Biography

The young Belgian soprano Emma Posman made her opera debut when she jumped in as ‘Queen of the night’ in ‘The magic flute’ of W.A.Mozart on the prestigious Salzburger Festspiele, directed by Lydia Steier, under the baton of Constantinos Carydis. That summer Emma had been part of the Young Singers Project (YSP), where she also sang ‘Queen of the night’ in the children’s production, ‘Die Zauberflöte für Kinder’, conducted by Giedrė Šlekytė, directed by Tomo Sugao. After this successful debut, she sang the role in many houses throughout Europe such as ‘The Komische Oper Berlin’, ‘Gärtnerplatz Theater Munich’,’ Aalto Theater Essen’,’ Staatsoper Hannover’, ‘Theater Kiel’, ‘Opéra De Versailles ‘ Theater Krefeld-Mönchengladbach’ as well as another children’s version at ‘La Monnaie’ in Brussels.

Emma obtained her ‘Master’s Degree Of Voice’ with ‘Greatest Distinction’ at ‘The Royal Conservatory Of Ghent’, where she studied with ‘Hendrickje Van Kerckhove’.
During her studies, she also took part in the ‘Udo Reineman Masterclasses in 2018.
In 2020 she became a ‘Laureate’ of the’ MM Academy’ of ‘ La Monnaie’, the Brussels royal operahouse and became a member of the young ensemble at ‘Grand theatre de Genève’ (2020-2021). In 2022, she joined ‘Equilibrium Artists’ by Barbara Hannigan, with whom she performed at ‘Maison de la Radio France’ In Paris and in ‘Flagey’ in Brussels. Through EQ, she made her debut with the ‘Scottish Chamber Orchestra’ in 2023, singing concert aria’s by W.A.Mozart, such as ‘Vorrei spiegarvi, oh dio’ under the baton of ‘Thomas Adès’. During her time at the young ensemble at ‘Grand Theatre de Genève’, she was cast as ‘First Flowermaiden’ in ‘Parsifal’ and ‘Flora’ in ‘La Traviata’.

In Belgium, she made her debut with ‘Opera Ballet Vlaanderen’ (Opera Ghent and Antwerp) in 2022 in the revival of the legendary 'Mozart Concert Aria’s’ production, by ‘Rosas’ "Un Moto Di Gioia”, conducted by Francesco Corti, in a choreography by ‘Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’. This Production toured to ‘Concertgebouw Brugge’ and ‘Festspielhaus St-Pölten’. As a ‘Laureate’ of the ‘MMAcademy’ of La Monnaie, Emma sang ‘Novizia/Prima sorella conversa’ in ‘Suor Angelica’ in the production ‘Il Trittico’ by G.Puccini in 2022, directed by Tobias Kratzer, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, while also covering ‘Lauretta’ in ‘Gianni Schicchi’. With the same production and roles, she made her Italian debut at the ‘Teatro Regio Di Torino’. In ‘La Monnaie’, she also sang ‘Masha/Prileppa’ in ‘Pique Dame’ by Tsjaikovski, conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann, directed by David Marton. She sang in two world premieres by composer Howard Moody and directed by Benoît De Leersnyder at La Monnaie. In 2023 as ‘Talus’ In ‘Solar’ and in 2025 as ‘The Daughter’ In ‘Snake’. The same year, she sang the roles of ‘Le Feu’ and ‘Le Rossignol’ in ‘L’enfant et les sortilèges’ by M.Ravel in a concertant version in Bozar, under the baton of Alain Altinoglu. Emma has also covered a few roles at La Monnaie’, such as Elisabeth’ In Marc Grey’s ‘Frankenstein’, ‘Nanetta' In ‘Falstaff’ And ‘Fanny/Paulina’ In ‘Fanny And Alexander’.

In 2023, Emma had the chance to sing ‘Lauretta’ In ‘Gianni Schicchi’ at the ‘Zomeropera Alden Biesen’. She has there since then sung ‘Valencienne’ in ‘Die Lustige Witwe' and ‘Prinses Mi’ In ‘Das Land des Lächelns’. In may 2026, she will make her debut as ‘Mimi’ in a new production of ‘La Bohème’ by G.Puccini, conducted by Azzurra Steri and in a regie of Bruno Van Heystraeten.

Next to the classical repertoire, Emma is also a frequent performer of contemporary music. In 2020, she sang in ‘L’Opéra de Dijon’, in the world premiere of ‘Les Châtiments’ by Brice Pauset, inspired by the books of F.Kafka, in the roles of ‘Frida and Grete’, conducted by Emilio Pomarico, in a regie by David Lescot.

For the annual ‘Gent Festival’, she created in 2024 the role of ‘La Hija’ in the chamber opera ‘Cambio Madre Por Moto’ by Frank Nuyts, conducted by Benjamin Haemhouts, directed by Aïda Gabriels. In 2025, She sang in the world creation of ‘Crashflight’, an opera by Benjamien Lycke, directed by Mien Bogaert, in the role of ‘La Giuditta’. For the Belgian television, she made a recording in a collaboration with ‘Spectra ensemble’ of ‘The book of Thel’ by Lucien Posman, conducted by Filip Rathé. In 2019, she also created the song cycle ‘Songs of Innocence’, by Lucien Posman, conducted by Marc M. De Smet.

Next to being an operasinger, Emma also has a great passion for ‘Lied’ and performed songrecitals throughout Belgium, such as ‘Bozar’,‘De Bijloke’, ‘Concertgebouw Brugge’ and ‘De Spil’ with pianists Bert De Rycke, Florestan Bataillie and others. In 2018, she was elected ‘Young musician of the Year’ for the annual ‘Caecilia awards’ in Flagey and became a next generation artist of the Belgian Press. In 2020, she was selected as one of ‘De Twintigers’, by the Belgian radio ‘Klara’. Emma performed as a soloist with many orchestra’s, such as ‘Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen’, ‘Belgian National orchestra’, ‘Brussels Philharmonic’, Scottish chamber orchestra’, and others, in concerthalls as ‘Bozar’, ‘Flagey’, ‘De Singel’, ‘Concertgebouw Brugge’ and ‘De Bijloke’. Early in het career, she sas a winner/finalist of different opera competitions, such as ‘Voix Nouvelles’(finalist), ‘Renata Tebaldi Competition’(youngest finalist award), ‘Maria Caniglia Competition’(finalist), ‘Bell’arte Competition’(first and audience prize), ‘Honda Competition’(second prize), ‘Triomphe De L’art Competition’(third prize). Emma has taken masterclasses with great artists such as Thomas Hampson, Edda Moser, Barbara Bonney, Bernarda Fink, Anne Sophie Von Otter, Malcolm Martineau, Claudia Visca, Krassimira Stoyanova, Roger Vignoles, and Valerie Girard, with whom she stil works until now.