Emma Pearson was principal artist at the Hessisches Staatstheater, Wiesbaden, in Germany from 2005 until 2014. During this time, she performed over 30 roles for the company, including the title roles in Alban Berg’s Lulu and Rodion Schchedrin’s Lolita (both for the Internationale Maifestspiele, the former earning her a nomination as “Singer of the Year” by OpernWelt Magazine), Lucia di Lammermoor and La Calisto, Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Woglinde, Gerhilde and Waldvogel in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Norina (Don Pasquale), Jenny (The Rise and Fall of the City Mahagonny), Nannetta (Falstaff), Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), and Hilda Mack (Elegy for Young Lovers). On her departure from the company, the State of Hessen awarded Emma the honorary title of “Kammersängerin”. She is the youngest opera singer to have ever received this title.
Further international performances include Gilda (Rigoletto) for Saarländisches Staatstheater, Saarbrücken, and Theater St Gallen, Switzerland; Clorinda (La Cenerentola) for Semperoper Dresden; Nannetta for Nationaltheater Mannheim; Sophie for Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest conducted by Andrew Litton; Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Ruthless Jabiru for the City of London Festival, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Bratislava with Bertrand De Billy.
This year Emma’s engagements will include a national tour for Chamber Music New Zealand with the New Zealand Trio performing Strauss’ Four Last Songs, as well as her role debut as Musetta (La Bohème) for New Zealand Opera and once again teaching at the New Zealand Opera School. Emma’s concert performances will include as featured guest artist at Opera in the Park, Nelson, and Carmina Burana with both the Orpheus Choir, Wellington and the Auckland Choral Society.
In 2024 Emma returned to Opera Australia in the role of Elettra (Idomeneo), to New Zealand Opera as Countess Adele (Le Comte Ory) and to State Opera South Australia in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor. Her concert performances included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Orchestra Wellington and Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Faure’s Requiem with Christchurch Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem with Dunedin Symphony.
Emma’s most recent engagements include Pamina for Festival Opera, the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor for Wellington Opera, Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) for New Zealand Opera, Armida (Rinaldo) for Pinchgut Opera and Christine de Medici (Galileo: Mills) for Victorian Opera. Emma has also featured in Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise: Jazz at the Lincoln Centre with both the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. She made her debut with Wellington Opera as Violetta (La Traviata), performed with Orchestra Wellington in Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust, Mozart’s Requiem with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Auckland Choral Society, Hayllar Music Tours Chamber Music week in Queenstown, Messiah with both the New Zealand and the Queensland Symphony Orchestras, Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the New Zealand Symphony, Les Illuminations (Britten), Haydn The Seasons with Auckland Choral Society, and Bach B Minor Mass with the Orpheus Choir Wellington. Returns to New Zealand Opera include her role debut as Semele (Handel) and Countess (The Marriage of Figaro).
In Australia and New Zealand, Emma has performed Contessa di Folleville in Il Viaggio a Reims, the Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), and Sophie in the Limelight Award winning production of Der Rosenkavalier for Opera Australia, Micaëla in Carmen for State Opera of South Australia, Violetta (La Traviata) for Opera Queensland, the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen, Micaëla, Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro) for West Australian Opera as well as Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the West Australian Symphony Orchestraas well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, she sang the title role in Athalia for her Pinchgut Opera debut. For Southern Opera New Zealand, she has sung Queen of the Night, and for NBR New Zealand Opera, Susanna, Gilda and Fiordiligi. In 2016 she performed Jennifer (The Riders), composed by Iain Grandage, based on the novel by Tim Winton for West Australian Opera and in 2017 returned to the company for Opera on the Quay and to sing the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor. Other recent engagements include the role of Micaela both for New Zealand Opera and in concert for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Missa Solemnis in Bratislava with Bertrand De Billy, Brahms’ Requiem with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and as featured soloist at UKARIA 24 and at the Four Winds Festival.
Emma completed her formal opera training after attaining a Bachelor of Music (Vocal Performance) from the University of Western Australia followed by two years at the Australian Opera Studio, which began with a performance with the London Symphony Orchestra under Mo. Robin Stapleton and concluded with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Dr Haruhisa Handa and the New Tokyo Philharmonic. Emma made her professional operatic debut with NBR New Zealand Opera, in the role of Fiordiligi in their Così fan tutte Winter Tour and then as Frasquita for their main stage production of Carmen, conducted by Emmanuel Plasson. During these seasons she won the Australian Singing Competition’s prestigious Marianne Mathy Scholarship and the Symphony Australia Young Artist Prize. In the same year she also won the More Than Opera German-Australian Opera Grant which led to her contract at the Hessisches Staatstheater, Wiesbaden.
In the 2007 Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition, Emma received the 20th Anniversary Prize from the Bertelsmann Stiftung, and in 2009 was a grateful recipient of the Australian Singing Competition’s Opera Awards, including the Youth Music Foundation Award, Armstrong-Martin Scholarship, Haas Award, Editorial Resources Prize and Royal Overseas League Music Bursary. She was also a finalist in the 2012 Montserrat Caballé International Singing Competition.