Maya Lahyani

Mezzo-soprano

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“Mezzo-soprano Maya Lahyani seared the audience [with a] sizzlingly sensual rendition of Dalila’s ‘Mon Coeur s’ouvre à ta voix’… This is an instrument that could cut a man to pieces.”
(San Francisco Classical Voice)

The 19/20 season for Maya Lahyani includes a return to New Israeli Opera, this time for her debut as Sister Helen Prejean in a new production of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking under Patrick Summers, as well as appearing as Rosette in Massenet’s Manon under Maurizio Benini and Tisbe in La Cenerentola under James Gaffigan at the Metropolitan Opera. On the concert platform, Lahyani makes her debut with the London Symphony Orchestra in Tippett’s A Child of Our Time under Alan Gilbert and sings Mary Magdalene in Elgar’s The Kingdom with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

A former Adler Fellow and Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition finalist, Maya Lahyani made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) under Philippe Auguin and has since appeared there regularly including in Elektra, Rigoletto, The Death of Klinghoffer, La traviata, Cendrillon and Rusalka. As a young artist at both the San Francisco and Seattle Operas, Maya performed a diverse repertoire including Così fan tutte, Ariadne auf Naxos, La fanciulla del West, Die Walküre and Franco Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac, Les dialogues des Carmélites and Káťa Kabanová. Last season, Maya sang Charlotte (Werther) at New Israeli Opera and Grimgerde in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Die Walküre under Philippe Jordan which was broadcast globally via The Met’s Live in HD series. Her debut as Carmen at Opera Las Vegas was met with unanimous critical acclaim.

In concert, Maya appeared at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel in performances of Verdi’s Rigoletto, and performed Bernstein’s Symphony No.1 Jeremiah with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago which further broadened her concert repertoire that already includes Mozart’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ravel’s Shéhérezade, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody and Mahler’s Symphony No.2.

Gallery

“Maya Lahyani as Varvara and [her] Kudrjaš stole the primary lovers’ thunder. Lahyani had the right kind of brass and sass, generating great chemistry between her and Kohl’s handsomely laddish Kudrjaš.”

(Opera Magazine, August 2017)

“Maya Lahyani made an appealingly free-spirited Varvara.”

(Seattle Times, February 2017)

“Maya Lahyani brought some rare, welcome moments of levity to the role of Varvara.”

(Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 2017)

“The Israeli mezzo Maya Lahyani brings a pleasant timbre and vibrato to Varvara.”

(Operaworld, February 2017)

“Maya Lahyani delivered fined work as the rebellious Varvara.”

(Queen Anne & Magnolia News, February 2017)

“Maya Lahyani’s plummy mezzo made an impact as a Mean Girls-esque Flora and seemed to connect particularly movingly with [her] Violetta.”

(Bachtrack, January 2017)

“Maya Lahyani is a born Carmen. The demands of the role lie smoothly on her voice and she has strong resonance all across its range. Most of all, she created a charismatic figure that held the attention of every member of the audience. For a young singer who had only performed the title role of Carmen in two previous productions, her grasp of its intricacies was amazing.”

(Opera Today, June 2016)

“If there were ever a mezzo-soprano perfectly suited to sing Carmen, it is Israeli-born Maya Lahyani, who combines a voice to die for with acting ability, beauty and stage presence. She is one of the few Carmens I have seen who makes Don Jose’s and Escamillo’s infatuation entirely believable.”

(Maine Classical Beat, July 2016)

“Maya Lahyani, the mezzo-soprano who sang the title role, brings both vocal suppleness and an alluring stage presence to the production, in healthy measure. Her two first-act showpieces, the “Habañera” and “Seguidilla,” were magnificently sultry, and her account of the dark, second act card aria, “En vain pour éviter,” touched on Carmen’s tragic side without overstating it.”

(The Portland Press Herald, July 2016)

“Maya Lahyani’s Dryad [was] deep and extraordinarily rich.”

(Mark Mandel, Opera News, May 2015)