Justine Aronson

Hailed by The New York Times as possessing "a deep reservoir of expressive devices" and by the Los Angeles Times as "dramatically and gratifyingly juicy," soprano Justine Aronson’s repertoire spans the traditional and the contemporary, with performances that adventurously embrace the unexpected.

Highlights of recent seasons include engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and LA Phil's Chamber Music series, On Site Opera, Lyric Fest of Philadelphia, Mirror Visions Ensemble, Five Boroughs Music Festival, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Wild Shore New Music Festival, and Eighth Blackbird, among others. Recent workshops include the roles of gene and actress for Iphigenia, created by Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding, and the role of The Assistant for David Lang’s prisoner of the state with the New York Philharmonic.

Additional performances include appearances with the LA Phil's Green Umbrella series, Opera Philadelphia, Beth Morrison Projects, National Sawdust, New York Festival of Song, Copland House, Art Song at the Old Stone House, The Industry, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, Lucerne Festival Academy, Bang on a Can Summer Festival, The Bard Music Festival, The String Orchestra of Brooklyn, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, Carlsbad Music Festival, Brightwork New Music, Princeton Pro Musica, Reno Kantorei, The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, Masterwork Chorale, New Jersey Chamber Singers, the Westminster Summer Festival, Synchromy Music, and the HEAR NOW Music Festival.

Along with Sarah Goldfeather, Justine is one half of the voice-violin duo CIPHER, which champions new works by female composers. Since its 2017 West Coast tour, they have gone on to collaborate with Grammy-nominated pianist Pascal LeBoeuf for performances in New York City. The duo was in residence at Avaloch Farm Music Institute in Summer 2018, toured the Midwest alongside Nick Photinos (Eighth Blackbird) in December 2018, and appeared in residence at Wild Shore New Music in Alaska in 2019.

Justine is featured on the NAXOS record release of composer Daron Hagen’s portrait album Hagen: 21st Century Song Cycles, garnering such praise as having the “flexible, immediately engaging quality of the best cabaret singers” (Opera News). Her interpretations have consistently captured the attention of those producing new music, earning her premieres with composers including David Lang, Ted Hearne, Kamala Sankaram, Anna Pidgorna, Sarah Goldfeather, Christopher Cerrone, Daron Hagen, William Kraft, Veronika Krausas, Aaron Jay Kernis, Thomas Pasatieri, Fred Hersch, Nicholas Deyoe, and Andrew McIntosh. A dedicated collaborative voice, she is currently on the roster as a Resident Ensemble Member for The American Opera Project's Composers & the Voice.

Justine has appeared in concert as a soloist with Lucerne Festival Academy, Bang on a Can Summer Festival, Bard Music Festival, String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Carlsbad Music Festival, Brightwork New Music, Princeton Pro Musica, Reno Kantorei, Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, Masterwork Chorale, gnarwhallaby, and the Westminster Summer Festival. For the HEAR NOW Music Festival, Justine premiered William Kraft’s orchestrations of his Settings of Pierrot Lunaire, a performance for which she received critical acclaim. Previous seasons also included appearances with the Metropolitan Opera Guild, New Jersey Chamber Singers, and Synchromy Music.

Justine enjoys continuing relationships with Opera Philadelphia, the New York Festival of Song, The Industry, Brooklyn Art Song Society, and wild Up, among others. In opera and chamber opera repertoire, she has portrayed roles including Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Despina (Così fan tutte), Yum-Yum (The Mikado), Monica (The Medium), Nuria (Ainadamar), Yniold (Pelléas et Mélisande), and she covered the role of Lisa for the NYC premiere of David T. Little’s Dog Days produced by Beth Morrison Projects.

Justine resides in Brooklyn with Henrietta, her twelve-pound terrier mix who may also be part cat or guinea pig. www.justinearonson.com