Soprano Emily Eisen maintains an active schedule of opera, concert, and recital engagements. She opened the 2011-2012 season singing the First Witch in Dido and Aeneas with Poor Richard’s Opera as part of the Live Arts Philly Fringe Festival and joined the Philadelphia outreach company Children’s Opera Box to sing Gretel (Hansel and Gretel). Role debuts this season include Musetta (La bohème) and Adina (L’elisir d’amore) with New York Opera Forum. In concert, Ms. Eisen appears with the St. George Chamber Orchestra (Fredericksburg, VA), singing Liesgen in Bach’s Coffee Cantata (BWV 211) and with the Philadelphia ensemble Vox Ama Deus as a featured soloist at their annual Bach Birthday Gala. In May 2012, she presents a program of American song at the Woodmere Art Museum with pianist Laurie Rogers.
In 2010-2011, Emily Eisen returned to the Delaware Valley Opera Company to sing Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and cover Norina (Don Pasquale) in their Summer Festival. With New York Opera Forum, she sang Nanetta (Falstaff), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), and Zerlina to great audience acclaim, and was a featured performer at the Friars’ Club in New York City. In past seasons, she has sung Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Morgana (Alcina), and Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) with New York Opera Forum and has covered Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica) and Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) for Delaware Valley Opera Company.
A devotee of the art song tradition thanks to her studies at the University of Oxford, Emily Eisen has performed as a recitalist both in the United States and in Europe. With pianist Feifei Zhang she gave a faculty recital at Philadelphia’s celebrated Settlement Music School, was a semi-finalist in the Philadelphia Lieder Society’s inaugural Liederabend competition, and performed as part of the Soup and Sound series at Trinity Episcopal Church in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. In the spring of 2008 she gave a series of community recitals in the greater Philadelphia area with Sarah Childress, using the intimate setting as an opportunity for outreach. From 2006 to 2007, she partnered with Elizabeth Burgess to perform in historical venues in and around Oxford, England, including the Holywell Music Room, Christ Church Cathedral, and Jesus College Chapel.
Ms. Eisen maintains a keen interest in the works of living composers. In September 2009 she sang the role of Senator Sessions in Melissa Dunphy’s The Gonzales Cantata, a production that received national acclaim in the media ranging from Rachel Maddow of MSNBC to The Wall Street Journal. Internationally recognized British composer Tim Benjamin wrote his String Quartet II for her and the Holywell String Quartet, which they premiered in May 2006 in Oxford, England. Ms. Eisen has also premiered works by Deborah Pritchard in collaboration with the Allegri String Quartet, has coached Lewis Spratlan’s Images song cycle with the composer, and has worked with the experimental composer James Orsher.
Ms. Eisen currently resides in Philadelphia and studies with Ted Taylor. She was a Resident Artist at the CoOPERAtive Program in July 2010. She holds an MPhil in Musicology and Performance from the University of Oxford and a B.A. in Music from Amherst College.