Julianna SMITH
mezzo-soprano
a bit about me!
Praised for her “opulent, richly-colored mezzo”, American mezzo-soprano Julianna Smith is an enthusiastic performer from Towson, Maryland, and incoming member of the Wiener Staatsoper Opernstudio. Julianna is a former Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, PA, and Studio Artist with both Wolf Trap Opera and the Aspen Music Festival. She has also been an Apprentice Artist with Opera Neo and a Vocal Fellow of the Manetti Shrem Opera Program at Festival Napa Valley. An avid competitor, she was a 2026 National Semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and has received top prizes from the Mario Lanza Institute, Mildred Miller Competition, Annapolis Opera, and others. Career highlights include masterclasses with both Renée Fleming and Joyce Didonato, performing as Siegrune in Die Walküre alongside Greer Grimsley and Christine Goerke at the Aspen Music Festival, and collaborating with Jake Heggie for the preview concert of his new opera, Before It All Goes Dark. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Maryland.
“Both singers succeeded in bringing a youthful physicality to their roles; Smith [...] eased into a juvenescent impishness that perfectly suited Hänsel’s bluster in Act 2.
[...] Where some productions lean into the libretto’s quarrelsome banter between the siblings, these players took a sweeter approach in both their staging and musical interplay. Their duet singing was magnificent, with Smith and Fleischmann blending beautifully in the Evening Prayer and the third act’s “Bleib stehn! Bleib stehn!” upon the reveal of the witch’s house.”
-Chicago Classical Review