“How well she floated her many high notes, with such ease and grace, and in Russian yet. She is a true lyrico with roles in as many Donizetti and Bellini operas she cares to conquer.”
Biography
Soprano Emily Helenbrook’s voice has been described as “crystalline” and “hauntingly beautiful” by Buffalo ArtVoice. Emily recently completed her second season as a Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center under the mentorship of Dawn Upshaw where she performed Shakespeare Sonnets by Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon in Ozawa Hall during Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music. She was also a featured soloist in Bach’s Cantata No. 180 conducted by John Harbison. Previously with Tanglewood, Emily performed as the Sun and the Vole in the U.S. Premiere of Richard Ayres’ The Cricket Recovers with Maestro Thomas Adès.
In 2021, Ms. Helenbrook appeared as a second year Apprentice Artist at Palm Beach Opera where she sang Erste Knabe in Die Zauberflöte. That same season, she covered Papagena and Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte as well as Giulietta in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. In PBO’s previous season, Emily appeared as the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel. Ms. Helenbrook has also performed the roles of L’Eternitá in La Calisto (Rice Opera Theatre), Adele in Die Fledermaus (Opera in the Ozarks), Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica (Eastman), Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro (Eastman), and has covered La Bergère and La Chouette in L’enfant et les sortilèges (Aspen Opera Center).
As an experienced concert soloist, Emily has appeared several times with the Buffalo Philharmonic under the direction of JoAnn Falletta and most recently returned as a soloist in the fall of 2022. Ms. Helenbrook also premiered the song cycle Tippet Rise Songs by Anton Garcia Abril for the inaugural season of the TippetRise Art Center in Montana with pianist Christopher O’Riley.
Emily received Encouragement Awards at the Florida and North Carolina Districts of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition as well as the Gerda Lissner Song/Lieder Competition. Emily attended the Eastman School of Music/University of Rochester receiving undergraduate degrees in both Vocal Performance and Political Science. Ms. Helenbrook graduated from Rice University with her Master’s in Vocal Performance where she studied with Dr. Stephen King.
This past summer, Emily performed the role of Ismene in Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto with Opera Neo. Emily is also pleased to be returning to ArsNova Buffalo as a featured soloist in their upcoming Viva Vivaldi Festival concert this fall.
IN THE PRESS
“As Ismene, Emily Helenbrook revealed herself as an old-fashioned operatic soprano...exciting in her florid aria and sympathetic as the jilted woman.”
“As Ismene, Farnace’s spurned intended, soprano Emily Helenbrook displayed apt regal bearing and resplendent vocal allure.”
“It was a delight to hear Emily Helenbrook sing Morgana’s lovely aria ‘Tornami a vagheggiar.’ Her lithe, well-focused soprano carried her through the aria’s flashy fioriture with uncanny ease, and I admired the shimmer of her voice.”
“In all three of the settings, the soprano voice is closely linked to the flute in the ensemble...the solo part was ravishingly sung by soprano Emily Helenbrook.”
“[Another] in the vocally and comically gifted cast [was] soprano Emily Helenbrook as Vole and Sun.”