Bio Category: 2627 messiah week one

MAYA KHERANI

Praised for her “rich, soaring soprano” and“crystalline tone” (Opera News), Indian-American soprano MAYA KHERANI has been sought after for her vibrant voice and committed characterizations in repertoire from the Baroque to the modern. Recent engagements include a debut with the New York Philharmonic in Messiah with Ton Koopman, Handel’s Agrippina condotta a morire with Jeffrey Thomas and American Bach Soloists, Handel’s Silete venti with Portland Baroque Orchestra and Julian Perkins, and returns to Boston Baroque for Messiah and American Bach Soloists for Baroque bravura arias for New Year’s Eve. This season, Maya is featured with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, and Opera Lafayette. Career highlights include debuts at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Château de Versailles Spectacles as DRUSILLA/FORTUNA in L’incoronazione di Poppea with Leonardo García Alarcón released on DVD; AUTONOE in Sartorio’s L’Orfeo with Philippe Jaroussky with Opéra national de Montpellier; PIPER in Pay the Piper (world première) at Glyndebourne; BARBARINA / SUSANNA (cover) with Raphaël Pichon and Handel and Haydn Society; ZERLINA in Don Giovanni at Boston Baroque; Muffat’s Missa in labore requies with Richard Egarr and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Vancouver Symphony; NITOCRIS in Handel’s Belshazzar, Messiah and Bach’s Mass in A major with American Bach Soloists; and Messiah with Boston Baroque and Portland Baroque Orchestra. Her favorite opera roles include SUSANNA, PARTENOPE, DESPINA, SEMELE, BELINDA, GILDA, ROSINA, and TYTANIA. Maya graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude with a degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, San Francisco Conservatory of Music with honors, and the Boston University Opera Institute.

ED LYON

Ed Lyon studied at St John’s College Cambridge, the Royal Academy and the National Opera Studio. He enjoys an international career in a wide repertoire ranging from the baroque to contemporary music and has appeared in many of the world’s leading opera and concert venues including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, the Netherlands Opera, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Aix, Edinburgh, Holland and Aldeburgh Festivals, Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, BAM New York, the Theater an der Wien and the BBC Proms, with conductors including Antonio Pappano, William Christie, Valery Gerghiev, René Jacobs, Ivor Bolton, Emmanuelle Haïm, Teodor Currentzis and Christian Curnyn.

Recent and future operatic projects include Lurcanio/Ariodante and Septimius / Theodora as well as roles in Ariadne auf Naxos, Tristan und Isolde, Der fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser for Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the title role in La Clemenza di Tito for Opera de Rouen, Il Tempo in Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno for Opera di Roma, Peter Quint / The Turn of the Screw, Grimoaldo / Rodelinda and the title role in Orfeo for Garsington Opera, the title role in Candide for Welsh National Opera, Steva/Jenufa for Opera North, the world premiere of Nicolas Lens’ Shell Shock, Tamino and Don Gomez / Henry VIII for La Monnaie Brussels, the central role of Colin/ Denisov’s L’écume des jours for Stuttgart Opera, L’Ormindo for the ROH at the Globe, Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni and Lurcanio for Scottish Opera, Freddy/My Fair Lady for the Châtelet in Paris, Jaquino/Fidelio, Septimius and Pane / La Calisto in Madrid, Lurcanio for the Israeli Opera, Don Alonze/L’amant Jaloux and Septimius for Pinchgut Opera in Sydney, Eduardo in Ades’ Exterminating Angel at the Salzburg Festival and the Royal Opera House, Jupiter/Semele in Karlsruhe, Belmonte / Die Entführung aus dem Serail for The Grange Festival, King Arthur with Capella Mediterrenea at the Grand Théätre de Génève, Ferdinand / Miranda for Oper Köln, a concert performance of Dido and Acteon with Early Opera Company, acclaimed staged performances of Janacek’s The Diary of One who Disappeared in Brussels, London, Brno, Rome and at the Beijing Festival as well as staged choreographed performances of Tancredi and Clorinda with Shobanah Jeyasingh Dance Company.

Other highlights have included extensive tours with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie including Paris, London, Amsterdam and New York in repertoire including the title roles in Lully’s Atys, Rameau’s Pygmalion and Hippolyte and Charpentier’s Actéon, the title role in Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Aix Festival with René Jacobs, the title role in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie and Purcell’s Fairy Queen for Glyndebourne and Pane/La Calisto and Lysander/A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Royal Opera, and Haydn’s L’anima de filisofo with Currentzis.

Ed Lyon’s concert repertoire includes the baroque and nineteenth century oratorios as well as major tenor concert works such as The Dream of Gerontius, Elijah and the Britten tenor repertoire. His many concert engagements have included performances at the BBC Proms (including Bach with The English Concert and Maxwell-Davies with the BBC Singers), City of Birmingham SO (Tom Rakewell in a concert performance of The Rake’s Progress), appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, New London Concert, Musikkollegium Winterthur, The King’s Consort, Easter at King’s, Ludus Baroque, Die Kölner Akademie, Israel Camerata and the English Chamber Orchestra. Recent and forthcoming highlights include performances of Messiah, St John Passion (arias), Elijah, B minor mass at the Royal Festival Hall, Seven Deadly Sins by Sir James Macmillan, performances of the War Requiem with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and NDR Hannover as well as with the Cambridge University Music Society, a concert performance of Solomon with the Early Opera Company on stage at Covent Garden, St Matthew Passion (Evangelist) for the Bach Choir at the Royal Festival Hall, the world premiere of The Masque of the Red Death with the SWR Sinfonieorchester, The Dream of Gerontius with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, St John Passion (Evangelist) with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, performances of Beethoven Symphony No 9 in Europe and the US with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra / Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Elgar’s The Apostles with the Hallé Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder and a recital with the Theatre of the Ayre at the Wigmore Hall.

Recordings include Handel’s Alexander’s Feast and Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, The Triumph of Time and Truth with Ludus Baroque, Les Troyens (DVD) with the ROH Covent Garden and Antonio Pappano, L’enfance du Christ with the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg / Ivor Bolton. In October 2019 he released his first solo album, The 17th Century Playlist on Delphian records and the recent recording of Malcolm Arnold’s The Dancing Master with the BBC Concert Orchestra on Resonus Classics has received wide critical acclaim.

EDWARD VOGEL

With a voice described as “velvet-toned” (BBC Music Magazine), and praised for his “appealing, midweight baritone” (The New York Times), “forthright agility and bold declamation” (Musical America), baritone EDWARD VOGEL is recognized as a sensitive, versatile performer. Recent highlights include solo appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Apollo’s Fire, the Tucson Symphony, and ensemble work with Theatre of Voices, the Bach Collegium Japan, and the Yale Schola Cantorum, with whom he has participated as a soloist in recordings on the Hyperion label. In 2024, he received a GRAMMY® nomination for his work as a soloist on Apollo’s Fire’s recording of Handel’s Israel in Egypt. An avid recitalist, Mr. Vogel’s specialties include British art song of the twentieth century, music from Medieval and Renaissance Iberia, and works by Gustav Mahler; his intimate interpretations of art song have been heard onstage at celebrated venues including the Tanglewood Festival and Wigmore Hall.

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RACHAEL WILSON

Admired for her dramatic intensity and vocal versatility, Rachael Wilson is rapidly earning distinction across a wide and varied repertoire. Whether inhabiting the emotional depth of Bizet’s Carmen, the spiritual transcendence of Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans, or the blazing ardour of Mozart’s Donna Elvira, she brings a rare combination of vocal finesse and fearless stagecraft to each role.

In the 2025/26 season, Rachael makes two major role debuts in new productions: Venus in a new production of Tannhäuser at Opernhaus Zürich and Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites at Staatsoper Stuttgart. She returns to Komische Oper Berlin as Olga in Eugene Onegin and to Bayerische Staatsoper as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel. Her concert engagements reflect equal range and ambition: she will perform Messiaen’s Harawi at Opéra de Lille; appear with the National Ballet of Canada in Procession; sings Mahler’s 8th Symphony with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin at Tempelhof Airport and undertakes a tour of Asia and Europe with The English Concert under Harry Bicket, making her role debut as Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo.

In the 2024/25 season, Rachael made her debut at the Komische Oper Berlin as the Alto Soloist in Damiano Michieletto’s staged Messiah at the Tempelhof Airport. She sang Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at Staatsoper Hamburg and returned to Theater Basel in the title role of Carmen. At the Glyndebourne Festival, she appeared as Varvara in Katya Kabanova under Robin Ticciati.

Operatic highlights of recent seasons include role debuts as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni for Santa Fe Opera and Malmö Opera, and as Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Royal Opera House. She sang the title role of Carmen at Theater Basel under Maxime Pascal and debuted at Opernhaus Zürich as Balkis in a new production of Offenbach’s Barkouf, returning as Olga in Eugene Onegin. At Glyndebourne, she appeared as Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and at Staatsoper Stuttgart she was admired as Charlotte in Werther and as Carmen. She debuted at Teatro Real, Madrid as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro—a role she also performed at Bayerische Staatsoper—and at Opéra national du Rhin as Kay in Abrahamsen’s The Snowqueen, later reprising the role with the Dutch Radio Orchestra and Kent Nagano at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

On the concert platform, Rachael has recently sung Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, and Harawi by Messiaen at both the Ruhrtriennale and Spoleto Festival. She recorded Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester. She performed John Adams’ El Niño with the American Modern Opera Company in New York, with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester and the Gävle Symphony Orchestra; and made her debuts with the Orchestre national d’Île de France in Prokofiev’s Ivan the Terrible. and with the Wiener Symphoniker and Lorenzo Viotti at the Musikverein.

During her time at the Bayerische Staatsoper (2015-19), Rachael’s appearances included: Kay The Snowqueen by Hans Abrahamsen; Hänsel Hänsel und Gretel; Dorabella Cosi fan tutte; Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro; the Gymnast Lulu; Bersi Andrea Chénier and Fatime in Weber’s Oberon – a performance for which she was awarded the Bayerische Festspielpreis.

She was member of the Ensemble at the Staatsoper Stuttgart (2019-2023), making her debut as La Malaspina in the Premiere of Sciarrino’s Luci mie traditrici, and she has since made role debuts as Charlotte, Carmen, Fricka Das Rheingold and in the title role of Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans.

Rachael Wilson is a recent recipient of the honorary Bavarian Art Prize. A native from Las Vegas, Nevada, she is a graduate of the Juilliard School.

“The U.S.A.’s hottest baroque band.” –CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE (UK)