Hailed by Opera News as "a dramatic singer in the truest sense", Mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson has received critical acclaim for her work on both the opera and concert stage. She joined the Metropolitan Opera in 2011, making her company debut in the Summer Recital Series and later performing the role of Rosina in Opera Southwest’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia. Engagements during the 2011–12 season include singing “The Neighbor” in Stravinsky’s Mavra with the American Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with Choral Arts Society of Louisville, Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 with the St. Olaf Choir and Orchestra, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with PORT Opera.
Among her past credits are roles such as the title character La Cenerentola and Elizabeth Practor in The Crucible, both with Sarasota Opera; Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Boston Lyric Opera; Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera New Jersey; Carmen with the Volkstheater in Rostock, Germany; and Meg Page in Falstaff with New York City Opera.
Other notable engagements include Hedwige in Rossini's Guilliume Tell and Mallika in Lakmé with Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana with Glimmerglass Opera, Lisetta in Il mondo della luna with Opera Layfayette, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Portland Opera Repertory Theater, and Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti with Nashville Opera.
On the concert stage she has performed Mozart's Mass in C minor with New York Choral Society, selections from Il barbiere di Siviglia with Boston Pops Orchestra, Mozart's Requiem, Coronation Mass and Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 with the New Hampshire Music Festival.
A 2002 Metropolitan Opera National Council Semi-Finalist, Ms. Johnson also received New York City Opera's prestigious Stanley Tausend Award (2006), presented to a deserving young artist in the season following their debut with the company. She is a native of Minnesota currently living in New York.
