Emily Michiko Jensen, Soprano
Praised for her “theatrical instincts and intriguingly versatile instrument,” Japanese-American soprano Emily Michiko Jensen joins Opera San José as an Artist in Residence making two dream role debuts: Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte) & the title role of Madama Butterfly. This season also included a return to Mimi (La bohème) at the Opera Company of Middlebury.
She recently made her role & house debut with Hawai’i Opera Theatre as Mimi (La bohème), and with the Borderland Arts Foundation’s La Frontera Opera as Musetta (La bohème). She is an alumna of the prestigious Emerging Artists program at Boston Lyric Opera where she covered the title role of Madama Butterfly during the 2023-2024 season. She is a Career Grant recipient from the Olga Forrai Foundation.
In the summer of 2022, she joined Chautauqua Opera as an Apprentice Artist where she covered the title role of Tosca. She sang Angel More in Thomson’s The Mother of Us All while covering the principal role of Susan B Anthony. She participated in the workshop of Derek Bremer and Sandra Cisneros’ new opera The House on Mango Street as Cathy, Queen of Cats, at the end of the season.
Ms. Jensen was a semi-finalist for the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition, the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, and the Irene Dalis Vocal Competition at Opera San José during the spring 2022 competition season.
She was previously a member of the Artists in Residence program at Pensacola Opera, where she sang the role of First Lady while covering Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and covered Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia. The season concluded with a performance of Die Wesendonck Lieder at the Opera Center. She returned as a guest artist in May of 2022 & September 2022 for their fundraising galas.
In the 2020/2021 season, Ms. Jensen joined Florentine Opera Company as the Soprano Baumgartner Studio Artist. She made her company & role debut in the Spring Showcase production of Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny: Ein SongSpiel as Jessie.
Prior to COVID cancellations, Ms. Jensen was also contracted to sing Countess Ceprano in Florentine Opera’s production of Rigoletto during the fall (2020). In the spring (2021), she was scheduled to sing the role of Maguelonne while covering the title role of Viardot’s Cendrillon as part of a double bill presented with Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortilèges. She was also set to cover the role of Mimì in La bohème.
During the 2019-2020 season, Emily made her role debut as Suor Angelica at the Indiana University Opera Theatre. She also sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Boston Opera Collaborative, where she made her company debut as Marguerite (Faust).
Emily was an Apprentice Artist at Sarasota Opera, and a Studio Artist with Chautauqua Opera
While at Chautauqua, she sang the role of 2nd Soprano in Missy Mazzoli’s Song from the Uproar and covered Annina in La Traviata with Maestro Steven Osgood. She returned the following season to cover the role of Soprano 2 in Hydrogen Jukebox.
Previous roles include Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Foreign Woman in The Consul, Suzel in L’amico Fritz, Governess in The Turn of the Screw, and Tiny in Paul Bunyan. Other engagements included selections as Ilia in Idomeneo, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Zdenka in Arabella, Alma in Summer and Smoke, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte.
