Janai Brugger

Born in 1983 and raised in Chicago, Janai Brugger first won acclaim in the early 2010s for her deeply expressive, dramatically compelling performances of lyric soprano roles from the classic repertory. She was exposed to opera at a young age through recordings of singers such as Jessye Norman—one of Brugger's role models—and by attending performances at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Following an auspicious tenure in the Los Angeles Opera’s Young Artist Program, Brugger launched her opera career in earnest in 2012, winning both the distinguished Operalia award and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The latter of these led to her Met debut as Liù in Puccini’sTurandot (1926), now one of her signature roles; others include Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen (1875) and Clara in Gershwin'sPorgy and Bess (1935)—most notably in the Met’s 2019-20 runaway hit production. In 2015, Brugger was featured on the album Ask Your Mama, a genre-bending choral piece by composer Laura Karpman featuring text by Langston Hughes. In 2021, Brugger teamed with Karpman again to record an elegiac aria for HBO’s series Lovecraft Country.