Indian-American soprano MAYA KHERANI has been lauded for her vibrant voice and exciting characterizations in repertoire from the Baroque to the modern. Current and upcoming projects include a debut at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Château de Versailles as DRUSILLA/FORTUNA in L’incoronazione di Poppea with Leonardo García Alarcón; AUTONOE in Sartorio’s Orfeo with Philippe Jaroussky with Opéra national de Montpellier; Muffat’s Missa in labore requies with Richard Egarr and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with Vancouver Symphony and Otto Tausk; NITOCRIS in Handel’s Belshazzar, Messiah and Bach’s Mass in A major with Jeffrey Thomas and American Bach Soloists; a world premiere project as PIPER Pay the Piper at Glyndebourne with Johann Stuckenbruck and PSAPPHA; Messiah with Boston Baroque (Martin Pearlman) and Portland Baroque Orchestra (Gabriel Crouch), Reena Esmail’s Meri Sakhi Ki Avaaz (My Sister’s Voice) with Berkeley Symphony; SUSANNA in Le Nozze di Figaro at Opera San Jose, and PROSERPINA/EURIDICE in L'Orfeo with Pacific MusicWorks and Stephen Stubbs, to be recorded for commercial release.
Recent engagements include her European debut with the Fondazione Giorgio Cini – Seminari di Musica Antica singing the modern-world première of French Baroque works from Caribbean. She then returned to sing in a follow-up program, directed by Mr. Memelsdorff and Vivica Genaux. Additionally, she sang the title role of PARTENOPE Opera NEO, BEATRICE Three Decembers Opera San Jose, POLLY PEACHUM The Threepenny Opera West Edge Opera, ROSINA Il barbiere di Siviglia Cinnabar Theater, Laura Kaminsky’s Today It Rains Opera Parallèle and MUSETTA La Bohème West Bay Opera.
Additional recent engagements include DESPINA in Così fan tutte and YVETTE/LISETTE in La Rondine Opera San Jose, ALTISIDORE in Boismortier’s Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse at Central City Opera, her debut in the role of MEERA in the world première of Jack Perla’s River of Light Houston Grand Opera (HGOco), BRITOMARTE in Martín y Soler’s L’arbore di Diana (The Chastity Tree) West Edge Opera, JILL in the world première of Jack and Jill and the Happening Hill Salt Marsh Opera, the title role of SEMELE Pocket Opera, and FRASQUITA Carmen West Bay Opera. Other premières include Neil Rolnick’s Anosmia, released by Innova Records in 2013, and Dante de Silva’s “graphic opera” Gesualdo with Opera Parallèle. A passionate interpreter of early music, Ms. Kherani has been featured with the American Bach Soloists, the San Francisco Bach Choir, the Amherst Early Music Festival, Early Music Vancouver, and the American Handel Society Festival.
Ms. Kherani’s numerous awards include semi-finalist in the 2020 Glyndebourne Cup, 3rd place in the 2021 Handel Aria Competition, the 2015 McGlone Award from Central City Opera, 1st Place and Audience Favorite at the James Toland Vocal Competition, 2nd Place at the Peter Elvins Vocal Competition the Kalvelage Award at West Bay Opera’s Holt Competition, two Encouragement Awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and the top overall Barlow Award at the San Francisco Bay Area NATS competition, where she also won 1st Place in both the Professional Art Song and Aria categories.
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Ms. Kherani graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a B.S.E. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and certificates (minors) in Music Performance, Materials Science, and Robotics and Intelligent Systems. At Princeton, she received the Isidore and Helen Sacks Award for excellence in Music Performance and was a dancer and choreographer for Naacho South Asian Dance Company and a member and soloist in the Princeton University Glee Club. She holds a Master of Music degree with honors from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Professional Certificate from the Boston University Opera Institute.
She currently makes her home in Northern California with her techie husband and 2 year old daughter. When not singing or parenting, Maya enjoys playing tennis, practicing yoga, cooking, reading novels, hiking, scuba diving, and buying way too many kitchen gadgets.
