Emily Magee was trained at Indiana University by the famous soprano Margaret Harshaw and won several singing competitions. Her debut as Fiordiligi, when she filled in for an ill colleague in Mozart's Così fan tutte at the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1994 - while still a member of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists - marked her breakthrough. In 1996 she made her European debut in the same role at the Opéra National de Paris. Emily Magee first attracted international attention when she made her German debut that same year as Elsa in a new production of Lohengrin at the Berlin Staatsoper under Daniel Barenboim. She was then invited to make her Bayreuth Festival debut in the summer of 1997 as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in a production by Wolfgang Wagner conducted by Maestro Barenboim.
Her career has subsequently taken her to all the world's leading opera houses, including La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Royal Opera House in London, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Zurich Opera, the Hamburg and Dresden State Operas, the Berlin Opera Houses, the Liceu in Barcelona and the Paris Opera. Emily Magee has worked with renowned conductors such as Marc Albrecht, Daniel Barenboim, Bruno Bartoletti, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Daniele Gatti, Sir Mark Elder, Mariss Jansons, Philipp Jordan, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Sir Anthony Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, Jeffrey Tate, Christian Thielemann, Juraj Valcuha and Franz Welser-Möst.
Her major successes include the role of Marietta in a new production of Korngold's Die tote Stadt in Zurich, the revival of Lohengrin at the Hamburg State Opera and Eva in a new production of Die Meistersinger in Florenz with Zubin Mehta. In Munich she sang Elisabeth, Eva and Donna Elvira, followed by a new production of Verdi's Stiffelio at Zurich Opera.
Emily Magee has appeared in numerous film productions, including her debut as Tosca at the Zurich Opera House alongside Jonas Kaufmann.
In 2008 Emily Magee made her debut as Arabella (conductor: Simone Young) at the Hamburg State Opera, followed by a new production of Die Fledermaus (conductor: Franz Welser-Möst) in Zurich and her debut as Daphne (conductor: Simone Young) at the Hamburg State Opera. In summer 2008 she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in Rusalka (conductor: Welser-Möst).
In recent seasons she has appeared as Salome in a Hessischer Rundfunk concert at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, with the Verdi Requiem at the Copenhagen Opera and Rachmaninov's The Bells at the BBC London conducted by Maestro Bychkov. Emily Magee returned to the Vienna State Opera with La Fanciulla del West, followed by a new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten (Empress) at the Hamburg State Opera, Gurre-Lieder with Mark Elder and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and concerts of Rienzi/Irene in Budapest (Palace of Arts).
Projects in the 2017/18 season included: Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Vienna Konzerthaus conducted by Philipp Jordan, her debut as Euryanthe in concerts with the Dresden Philharmonic. At the Dresden State Opera, Emily Magee debuts Leonora in the new production of La forza del destino (directed by Keith Warner). She also returned to the Bayreuth Festival as Eva/Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
In the 2018/19 season Emily Magee appeared at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London as Sieglinde (role debut) and as Gutrune in their revival of the Ring. Arabella was on the programme at the Vienna State Opera, and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin she sang the role of Ghita in a new production of Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg. The season ended with various concerts: Mahler's 8th Symphony at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Lyric Symphony at Hamburg's Laeiszhalle, Concert Valkyrie at Seoul Opera, Concert Woman Without a Shadow at the Verbier Festival and Gurre Lieder with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.
Emily Magee began the 2019/20 season at the Semperoper Dresden as Tosca. With the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simone Young, she sang Sieglinde in concert performances of Die Walküre (Act 1). At the Vienna Musikverein and in St. Pölten she sang the soprano part in Verdi's Requiem.
Projects for the 2020/2021 season include Tristan und Isolde in Sydney and Melbourne, and Der fliegende Holländer in concert in Lyon.