Emily Magee was trained at Indiana University by famed soprano Margaret Harshaw and won several vocal competitions. While still a member of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, her debut as Fiordiligi, when she replaced an ill colleague in Mozart’s Così fan tutte at the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1994, marked her breakthrough. In 1996, she made her European debut in the same role at the Opéra National de Paris. Emily Magee first attracted international attention when she made her German debut that same year as Elsa in a new production of Lohengrin at the Berlin Staatsoper under the musical direction of Daniel Barenboim. In the summer of 1997, she was invited to make her Bayreuth Festival debut as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in a production by Wolfgang Wagner conducted by Maestro Barenboim.

Her career has subsequently taken her to all the leading opera houses worldwide, including La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Royal Opera House in London, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Zurich Opera, the Hamburg and Dresden State Operas, the Berlin Opera Houses, the Liceu in Barcelona and the Paris Opera.  Emily Magee has worked with renowned conductors such as Marc Albrecht, Daniel Barenboim, Bruno Bartoletti, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Daniele Gatti, Sir Mark Elder, Mariss Jansons, Philipp Jordan, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Sir Anthony Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, Jeffrey Tate, Christian Thielemann, Juraj Valcuha and Franz Welser-Möst.

Her major successes include the role of Marietta in a new production of Korngold’s Die tote Stadt in Zurich, the revival of Lohengrin at the Hamburg State Opera, and Eva in a new production of Die Meistersinger in Florenz with Zubin Mehta. In Munich she sang Elisabeth, Eva and Donna Elvira, followed by a new production of Verdi’s Stiffelio at Zurich Opera.

Emily Magee has appeared in numerous film productions, including her debut as Tosca at the Zurich Opera House alongside Jonas Kaufmann.

In 2008 Emily Magee made her debut as Arabella (conductor: Simone Young) at the Hamburg State Opera, followed by a new production of Die Fledermaus (conductor: Franz Welser-Möst) in Zurich and her debut as Daphne (conductor: Simone Young), again at the Hamburg State Opera. In the summer of 2008 she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in Rusalka (conductor: Franz Welser-Möst).

In the more recent past Emily Magee returned to the Vienna State Opera with La Fanciulla del West, followed by a new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten (Empress) at the Hamburg State Opera, at the Semperoper Dresden she debuted Leonora in the new production of La forza del destino (directed by Keith Warner), she also returned to the Bayreuth Festival as Eva/Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London she appeared as Sieglinde (role debut) and as Gutrune in the revival of ROH‘s Ring des Nibelungen, at the Vienna State Opera she sang the title role in Arabella, and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin she sang the role of Ghita in a new production of Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg.

Concert highlights include Salome with the Hessischer Rundfunk at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Verdi Requiem at the Copenhagen Opera and Rachmaninov’s The Bells at the BBC London conducted by Maestro Bychkov, Gurre-Lieder with Mark Elder and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and concerts of Rienzi/Irene in Budapest (Palace of Arts), Beethoven’s 9. Symphony at the Vienna Konzerthaus conducted by Philippe Jordan, her debut as Euryanthe in concerts with the Dresden Philharmonic, Mahler’s 8. Symphony at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony at Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, concert performances of Die Walküre at Seoul Opera and of Frau ohne Schatten at the Verbier Festival and Gurre-Lieder with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as concert performances of Die Walküre (Act 1) / Sieglinde with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simone Young. She sang the soprano part in Verdi’s Requiem at the Vienna Musikverein and in St. Pölten.

Most recently Emily Magee appeared as Turandot at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, with Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied in Linz (Markus Poschner), at Opera Australia in Melbourne as Elsa/Lohengrin, also as Elsa and as Gutrune at Oper Leipzig. She could also be heard as Sieglinde and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Dresden Philharmonic under the baton of Marek Janowski, as Tosca at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and as Minnie in La Fanciulla del West with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst. She retured to LA Opera in the 2023/2424 season (Der Zwerg/Ghita), and singst he title role in Strauss‘ Ariadne auf Naxos with the Budpest Festival Orchestra under the musical direction of Iván Fischer, aproduction that will also be performed in the current season in Budapest and Vicenza, Italy. Further projects oft he 2024/25 season include her role debut as Herodias in Salome at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Sieglinde in Die Walküre in Beijing as well as numerous concerts such as Strauss‘ Four Last Songs with the New World Symphony in Miami or Beethoven’s 9th symphony with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig.