the Southeast Regional Finals. She is a first-prize winner of the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, the 2nd Prize winner of the Marcello Giordani Foundation International Vocal Competition and was awarded the Sergio Franchi Music Foundation Grant.
Skilled in a wide range of genres, Ms Ho was reëngaged for a second season with the Glimmerglass Festival as a young artist covering the soprano roles in a staged Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion. She has performed at the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman in The Music Man as Alma Hix and covered the role of Sidonie in Lully’s Armide in a previous season with the Glimmerglass Festival. Ms. Ho has performed the roles of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, for which she won the Sam Adams Award for best operatic performance while attending conservatory. She has performed as soloist in the Bruckner Mass in D minor and the Rodrigo Cuatro Madrigales Amatorio.
She received musical degrees from the universities of TNUA and Tung-Hai where she studied Vocal Performance. After arriving in the U.S. for advance studies, she earned her Masters in Music from the Eastman School of Music and Artist Diploma from the College- Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati.