Soprano Julianne Gearhart made her mainstage debut as Helen Niles in the premiere of Marvin David Levy's revised Mourning Becomes Electra at the Seattle Opera in 2003. ("... a voice of "remarkable sweetness and clarity" Opera News; "witty comedienne with agile coloratura" Seattle Times) She returned to Seattle as Zerbinetta for 2004's production of Ariadne auf Naxos, and was acclaimed in last winter's Opera Now article "Who's Hot" of up and coming young singers as "poised to make a major mark in Operaland ... Gearhart's Zerbinetta had patrons' heads spinning with the boyant charm and sparkle of her vocal action."

A MacAllister finalist and a winner of the Meistersinger Competition in Granz, Austria, Gearhart recently sang Madame Goldentrill in The Impresario in Palm Beach; sang her first Oscar in Gallo in Maschera for the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv; and returned to Seattle twice in 2006 to sing the soprano solos in Orff's Carmina Burana; Bach's notoriously difficult Cantata #51 Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen for the Symphony; and to sing Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier with Peter Rose and Carol Van Ness. Her Olympia in Tales of Hoffman was enthusiastically received as "stellar - Julianne Gearhart as Olympia especially stood out for loveliness of tone combined with power."

Upcoming roles include Gounod's Juliette in 2007 for Grand Rapids and a contract for Ariadne and Naxos for the Geneva Opera. On the upcoming concert horizon is Barber's Knoxville; Summer of 1915 with Chamber Music Amarillo in Texas. Other roles for Gearhart include Nanetta in Falstaff, Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos; an upcoming Forest Bird/Woglinde in The Ring of the Niebelungen in Seattle; Marzelline in Fidelio; a reprisal of Zerbinetta for the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv in 2007; and she will make her Italian debut in Cagliari, Sardinia as Blondchen in Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail.