AMY JOHNSON

amyj@music.umass.edu
283 Fine Arts Center
(413) 545-6047
www.amysjohnson.com

VOICE; VISITING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

One of America's finest singing actresses, soprano Amy Johnson continues to expand her activities beyond the scope of her acclaimed performing career. Her recent achievements away from the stage (as co-founder of a summer language-opera program in Italy, co-principal in a production company, and voice teacher at the university level) are natural outgrowths of her profile as a singer. Ms. Johnson has earned special acclaim for her portrayal of the title role in Puccini's Tosca, which she has performed in nearly twenty productions as well as a PBS Live from Lincoln Center telecast with the New York City Opera. Other roles include the title role in Salome, Giorgetta in Il Tabarro, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Fiordiligi in Cosí Fan Tutte, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Mimi in La bohème, the title role in Aïda, Leonora in Il Trovatore, the title role in Madama Butterfly, Marguerite in Faust, the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Liù in Turandot, Nedda in I Pagliacci, Desdemona in Otello and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. She performed in such companies as Vlaamse Opera Antwerp, New York City Opera, Indianapolis, Glimmerglass, Palm Beach, Michigan Opera Theater, Spier Festival in South Africa, Arizona Opera, Nashville, Kentucky, Santa Barbara, Portland, Toledo, Orlando, Virginia, Greensboro, El Paso and Tampa.

Ms. Johnson created the role of Manuela in the world premiere of Thea Musgrave's Simón Bolívar for Virginia Opera, reprised in London (BBC Proms Concerts at Royal Albert Hall broadcast throughout Europe). Concert highlights include the world premiere of Ms. Musgrave's Three Women with the Women's Philharmonic of San Francisco, her Carnegie Hall debut in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in a benefit for the South Asia earthquake victims, appearances with the Long Island Philharmonic, West Virginia Symphony, Evansville Philharmonic, Waterbury Symphony, Glacier Symphony, Riverside Symphonia, Rockford Symphony and Kentucky Symphony. She has collaborated with many renowned conductors and directors including Silvio Varviso, Anton Coppola, Joseph Rescigno, George Manahan, Steven Mercurio, Steven White, Valery Ryvkin, Louis Salemno, Bruno Aprea, Emmanuel Plasson, Stephen Lord, Thomas Conlin, Mark Lamos, Fabrizio Melano, Robert Carsen, Marc Verzatt, Vernon Hartman, Kay Walker Castaldo, Bodo Igesz, Mario Corradi, Linda Brovsky, James Marvel, Lillian Garrett Groag, Joshua Major and Tomer Zvulun.

Ms. Johnson is a co-principal in Impresario Productions, LLC (www.impresarioproductions.com) specializing in opera and concert production. She is also the co-founder of The Professional Advantage, a summer opera training program in Italy (www.theprofessionaladvantage.net). She currently serves on the advisory board of Opera Lakeland in Florida. Recent projects include co-producing and performing Twisted Sisters (www.twistedsistersmadscenes.com), a fully staged evening of "mad scenes" incorporating interactive projected film images in excerpts from Lucia di Lammermoor, Mefistofele and Salome. In addition, Ms. Johnson was recently appointed Visiting Assistant Professor of Voice at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Upcoming engagements include Bernstein's Kaddish Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony (alongside narrator Jamie Bernstein), the title role in Salome for Toledo Opera, a series of recitals (Five Languages of Love), Strauss' Four Last Songs with the Rockford Symphony, Freia in Das Rheingold for the Indianapolis Symphony conducted by Mario Venzago, and her first solo CD, Amy Johnson in Red, White and Blue, to be recorded in Europe and conducted by John Fiore.

Appointed 2008