Patricia Johnson – dramatic coloratura soprano

Soprano Patricia Johnson has become known as a specialist in the Italian bel canto repertoire, singing the roles of Violetta, Gilda and Lucia di Lammermoor with numerous opera companies throughout the world. In addition to those three staples of her repertoire, her long association with the Opera Orchestra of New York under the direction of Eve Queler allowed her to add the title roles in Rossini’s “Armida” and Donizetti’s “Linda di Chamounix”, as well as Bellini’s Amina (“La Sonnambula”), Elvira (“I Puritani”) and Giulietta (“I Capuletti e Montecchi”) to her roster of bel canto heroines.

Upcoming engagements will include her role debut as Norma with Opera in the Heights.

During her seasons with the New York City Opera, Miss Johnson was hailed by the American press as “America’s newest emerging talent”, expanding her repertoire with a variety of roles. In addition to Gilda and Violetta, her repertoire at that house included Micaëla in “Carmen”, Nanetta in “Falstaff” (with Sherrill Milnes in the title role), Antonia in “Les Contes d’Hoffmann”, the Countess Almaviva in “Le Nozze di Figaro” and Valencienne in “The Merry Widow”, which was seen nation-wide in a Live from Lincoln Center telecast.

Patricia Johnson’s appearances on American opera stages include roles such as Helena in Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Gulietta in “Les Contes of d’Hoffmann” with Houston Grand Opera, Pamina in “Die Zauberflöte” and Adele in “Die Fledermaus” with Sarasota Opera, Liù in “Turandot” with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Juliette in Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Countess Almaviva with Harrisburg Opera, numerous appearances as Lucia (Cleveland Opera, El Paso Opera) and Violetta (Harrisburg Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Delaware, El Paso Opera, Opera Company of Brooklyn), Mimì with Connecticut Grand Opera, all four heroines in “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” with El Paso Opera as well as Micaëla and Lakmé with Union Avenue Opera St. Louis. No stranger to contemporary music, Patricia Johnson also sang the role of Air in the world premiere of Peter Lieberson’s opera “Ashoka’s Dream” with Santa Fe Opera.

Highlights of her appearances abroad include performances of Countess Almaviva at the Teatro Municipal Santiago de Chile and her European debut as Konstanze in Mozart’s “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” with the Komische Oper Berlin. She also performed Gilda at the Prague State Opera in the company’s annual Verdi Festival, Mary Magdalene in a staged version of Handel’s “The Messiah” with the Early Music Festival Utrecht (Holland), sang concerts in France and Poland, and made her acclaimed solo recital debut at the Baroque Salon in Vienna.

On the American concert stage, Patricia Johnson made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2002 as the soprano soloist in Schubert’s Mass No.2 and Haydn’s “Creation Mass”, returning there in June 2009 for Vivaldi’s “Gloria”. Other concert appearances have included performances of the complete “Messiah” with the Colorado Springs Symphony and the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and the Brahms “Requiem” with the Arkansas Symphony, and most recently an opera gala concert with the Las Vegas Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro David Itkin. Patricia Johnson was born in Kansas City and studied at the University of Missouri. She now lives with her husband in New York.