Biography 

    American and Italian coloratura soprano, author, and educator Juliet Petrus is recognised internationally as a versatile and captivating performer and a trusted voice in cross-cultural musical exchange. Celebrated as the leading Western interpreter of Chinese art song, she uses classical music to bridge cultural divides between China and the West.

          Juliet has recently appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Maestro Marin Alsop and Maestro Lio Kwok-man in Philadelphia, at Lincoln Center in New York City, and at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing with the iSING Festival. She also recently was the soloist for the Yellow River Cantata with the London Chinese Philharmonic Chorale, the first Westerner to do so. Also this season, at Tianjin Juilliard,  she was the first Western singer to sing the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, a role she often portrays, sung in German with Chinese dialogue.  She also recently  presented a recital of Chinese art song and Western opera for Classical Radio Shanghai, 94.7FM.

        She is a frequent guest in China, both in concert and on television. In 2019 she appeared on Chun Wan (春晚), China’s most-watched annual broadcast, and in July 2023 she filmed an episode of Everlasting Classics 《经典咏流传》，a CCTV programme dedicated to introducing classical music and poetry to the public.

       Juliet’s path toward becoming a specialist in Chinese art song began with the iSING! International Young Artist Festival in Beijing, founded by TIAN Haojiang in 2011. She later received a Confucius Institute Mandarin Language Scholarship to study at Tongji University in Shanghai. With pianist Lydia Qiu, she released the album A Great Distance: A Collection of Chinese and American Art Song (MSR Classics, 2015) and toured China extensively in 2018–2019. In 2020 she co-authored, with Katherine Chu, the landmark book Singing in Mandarin: A Guide to Chinese Lyric Diction and Vocal Repertoire (Rowman & Littlefield, US/UK)—the first systematic guide introducing Mandarin diction and contemporary Chinese vocal repertoire to Western singers. 

      In addition to her recent appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, she has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Walt Disney Hall in the United States; with Maestro Yu Long and the Shanghai Symphony; the Chengdu Symphony and Chongqing Orchestra; a ten-city recital tour across China’s Dongbei region with Lydia Qiu; and numerous appearances throughout Europe. In Western repertoire, Juliet is acclaimed for roles such as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute -- most recently with the Hamburger Kammeroper and previously at Austin Lyric Opera-- and for frequent performances as soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana, which she has sung with the St Louis and Colorado Symphonies. Other notable operatic credits include Fire, the Nightingale, and the Princess in L’enfant et les sortilèges with Florentine Opera, Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Bühne Baden (Austria), Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld and La Musica in L'Orfeo with Glimmerglass Festival, as a soloist with Music of the Baroque in Chicago, and with Detroit Opera (previously Michigan Opera Theater).

      Juliet has over 25 years of experience as an educator in classical music as an independent, private music teacher, and seven years as a teaching artist and curriculum writer for Lyric Opera of Chicago and at Harold Washington College in Chicago. In addition to working one-on-one with singers, voice teachers, collaborative pianists, and performing organistaions, she has presented her masterclasses, lecture-rectials, and workshops on singing in Mandarin for organisations such as the National Association for Teachers of Singing (NATS), Northwestern University, Carnegie Mellon University and Loyola University in the United States; Hanns Eisler and Hannover Hochschule für Musik in Germany; and Song Easel in London. She recently presented her research at the International Symposium on Performance Science, ISPS 2025, in Shanghai.

      She has likewise conducted numerous masterclasses at Chinese conservatories, including at Tianjin Juilliard, Nanjing University for the Arts, Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Shenyang Conservatory of Music, and Wuhan Conservatory of Music, among others. She works extensively with young Chinese singers looking to enter into competitive music programs both in China and abroad. In recent years, her students have been admitted into music degrees at the Shanghai Conservatory and Royal College of Music in London, and have won both national and international art song competitions. Before her career as a professional singer and teacher, Juliet worked as a professional violist, pianist, and choreographer.​Speaking English, Italian, German, French, and Mandarin and having studied singing in the United States, China, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK, she is uniquely positioned to prepare her students musically, linguistically, dramatically, and culturally. Her work stands as a bridge uniting China, the US, Europe, and the UK.

     A London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) fellowship recipient, Juliet is completing her PhD at the Royal College of Music in London, where her research explores cross-cultural pedagogy connecting Mandarin language and Western classical singing.  

      For her contributions to cultural diplomacy, Juliet received the Confucius Institute U.S. “People-to-People Award” in 2020 and was named a “Next Generation Leader” by the Committee of 100 in 2023. She co-leads the London-based organisations East Wind 东风, dedicated to promoting and teaching Chinese art song, and China-Britain Music Trust, which creates musical opportunities for young musicians. She is passionate about helping maintain an open, cross-cultural dialogue, frequently consulting for musical organisations and musicians travelling to China, and advocating for Chinese singers in musical institutions worldwide. She divides her time between London, Shanghai, and Berlin.