Helen Zhibing Huang
soprano
Simply “impressive”
The New York Times
Helen Zhibing Huang is a Chinese-born soprano, and was recently described as “impressive” (The New York Times) after her portrayal of Pamina in The Magic Flute for The Glimmerglass Festival.
For the 2024-25 season, Ms. Huang returns to Hawaii Opera Theatre as Ming in Stuck Elevator, a role that she will reprise with Knoxville Opera in May 2025. She also makes her debut with the Asia Society of Texas as Horse/Rabbit in The Big Swim.
Last season, Ms. Huang made her highly anticipated debut with Hawaii Opera Theatre as Setsuko Kobayashi in An American Dream by Jack Perla. She also returned to the Alabama Symphony as a soloist in Faure’s Requiem and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.
In the previous season, Ms. Huang appeared as Frasquita in Carmen with The Glimmerglass Festival, Monica in The Medium with Nashville Opera, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Annapolis Opera, the title role in Le Rossignol with West Edge Opera, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with North Carolina Opera. She also joined the Alabama Symphony as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah.
The 2021-2022 season saw Ms. Huang singing the role of Amour in Orphée with Washington Concert Opera , as well as Setsuko in An American Dream with Kentucky Opera, as well as joining Glimmerglass Festival as Pamina in The Magic Flute, and La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Her 2019-2020 season included Singa Loh in the world premiere of Jorge Sosa’s I Am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams with White Snake Projects, Henrietta Wong in Steward Wallace’s Harvey Milk with Opera Parallèle (cancelled due to COVID), as well as making concert and operatic debuts in Europe at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Australia. Previously she joined Glimmerglass Festival as Almirena in Handel’s Rinaldo, and Nashville Opera’s Mary Ragland Emerging Artist Program, performing Countess Ceprano and the Page, as well as covering Gilda in Rigoletto, and performing Flora in The Turn of the Screw.
Miss Huang’s other operatic credits include Baby Doe in The Ballad of Baby Doe, Clorinda in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Amor in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Serpetta in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, La fée in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Poppea in Handel’s Agrippina, Carolina in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto, and Flora in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. A strong advocate for new music, she has participated in workshops for operas including Paola Prestini’s Gilgamesh, Julian Wachner’s REV. 23, and Leanna Kirchoff’s Friday After Friday. Her concert credits include Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Symphony No. 4, and Earl Kim’s Where Grief Slumbers.
She has earned recognition from competitions such as Jensen Foundation Competition (2019 Finalist), Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2018 Oregon District Encouragement Award, 2017 Upper Midwest Region Finalist, 2016 Nebraska District Winner), McCammon Voice Competition (2018 Finalist), Orpheus Vocal Competition (2020 Handel Prize), and the National Opera Association Vocal Competition (2015 Second Place).
Miss Huang has fulfilled young artist residencies at Portland, Opera Central City Opera, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, and Songfest, and she holds degrees from the New England Conservatory, Bard Vocal Arts Program, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Rochester (B.A. Economics). She is a founder and co-host of the podcast Asian Angles, which dissects the experiences of Asian artists in the Western creative world.