EMMA GRIMSLEY
SOPRANO/ACTOR
BIOGRAPHY
Soprano Emma Grimsley has proved herself to be an artist that can span many musical genres, recently gaining momentum in both opera and musical theatre. Emma recently performed the lead role of Christine Daaé in the National Tour of The Phantom of the Opera which concluded in Toronto in 2020. While on tour she also performed the role of Young Alyce in Glory Denied with Des Moines Metro Opera and appeared as the soprano soloist in On Broadway with Springfield Symphony Orchestra.
Emma recently performed with Transcendence Theatre Company on their concert An Enchanted Evening. She can frequently be seen and heard in cabaret and concert venues around New York, including 54 Below and Joe’s Pub. Upcoming, she will appear with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra to sing Kjersti Tonseten in Douglas Moore’s Giants in the Earth.
A champion of new works, Ms. Grimsley is constantly involved in innovative productions in both opera and theatre. A few notable projects include the workshops of Theo Popov and Tony Asaro’s The Halloween Tree with American Lyric Theatre, Young Alyce in Tom Cipullo’s contemporary opera Glory Denied with Nashville Opera, based on Tom Philpott’s novel about America’s longest serving POW, and a reading of a new play by Tony Award-winning playwright Mark Medoff, Time and Chance.
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Ms. Grimsley recently performed in the world premiere of Favorite Son, a folk opera by Grammy Award-winning Nashville songwriter Marcus Hummon; she portrayed Johanna in Sweeney Todd with Opera Tampa and Cinderella in Into the Woods with Annapolis Opera; and she was a soloist in Christian De Gre Cardenas’ Twisted Operettas at Joe’s Pub in the Public Theater. Prior engagements include Johanna in Sweeney Todd with New Orleans Opera and Eugene Opera, Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof with Shreveport Opera, and Barbara Conti in the Off-Broadway production of Figaro! 90210, which she later reprised at The Duke on 42nd Street. Emma had the opportunity to be a part of Friends in Theater Company’s production of The Secret Garden at the famed Off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Theatre to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation, which featured Broadway stars such as Rebecca Luker and Bill Nolte from the original cast of the musical.
Ms. Grimsley made her professional début as Lucia in Vespertine Opera Theater’s production of The Rape of Lucretia and has since built an impressive repertoire of roles. Opera credits include Papagena in Die Zauberflöte with Pacific Music Works in Seattle, Cunegonde in Candide for Ash Lawn Opera, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel and Guenevere in Camelot at the Seagle Music Colony, the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte at the Louis J. Roussel Performance Hall in New Orleans, Mabel in Pirates of Penzance at Belfast Maskers, and Minette in the West Coast premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s The English Cat at the University of Southern California. She also joined the prestigious Aspen Music Festival and School.
Grimsley is also a published writer with a degree in English from Loyola University in New Orleans. She shared her literary skills with Playbill when she conducted an interview with famed composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz.
Current as of September 1, 2024
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"...an enchanting Emma Grimsley..." – Broadway World
The Phantom of the Opera – "Emma Grimsley will assume the role of 'Christine Daaé' beginning August 7 when the spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, currently on tour in North America, starts performances in Honolulu, HI for the first time in almost 25 years."
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"...Emma Grimsley was a standout..." – New Orleans Advocate
Sweeney Todd – “Among the other singers, Emma Grimsley was a standout as Johanna. …Her ‘Green Finch and Linnet Bird’ aria is a lilting, sentimental paean to the need for love she feels in her heart.”
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"...brilliant..." – On Broadway
Springfield Symphony Pops Concert – “Another of the evening’s many high points (literally and figuratively) was Grimsley’s brilliant account of the stratospheric aria “Glitter and be Gay” from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. She and Murphy stole our hearts with the “Balcony Scene” from West Side Story and returned to captivate once again during the evening’s second half with “All I Ask of You” from Phantom of the Opera.”
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"...Grimsley's voice soars...completely effortless..." – Broadway World
The Phantom of the Opera – “ Emma Grimsley plays Christine Daaé. While the role calls for a very wide vocal range by musical theater standards, Grimsley's voice soars up to the high notes so gracefully it makes them sound completely effortless.” -Broadway World
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"...Grimsley's soprano is all steel and silver..." – Chicago Sun-Times
The Phantom of the Opera – “Grimsley's soprano is all steel and silver: Crescendo-ing through the upper reaches of the treble clef is an athletic endeavor, and Grimsley pulls it off without sacrificing Christine's gossamer fragility. Their tango duet in "Past the Point of No Return" smolders in the wake of "Don Juan Triumphant," a Caligula-worthy bacchanal that includes a grotesquely glistening boar-on-a-spit and a peacock.”