Biography

Mezzo-soprano Emily Hughes is thrilled to make her German debut this season singing Flora in La Traviata at Oper Kiel, in their Sommeroper production. Other performances this season include Despina in Così fan tutte with Bronx Opera and Smeton in Anna Bolena with Winter Opera St. Louis and The Southern Illinois Music Festival.

Emily continues to be a favorite of many regional US companies. After covering Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, she returned to Geneva Light Opera to sing Tisbe in La Cenerentola and then to sing Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore. She made two role debuts with Panopera in Northampton, CT—first, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and then Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia for which the Springfield Republican praised her “coquettish, fiery Rosina,” calling her Una voce poco fa “a highlight of the evening.” Emily has sung three roles with Bronx Opera: Annio in La clemenza di Tito, Iolanthe in Iolanthe, and Despina in Così fan tutte. Emily also sang the role of Shepherdess in New Camerata Opera’s production of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis and returned to sing the title role in their production of Kamala Sankaram’s The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace. Most recently, she was featured in the title role of their immersive performance of the song cycle, Camille Claudel: Into the Fire by Jake Heggie, staged by John de los Santos.

Other favorite recent roles include Angelina in La Cenerentola, with Bel Cantanti Opera, Ruggiero (cover) in Alcina with St. Petersburg Opera, Lola in Cavalleria rusticana with Taconic Opera, the title role in Handel’s Teseo with Cantanti Project, Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Long Island Lyric Opera, Annio in La clemenza di Tito with Bronx Opera, and Patsy in The Only Girl with The Victor Herbert Renaissance Project. For her performance with Teatro Grattacielo as Musette in Act 1 of Leoncavallo’s La Bohème under the baton of Israel Gursky, Opera News said her “delightful and coquettish Musette” was a performance of “particular note,” and Opera Wire wrote that she “highlighted best the energy that Leoncavallo intended for his version of La Bohème and was a delight to see perform.”

Also frequently seen on the concert stage, in 2023, she made her Carnegie Hall debut as the alto soloist for Vivaldi’s Gloria, presented by Distinguished Concerts International NY in Stern Auditorium, returning there as alto soloist for Mozart’s Coronation Mass in 2024. She has also performed the solos in The Messiah, Carmina Burana, and Monteverdi's Vespro della beata vergine. A lover of art song and new music, she was the featured vocalist for the Blueprint Fellowship concert at National Sawdust, premiering Lingbo Ma’s chamber mono-drama, The Pile. During quarantine, she gave the world premiere of As if Saying Goodbye, a song cycle composed for her by composer Jonathan Howard Katz, setting the poetry of Andrea Cohen. Katz and Hughes went on to compete in the prestigious Federation of the Art Song and Joy in Singing Competitions, where they were given finalist awards. She has also premiered concert works by Alice Ping Yee Ho, Ellen Mandel, Parker Gaims, Peter Kramer, and Nicolas Namoradze.

Emily has twice been a studio artist at Teatro Nuovo for Will Crutchfield's esteemed bel canto program, where she covered Teresa in La sonnambula and was selected to perform in a masterclass with Jennifer Larmore. She was also a Tyler Young Artist at Opera on the James, an emerging artist with Charlottesville Opera and an apprentice artist at the Nahant Music Festival where she sang Second Lady in The Magic Flute.

A versatile singer, Emily also enjoys performing musical theatre. She sang Little Red Riding Hood in a concert performance of Into the Woods with The Modern Opera Company and played Summer in the first staged reading of Super! A Musical Parody at N.E.W. Musicals in Manhattan. Emily also sang in her first film production with ViOp Productions, titled The Strong Ones, which raised awareness for mental health issues, using operatic arias and duets to tell a new story.

In addition to her experience working on new and standard repertoire, Emily has a great affinity for early music. She recently sang Rosina in Scarlatti’s Il trionfo dell’onore under the baton of Alessandro Quarto at Amherst Early Music Festival. She has also sung with the New York Continuo Collective, Haymarket Opera Company in Chicago, and Artek, led by Gwendolyn Toth.

Emily received her Bachelor of Music from DePaul University in Chicago and holds a Master of Music from the Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College. She divides her time between NYC and Berlin.