Praised for her colourful, flexible voice and graceful stage presence, Layla Claire's 2017-18 season highlights Händel.   She will make her role debut in the title role of Händel’s Alcina this coming season at the Bolshoi Theatre and at the International Händel Festival in Karlsruhe.  She will also make her San Francisco and Colorado Symphony debuts  in Händel's Messiah.  Her first foray into the operas of Händel happened in 2016, singing the role of Tusnelda in Arminio with Armonia Atenea conducted by George Petrou (International Händel Festival in Karlsruhe); the project was captured and released commercially by Decca Classics.  Ms. Claire released her debut solo album with ATMA Classique in June 2017.  

She will revisit the role of Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the Fall of 2017, this time in a concert version with the Bamberger Symphony conducted by Jakub Hrůša.  She had an exciting season of Mozart in 2016-17 including her Salzburger Festspiele debut as Donna Elvira conducted by Alain Altinoglu and directed by Sven-Eric Bechtolf; she reprised the role for Opéra de Montréal and, in a return engagement, with  Opernhaus Zürich. Her Mozart year continued with a debut at Opera Philadelphia as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro.

The Canadian soprano made her Metropolitan Opera debut while still a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in Don Carlo led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and has since returned to the stage for several guest appearances including the creation of the role of Helena in the Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island under William Christie’s baton (available on Virgin Classics DVD), and as Anne Truelove in The Rake’s Progress conducted by James Levine.

Highlights of past opera seasons include a debut at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as Sandrina in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera broadcast throughout Europe on ARTE, bringing the soprano immediate European attention, and leading to a re-engagement with the Festival for a production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as debuts at the Glyndebourne Festival as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and at the Opernhaus Zürich as The Governess in a new production by Willy Decker of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.

An expressive and experienced concert singer, Layla Claire regularly appears with leading orchestras and conductors, most recently performing Mendelssohn’s Elijah with maestro Kent Nagano.  She performedMahler’s Second Symphony under both James Levine and Michael Tilson Thomas and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream conducted by Bernard Haitink. With Yannick Nézet-Séguin, she has performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Ninth Symphony as well as Dvořák’s Stabat Mater.  Her extensive recital presence on international stages has included programs of art song at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, CBC Glenn Gould Studio, and a multi-city tour of Canada as the winner of the Eckhardt-Gramatte National Music Competition. Her extensive recital presence on international stages has included programs of art song at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, CBC Glenn Gould Studio, and a multi-city tour of Canada as the winner of the Eckhardt-Gramatte National Music Competition.

More information can be found on her website: www.laylaclaire.com.