Wendy Bryn Harmer

Soprano

The Seattle Times heralded Wendy Bryn Harmer as “a standout Senta with a big, radiant voice” in her first performances of Der fliegende Holländer with Seattle Opera. In the 2022-23 season, she returns to Utah Opera for further performances of Senta. She also sings Sieglinde in Die Walküre in concert with Michigan Opera Theater and the title role of Iphigénie en Tauride in a return to Boston Baroque in addition to returning to the Metropolitan Opera roster for its productions of Lohengrin and Der fliegende Höllander. Her future holds the debut of another Wagner role, Brünnhilde in Die Walküre with Atlanta Opera, a return to the Metropolitan Opera as Kitty Hart in the new production of Dead Man Walking, and Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the with the Utah Symphony. Last season, she debuted the role of Chrysothemis in Elektra at the Metropolitan Opera and joined the company for its production of Ariadne auf Naxos. She also sang Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido with the Chautauqua Symphony and Susan B. Anthony in Thompson’s The Mother of Us All at Chautauqua Opera. 

Sought-after in German repertoire, she has also recently excelled as Leonore in Fidelio with Opera Omaha and Boston Baroque, the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos with Palm Beach Opera, and Eglantine in von Weber’s rarely-performed Euryanthe at the Bard Music Festival. She previously joined Seattle Opera as well as the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival for operas the comprise Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Her countless performances within the epic work encompass the roles of Sieglinde, Gerhilde, and Orltinde in Die Walküre; Freia in Das Rheingold; and Gutrune and Third Norn in Götterdämmerung.

In other repertoire, Ms. Harmer has sung Adalgisa in Norma, also at Palm Beach Opera, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus with Houston Grand Opera, Fata Morgana in The Love for Three Oranges with Opera Philadelphia, Desdemona in Otello with the Kalamazoo Symphony, Wanda in La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein and Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito with Opera Boston, Elle in La voix humaine with Utah Opera, Glauce in Medea at the Glimmerglass Festival, and Mimì in La bohème at the Utah Festival Opera.

A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, she has returned to the company’s famed stage countless other times in Parsifal, Die Ägyptische Helena, War and Peace, Khovanshchina, and Le nozze di Figaro. Her performances in Die Zauberflöte, as well as the Ring Cycle, have been released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon following the company’s Live in HD broadcasts. She has also joined the company for its productions of Iolanta, Fidelio, Norma, Jenůfa, Rusalka, Pique Dame, La clemenza di Tito, Don Giovanni, and Norma.

On the concert stage, she has sung Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the San Francisco Symphony and Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. She joined the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for its Schubert Festival and, at Lincoln Center, performed as a soloist in its Tribute to Renata Tebaldi. She made her New York recital debut under the auspices of The Marilyn Horne Foundation, and was presented by the George London Foundation in a recital with Ben Heppner at the Morgan Library.

Back to top