Biography

Canadian soprano Layla Claire was a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, making her debut there as Tebaldo in Don Carlo. She has since returned to the Met company for roles including Helena in the Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island (available on Virgin Classics DVD) and Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress under James Levine. This season includes her first performances in the title role of Handel’s Alcina for her return to Karlsruhe’s Händel-Festspiele and Messiah with the Colorado Symphony.

Ms. Claire’s recent seasons include her Washington National Opera debut as Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, and her first Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, marking her debut at Opera Philadelphia last season. In Europe, she was heard as the Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at Zurich Opera House and Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Festival d’Aix. Following her Salzburg Festival debut last year as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, she went on to reprise the role for Opéra de Montréal and at the Zurich Opera House; she joins the Bamberg Symphony this season for concert performances in Bamberg and at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Layla Claire has previously been honored with the Prix des Amis d’Aix-en-Provence for best Mozart performance, as well as the Mozart Prize at the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Competition. She made her SFS debut in 2009.

(December 2017)