Emily Gallagher, described as “harmonically appealing and splendiferous” (Stage and Cinema) is a soprano based in Los Angeles, California. She was recently seen as John F. Kennedy in the world premiere of Minute to Midnight with Synchromy (Los Angeles), as the First Wood Sprite in Pacific Opera Project’s Rusalka, debuting her solo show Enchanted Melodies: An Interactive Fairytale Opera with City Lyric Opera in New York City, and as a soloist in Marshall Opera’s Opera Oral History Project at Lincoln Center.

Upcoming engagements include Dew Fairy/Sandman in Opera Modesto’s production of Hansel and Gretel, Susanna in Il segreto di Susanna and Lucy in The Telephone with Opera Italia, Opal Burrows in The Mighty Casey with Lyric Opera of Orange County, and a Liederabend at Palais Khevenhüller-Metsch Gesellschaft für Musiktheater in Vienna, Austria with Donna Suenyan Chan at the piano.

Emily is the creator and star of the one woman opera, Enchanted Melodies: An Interactive Fairytale Opera which she has performed in partnership with City Lyric Opera (NYC), Pacific Opera Project (Los Angeles), Opera Modesto, and has upcoming performances at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, NY with Azure Family Concerts in Pittsburgh, PA and in several venues in and around Philadelphia with Wilmington Concert Opera.  

Role highlights include Gretel in Hansel and Gretel with Pacific Opera Project, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance with the Pittsburgh Savoyards, Soprano in Missy Mazzoli’s Songs from the Uproar at the August Wilson Center (Pittsburgh), Maguelone/La Fée in Cendrillon with Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Nada in Ana Sokolović’s Svadba at the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade and Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica at the KammerOper in Vienna. While a student at Carnegie Mellon University she sang the roles of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Carolina in Il matrimonio segreto. Emily has been seen in concert abroad in Vienna, Austria; Valletta, Malta; and Belgrade, Serbia; and domestically in Savannah, Georgia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; New York, New York; and Los Angeles, California. 

Emily is an avid supporter of contemporary music, and has originated several roles, including Mary in The School of Marital Happiness at the Wiener KammerOper, Mother in Starsong, part of the Compōs-it Opera Festival, Diana in Languagemachine with Pittsburgh Opera, part of their Co-Opera series, and Soprano in Caleb Glickman’s My Neighbor Figaro, for which she also wrote the libretto. This opera was also presented on OperaVision in August 2020 as part of a series of mini-operas written, produced, and performed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a 2022-23 Fulbright Scholar to Austria Emily worked with the theater production company TaleSpin—Musical Tales for Big and Small to produce an original children’s concert series and picture book available in four languages.

Emily has directed numerous shows for youth theater including You’re A Good Man, The Wizard of Oz, Charlie Brown, Tuck Everlasting, Annie Kids, Seussical Kids, and Willy Wonka Kids. She also served as Assistant Director for the world premiere of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant with Opera Modesto in January 2024. 

Emily is a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Sigma Iota honor societies and is a member of the Pasadena Alumni Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, the international women's music fraternity. She is also a member of the Young Professionals Board for Hello Neighbor, a refugee resettlement and support organization based in Pittsburgh.

Emily holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Vocal Performance from Carnegie Mellon University. Her work has been supported by grants from Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies, Drawing Connections (LA) Opera Buffs (LA), Arts Ed Collaborative (Pittsburgh), The Center for Cultural Innovation, California Council for the Arts, and Fulbright Austria.