Janai Brugger

Soprano

Janai Brugger’s 2026-27 engagements include her Edinburgh International Festival debut as Donna Elvira Don Giovanni at Usher Hall with Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the role of Mrs Hodge Lincoln in the Bardo at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, Carmina Burana with The Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Pamina Die Zauberflöte in her return to Houston Grand Opera, Wife The Juniper Tree at Chicago Opera Theatre, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Cincinnati May Festival, and her role debut as Countess Le Nozze di Figaro at Cincinnati Opera.

Last season Miss Brugger made her debut as Donna Elvira at the Metropolitan Opera followed by her debut as Mimi La Boheme at Los Angeles Opera. She returned to The Met for Michaela Carmen, made her Seattle Symphony debut with Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, and travelled to Minneapolis to appear in a specially curated program of Florence Price songs, The Heart of a Woman, a program she also took to Great Britain to sing with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to celebrate America’s 250^th Anniversary on July 4^th. She sang Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Sacramento Philharmonic and returned to Grant Park Music Festival for the Requiems of Mozart and Faure.

“As Micaëla, Janai Brugger embodied decency and devotion. Her creamy soprano and passionate singing made “Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante” the emotional high point of the performance. The tender feelings she expressed were heightened by the fine horn playing in the orchestra.” Rick Perdian, New York Classical Voice, January 12, 2026

“Another outstanding performance was offered by the radiant soprano Janai Brugger, the only woman in the cast, in the trouser role of Pip, the cabin boy … Singing with extraordinary energy, she quickly revealed her character’s good humor and playfulness. ”

Susan Stempleski, Backtrack, 12 March, 2025

“The delightful Janai Brugger shone as Pip, her voice growing richer as the voyage progressed, particularly in her moving lament with Stephen Costello’s Greenhorn as Ryan Speedo Green’s Queequeg died.”

Christopher Corwin, New York Observer, March 13, 2025

“If Polenzani dominated the production, Brugger was not far behind. Her sweet, shiny soubrette and engaging theatricality previously lit up the stage in PBO productions of The Marriage of Figaro and Don Pasquale. Yet she also brought dramatic weight when required. “Ach, ich fühl’s” was heartbreaking, so emotionally expressive was Brugger’s projection of Pamina’s sadness when she thinks her lover has abandoned her. She stood up to the advances of the evil Monastatos with spunk, her textual clarity matched by adding grit to her attractive sound.”

Lawrence Budmen, South Florida Classical Review, 22 February, 2021