About Emily

Mezzo-soprano Emily J. Cottam (she/her) is a promising young artist based in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. In 2023, Emily looks forward to joining Opera Maine as a Studio Artist in Rocking Horse Winner as House, and Tisbe (cover)/Angelina (understudy) in La Cenerentola. In the fall, she will be singing with Journey North Opera Company in Minnesota as Ruth (cover) in Dark Sisters.

For her 2022 season, Emily performed with Out of the Box Opera and Opera Columbus in a thrilling, unconventional setting of La Traviata as Annina, and prepared for her role debut of Rosina in Chandler Opera’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia (cancelled due to COVID-19). As a Mary Ragland Emerging Artist at Nashville Opera for their 2021 season, she performed as Tisbe in La Cenerentola (covering Angelina), and Cherubino in Davies’ educational outreach show, The Three Little Pigs. After her time at Nashville Opera, she joined Seagle Festival for a second summer in their 2021 Summer and Fall Seasons as an Emerging Artist, where she created the role of Julia Twitchell in the world premiere of Harmony (Carl and Banks), and was a soloist in the Irving Berlin Revue There’s No Business Like Show Business! 

In the 2019-2020 season, Ms. Cottam was an Emerging Artist at Seagle Festival for their summer season in Schroon Lake, NY, where she performed as Dora in The Manchurian Candidate and Peron’s Mistress in Evita. Following her engagements at Seagle, she joined Tri-Cities Opera as a Resident Artist, where she performed the title role in Davies’ Pinocchio and Ensemble in Tosca. In early 2020, she was a finalist in the Opera Ithaca Edward M. Murray International Competition of Voice. She was scheduled to perform as Charlotte in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Prince Charmant in Massenet’s Cendrillon, and Giovanna in Rigoletto before cancellations due to COVID-19. 

Other recent operatic credits include Serse in Handel’s Serse; Street Singer in Leonard Bernstein’s MASS; Marie in the workshop production of Marie Begins; Hermia in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen; La Marchande in Les mamelles de Tiresias; Ramiro in La finta giardiniera; Melissa in Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola di Alcina; Angelina’s Council in Trial by Jury; and Miss Penelope Newkirk in Help, Help, The Globolinks!

Ms. Cottam was a featured soloist in the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) concert series in Graz, Austria in 2018 and was a semi-finalist in the AIMS Meistersinger Competition. 

Cottam holds a Master’s of Music degree in Opera Performance from Arizona State University and received her Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from Utah State University with a minor in Theatre Arts. She graduated with honors as a Caine Scholar and was the Caine College of the Arts and Utah State University Valedictorian.

Updated: June 2023