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Emily Howard, mezzo
 Emily Howard’s voice has been described as “extraordinarily beautiful” and her vocal style as “sensitive, subtle, and supple” in The Shelter Island Reporter.An unusually versatile artist, she sings many different genres and styles with equal intelligence and ability. Her operatic career is accentuated by such dramatically high flying roles such as Azucena in Il Trovatore with Di Capo Opera, Verismo Opera of New Jersey and the New Jersey State Repertory Opera; Baba in Menotti’s The Medium (Liederkranz Society); and Amneris in Verdi’s Aida, as well as comic tours de force such as Katisha in The Mikado with the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players. In addition, she has sung musical theater roles including Golde and Fruma Sara in Fiddler on the Roof and has appeared as a soloist with several jazz combos.
Because of her vocal versatility and her razor sharp musicianship, she is a favorite of composers and has proudly premièred many operatic roles and song cycles by New York composers: In 2004 she performed the role of Blues Queen Bee in Sorrel Hays’ The Bee Opera, with which she will tour Germany, Latvia and Holland in 2007. She is featured on two recent recordings of new works: Works of Michael Rose 2001-2005 and The Chamber Music of Jim Lahti in which she is presented as soloist with the critically acclaimed Omni Ensemble. She has also had the privilege of performing Schönberg’s demanding masterwork Pierrot Lunaire with Omni Ensemble. Ms. Howard has enjoyed a number of personal ‘firsts’ in the past few years, including her first assignment at The Metropolitan Opera in the role of Schwertleite in Die Walküre and her Carnegie Hall debut as the alto soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the New England Symphony. She also made her City Center debut with the New York Gilbert and Sullivan players in the aforementioned Mikado for which she was hailed as “the most vocally impressive” in a Theater Mania review. She was also thrilled to be able to sing for President Bill Clinton and Senator Hilary Clinton at Riverside Church in August of 2004. She sang Laudamus te from Mozart’s Mass in c-minor for which she received an enthusiastic bravo and thumbs up from the former president.
Originally trained as an actress, Ms Howard returns occasionally to the theatre stage:
In 2003, she played the role of Mrs. Peachum in Vaclav Havel’s version of The Beggar’s Opera for which she and her cast members received the 2003 Off Off Broadway Theater Review Award. Ms. Howard also works as a stage director and a writer. Recently, she was hired to produce and direct Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at Brooklyn Conservatory that played to sold out crowds. In 2005 she was commissioned by composer Michael Rose to write the libretto for his opera Ugetsu which goes into production in 2007.
In 2007 she founded Ensemble Youkali which will perform Stravinsky's Rake's Progress in the Spring 2008 and had its début performance in October 2007. (See Upcoming Concerts on this site and also www.ensembleyoukali.com.)
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