Janai Brugger

Soprano

A 2012 winner of Operalia and of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Janai Brugger’s recent season engagements include her highly successful role debut in the title role of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah at Opera Theatre of St Louis, followed by her performances as Pamina The Magic Flute at Ravinia Festival, a role she also sang at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London, and at the Metropolitan Opera of New York where she returns to the role later this year. The artist sang the role of Glauce in Cherubini’s Medea at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro at Los Angeles Opera, Liu Turandot at Opera Colorado, and in her Houston Grand Opera debut, she inaugurated the role of Mary Jane Bower in Jake Heggie’s world premier Intelligence.

Recent concert engagements include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and with Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Festival under the baton of Marin Alsop, Poulenc’s Gloria with Bozeman Symphony Orchestra and Mahler’s Second Symphony with Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Jader Bignamini conducting.

Future appearances include concert engagements with Colorado Symphony, Atlanta Symphony and with Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra; her debut at Canadian Opera Company as Glauce in a revival of the Met’s Medea, and her debut next summer at Glyndebourne Festival as Michaela Carmen.

“As Susanna, soprano Janai Brugger was utterly charming, fierce when needed, vocally splendid, and a savvy survivor.”

Seen and Heard International, Rafael de Acha, 14 June 2019

“Janai Brugger displayed an opulent soprano voice as Servilia…”

Richard S Ginell, Los Angeles Times, 3 March 2019

“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