Momoko Tanno is a singer/actor/educator, who has been actively performing in the Twin Cities, nationally, and abroad. This season, she made the debut at Tacoma Opera as Cio-cio-san in Madama Butterfly and received standing ovations. Momoko is the recipient of  IDEA (Inclusion Diversity Equity Artistry) Fellowship 2023-2024 and performed the role of Florencia Grimaldi in Florencia en el Amazonas by Daniel Catan with the Opera Reading Project in St. Paul, MN in May, 2024. She has performed in The Song Poet by Jocelyn Haugen and MNiature Opera “YR GOD MY GOD” by Christian Bardin with The Minnesota Opera, The Pick Up Truck Opera Volume 1: Tale of the Odyssey by Mixed Precipitation starring as Penelope and Minerva singing Monteverdi and Dolly Parton songs, as well as the title roles in the Japanese operas written by composer Asako Hirabayashi, Hebionna (The Snake Woman) with the support of Opera America’s Discovery Grant 2023 and Yukionna (The Snow Witch) with support by Minnesota State Arts Board and Jerome Foundation.

Their credits include Susanna in Figaro, Donna Anna in Don Juan Giovanni, Frasquita in Carmen with the Tony Award-Winning Theater de la Jeune Lune, American Repertory Theater, and Berkeley Repertory Theater, Singer and Kurogo in M. Butterfly at the Guthrie Theatre, and Nymph/Ensemble in Camelot at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Momoko is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and currently teaches voice at University of Wisconsin River Falls.

Momoko has a Bachelor of Arts from Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan with the Dean’s Award and Master of Music from the University of Minnesota, privately studied with Camille Maurane, a legendary Baryton Martin in Paris for 3 years to master French and Mélodies Françaises, and Elizabeth Mannion, a legendary teacher of Jessye Norman, and currently with George Smith.

Momoko is a recipient of the Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant FY2013, FY2019, Community Cultural Partnership Grant FY2015 in which she co-created The Story of Crow Boy with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, McKnight Artist Grant at MacPhail Center for Music in FY2013 and FY2019. She has completed the Certification of Embodied Social Justice through EmbodyLab and was a cohort for Coalition for Asian American Leaders Making Our Voices Effective for Equity in 2021.

They work closely with their community such as Japan America Society of Minnesota, and also served as a member of the Community Advisory Board for Park Square Theater, a grant review panelist for Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, the DEI Committee at MacPhail Center for Music, Anti-Racism work group with Mixed Precipitation, and served as Faculty at Holden Village as part of the Glocal Musician Educators Collective, and continues to work alongside with others to cultivate an antiracist environment and culture where everyone can fully express oneself.

Member of AEA (Actors Equity Association) and NATS (National Association for Teachers of Singing).