“The full-blast dramatic soprano of Karen Chia-ling Ho… has the power to cut through any orchestra;… she could also sing softly and shape phrases to express other moods.” ─ Musical America
The 2023/24 season sees Karen Chia-ling Ho making debuts with Opera Philadelphia, Boston Lyric Opera, and Virginia Opera in the title role of Madama Butterfly. Other engagements this season include a return to the Metropolitan Opera to cover Mimì in La Bohème and San Francisco Opera to cover Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly.
Following her debut with the Hong Kong Arts Festival in Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber, Ms. Ho reprised the role of Princess Jia in her San Francisco Opera debut. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Meretaten in Philip Glass’ Akhnaten and Apparition in Macbeth. She sang Liù in Turandot with St. Petersburg Opera and Tosca in Hong Kong at the More Than Music Festival, under the direction of Nic Muni. She also sang staged performances of La Traviata as Violetta at the Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater with the Philharmonia Orchestra of New York. She made her Carnegie Hall debut with the American Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Leon Botstein, in Ernst Krenek’s Der Diktator as Maria.
Other engagements include, performances with Hawaii Opera Theater in Madama Butterfly and the New Jersey Festival Orchestra in the “Yellow River Cantata” and Strauss’ Op. 27, along with operatic selections of Verdi. Ms. Ho was presented in concert with the American Composers Orchestra in Washington, D.C. in music by Chinese composer Li Shaosheng and appeared in concerts with both the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra in China. She has also performed concerts with the Musical Olympus Foundation, San Jose Center for the Performing Arts in music by Tysen Hsiao, and Philharmonia Orchestra of New York in Mozart’s Requiem.
Ms. Ho was a finalist in the Belvedere Competition and the Francisco Viñas Competition in Barcelona. She received First Prize in the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, was the Second Prize winner of the Marcello Giordani Foundation International Vocal Competition, and was awarded a Sergio Franchi Music Foundation Grant. Ms. Ho was also a district winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Ms. Ho was a member of the Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera where she was featured in the role of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, under the direction of James Darrah. Winner of the prestigious Renee Fleming Award from the Eastman School of Music, she holds music degrees from the Universities of TNUA and Tung-Hai in Vocal Performance, a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, and an Artist Diploma from the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati.