Soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer. Photo by Arielle Doneson.
Bio
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 2025-26 season, she returns Leonore in Fidelio with Utah Opera and Boston Baroque to debut Elettra in Idomeneo in addition to singing Vaughan William’s Sea Symphony with the Oregon Symphony. She also returns to the Metropolitan Opera roster for its production of Turandot. Future seasons include her return to the Teatro Municipal de Santiago. Last season she made both her European and South American debuts as Senta in Der fliegende Holländer at Staatsoper Hamburg and the Teatro Municipal de Santiago, respectively. She made role debuts as Turandot with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw in a return to Santa Fe Opera—in addition to singing Ortlinde whilst also being responsible for Brünnhilde in Die Walküre. She also joined the Metropolitan Opera for its production of Fidelio and sang her first performances of Verdi’s Requiem with Orlando Opera.
Sought-after in German repertoire, she has recently excelled as Chrysothemis in Elektra with the Metropolitan Opera, Santa in Der fliegende Holländer with Seattle Opera and Utah Opera, 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, Detroit Opera, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival for operas the comprise Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Her countless previous 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, Kitty Hart in Dead Man Walking at the Metropolitan 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, Marilyn in Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith’s The Righteous with Santa Fe Opera, Susan B. Anthony in The Mother of Us All at Chautauqua Opera, 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, 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 Ariadne auf Naxos, Iolanta, Lohengrin, Der fliegende Holländer, Norma, Jenůfa, Rusalka, Pique Dame, La clemenza di Tito, and Don Giovanni.
On the concert stage, Wendy Bryn Harmer has sung Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the San Francisco Symphony and Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, and Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the Utah Symphony. With Gemma New conducing the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, she sang Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. 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.
