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.
In her 2024-2025 season, she will debut as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette at El Paso Opera, perform the role of Ming in Byron Au Yong’s Stuck Elevator at Hawaii Opera Theatre and Knoxville Opera, curate and perform in the musical experience Girls of Yellow Diamonds at Piedmont Opera, and return to Hawaii Opera Theatre with her one-woman show, The Awkward Years.
In 2023-2024 season, Helen reprised the role of Setsuko in Perla’s An American Dream with Hawaii Opera Theatre, joining the New York Philharmonic covered Lina Song in the world premiere of Aaron Zigman and Mark Campbell’s Émigré, returned to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Fauré’s Requiem and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, and returned to the Naples Philharmonic for Handel’s Messiah. She also took part in Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’s New Works Collective, singing Roe Bettencourt in J.E. Hernández’s Mechanisms.
In the 2022-2023 season, Helen made many exciting role and house debuts, including debuts as Monica in Menotti’s The Medium at Nashville Opera, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at Annapolis Opera, Zerlina in Don Giovanni at North Carolina Opera, the title role in Stravinsky’s Le rossignol as West Edge Opera, as well as Handel’s Messiah with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. In addition, she reprised the role of Singa Loh in I Am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams with Resonance Works Pittsburgh, and participated in workshops for Derrick Wang’s Fearless with Opera Delaware and Gregory Spears’s The Righteous with Cincinnati Opera.
In 2021-2022, Helen joined Washington National Opera to cover Maya Lin in Huang Ruo’s The Rift. She made her Kentucky Opera debut singing Setsuko in Perla’s An American Dream and Washington Concert Opera debut singing Amour in Gluck’s Orphée. In addition, she joined Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago’s 2021 Festival and took part in Bard’s China Now Music Festival, performing Josephine in Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier. In the summer of 2022, Helen returned to the Glimmerglass Festival as Frasquita in Carmen, Queer Kid in Kamala Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents, and Azraele in Damien Geter’s Holy Ground.
During the 2020-21 season, Helen returned to the Glimmerglass Festival as Pamina in The Magic Flute, and joined Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as a Richard Gaddes Festival Artist performing La Ciesca in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and The Queen (Cover) in Mackey’s Moon Tea. She was a participant in Carnegie Hall’s SongStudio program led by Renée Fleming and earned a place in the finals of the Lotte Lenya Competition.
In the 2019-2020 season, Helen made her operatic debuts in Europe at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. As a Nashville Opera MaryRagland Emerging Artist, she performed the role of Flora in The Turn of the Screw. There she was also slated to perform the roles of Countess Ceprano and the Page and cover Gilda in Rigoletto before the production was cancelled due to COVID-19. Other appearances altered due to the pandemic include debuts with Opera Parallèle as Henrietta Wong in Harvey Milk and the role of Almirena in Handel’s Rinaldo with the Glimmerglass Festival.
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, and Carolina in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto. Her concert credits include Haydn’s Creation, Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Symphony No. 4, and Earl Kim’s Where Grief Slumbers.
Huang has earned recognition from competitions such as the Astral National Auditions (2021 winner), the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2018 Oregon District Encouragement Award, 2017 Upper Midwest Region Finalist, 2016 Nebraska District Winner), Jensen Foundation Competition (2019 Finalist), McCammon Voice Competition (2018 Finalist), Orpheus Vocal Competition (Handel Award 2020), and the National Opera Association Vocal Competition (2015 Second Place). She has held young artist residencies at Portland Opera, Central City Opera, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, and Songfest.
Huang 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 of Wear Yellow Proudly, an initiative that aims to bring awareness to Asian culture and strengthen the ties within the global community through music, poetry and culture. In her spare time, Helen enjoys cooking and eating traditional Chinese dishes.
