“My commitment to being a full-time musician really crystallized when I was in high school in London (UK) and was a member of the London Youth Choir and the National Youth Choir,” says soprano Emily Richter. “I got a sneak peak into what life as a musician could look like, and I knew I wanted more.” Richter chased this dream, studying Vocal Performance at Lawrence University and completing a master’s in Voice and Opera Performance at McGill University. Her musical journey led to further training as an Apprentice at Santa Fe Opera and then, as a Resident Artist at Pittsburgh Opera. “It’s amazing the adventures music has taken me on,” Richter says as she now finds herself at the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Richter recently won the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, performing “Non mi dir” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and “Depuis le jour” from Charpentier’s Louise. Performing the latter aria with orchestra for the first time in the final round made Richter feel as if she were “flying.”
Even as her star continues to rise, Richter doesn’t neglect to embrace the smaller, but still beautiful, moments along the way. She relishes the time between the end of a performance and the audience’s applause. This silence fills her soul as she and the audience sit with the meaning of a piece and let it affect each of them in slightly different ways. Richter’s deep connection to moments like these will no doubt fuel her continued success in the seasons to come.
www.emilyrichter.com/
