Spend an hour with soprano Hope Briggs to learn how an aspiring Contemporary Christian artist landed on the Grand Opera stage. How does she embody the emotional range of all the styles she enjoys? And what’s next for this versatile vocalist?
New Jersey native Hope Briggs made her debut in 2004 with the San Francisco Opera in the role of the Duchess of Parma in Busoni’s Doktor Faust. A critically acclaimed Verdi soprano, she is known for the depth and beauty of her voice, and has been hailed as “an artist of vocal sensitivity, theatrical wisdom, and integrity.”
Her performing career has taken her from Baton Rouge to Brooklyn, from Spoleto to Stuttgart. She has sung the title role in Aida with Nevada Opera, Sacramento Opera, and Cedar Rapids Opera; Leonora in Il Trovatore with El Paso Opera, Opera Roanoke, and Festival Opera of Walnut Creek; and Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera with Festival Opera of Walnut Creek. She also sang Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the San Francisco Choral Society at Davies Symphony Hall.
Her performing career has taken her from Baton Rouge to Brooklyn, from Spoleto to Stuttgart. She is a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions National Finalist, a Metropolitan Opera International Vocal Competition Award Winner, and the recipient of an Encouragement Award from the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation. In addition, she is an ABC KGO-TV 2012 African American Salutes Honoree, a Marion Anderson Historical Society Scholar, and a 2013 Heritage Keeper Award recipient from Friends of Negro Spirituals. Briggs is featured on PBC in the role of Emma Hyers in the documentary film Voices for Freedom: The Hyers Sisters’ Legacy.