EMILY FONS
PC: Dario Acosta
“Mezzo-soprano Fons, especially, brought range (both vocal and emotional) to a character who isn’t much more than an archetype in the libretto… That Laurene is more fully fleshed out than her initial appearance suggests is thanks entirely to Fons’ performance; it’s reason alone to buy a ticket.”
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at Seattle Opera
Megan Burbank, Seattle Times, February 25, 2019
Mezzo-soprano Emily Fons is impressing audiences and critics alike through her remarkable versatility as an interpreter of music ranging from baroque to modern composers.
This season Emily Fons returns to the Canadian Opera Company for her celebrated Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, to the New Orleans Opera for Hansel in Hansel and Gretel and to the San Diego Opera for the world premiere of Nicolas Reveles’ Ghosts.
Last season, Ms. Fons made her role debut as Ariodante with the Göttingen Handel Festival in a concert marking the company’s centennial. She was also seen as Medoro in a virtual presentation of Handel’s Orlando with Haymarket Opera Company and sang her first Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice with inland Northwest Opera. She returned to Japan for the role of Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus with the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy and to the Seattle Opera as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro before appearing as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Santa Fe Opera.
Prior to that, Emily Fons made her debut with Nashville Opera as Angelina in La Cenerentola and returned to the San Diego Opera as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Earlier, Emily Fons returned to the Atlanta Opera as Angelina in La Cenerentola, to the Canadian Opera Company as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel and to the San Diego Opera for Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro. She made her Seattle Opera debut as Laurene in The [R]evolution of Steve Jobs and returned later that season as Maddalena in Rigoletto. She appeared with Michigan Opera Theatre as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel and with Opera Theatre of St Louis as Poppea in The Coronation of Poppea.
In the 2017-2018 season, Ms. Fons performed the roles of Ruby in Cold Mountain with North Carolina Opera, Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking, with the Kentucky Opera, the title role in L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and both a reprisal of L’enfant and La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi with Seiji Ozawa’s Ongaku-Juku. Concert appearances included A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ms. Fons’s 2016-2017 season included performances of Angelina in La Cenerentola with Opéra de Lille, Dorabella in Così fan tutte with Opera Omaha, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Florentine Opera, and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with Boston Lyric Opera. In concert, she will be heard in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst.
In 2015-2016, Ms. Fons made debuts with the New Orleans Opera as Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus and the Canadian Opera Company as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro. In concert, she appeared with the Madison Symphony in Christmas concerts and with the Indianapolis Opera in their Crescendo series. Ms. Fons ended the season by returning to the Santa Fe Opera as Stephano in Romeo et Juliette.
Other recent projects include Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Dallas Opera, debuts with San Diego Opera as Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Seiji Ozawa’s Ongaku-Juku in the title role of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in her role debut with the Madison Opera and a reprisal with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Ruby in the world premiere of Cold Mountain with the Santa Fe Opera, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Siébel in Faust with the Atlanta Opera, the title role in Handel’s Faramondo at the Göttingen Festival (a performance that was recorded commercially for the Accent label), Sesto in Handel’s Giulio Cesare with Michigan Opera Theatre, and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro at Santa Fe Opera. Concert highlights include Handel’s Messiah with conductor Jory Vinikour and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and Mozart’s Requiem with the Los Angeles chamber Orchestra, and de Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat with the Cleveland Orchestra.
Ms. Fons was a 2010 semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has also received awards from the Santa Fe Opera, the Milwaukee Civic Music Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and Polanki, the Milwaukee Polish Women’s Organization. A native of Wisconsin, she completed her Master’s Degree in Opera and Music Theatre at Southern Illinois University, and is a graduate of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
You must be logged in to post a comment.