Raha Mirzadegan

Photo by Nuna Ulises

"You should all be fighting for a chance to hear soprano Raha Mirzadegan, whose straight tone soars with opulent richness and resonance." (All Ears)

Praised for her “stylish elegance and intensity” (The Wall Street Journal), “rising-star soprano” (OperaWire) Raha Mirzadegan is garnering international attention for her “stirring, soulful tones” (The Post & Courier). With a repertoire that spans medieval chant to cutting-edge premieres, Raha is known for her “straight tone [which] soars with opulent richness and resonance” (All Ears).

“Totally at ease in the Baroque style” (Seen and Heard International), Raha began the 2023-24 season debuting at Opera Philadelphia as the featured soprano in Karim Sulayman’s Baroque pastiche Unholy Wars, a role she originated at Spoleto Festival USA. An avid performer of new works, Raha will appear as Guinevere on the forthcoming premiere recording of Doug Balliett’s opera Gawain and the Green Knight, a role she has reprised in the annual New Year’s Eve performance of the piece. Other premieres and records include music by Mary Kouyoumdjian, Owen Burdick, Elliot Cole, and Eric Pazdziora.

A devotee of sacred music, Raha was a soloist on The Clarion Choir’s GRAMMY®-nominated recording of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil (Pentatone, 2023), and regularly performs with Theotokos, a period-instrument band of Juilliard students and alumni. In October 2023, Raha performed the lead in a workshop of DRIFT, an opera by Alyssa Weinberg and J. Mae Barizo. To close the 23-24 season, Raha was a standout soloist with Clarion, in their Ockeghem Marathon and concert at The Met Cloisters.

This winter, Raha will spend time in Thiré, performing Balliett’s newest works with members of Theotokos, as part of the French Ministry of Culture’s Odysée artist-in-residency program, hosted by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants. In March, Raha will perform as the soprano soloist in the New York premiere of Balliett's St. Mark Passion. In the same week, Raha will sing step-out solos in a 3-on-a-part historical replication of Handel's final performance of Messiah with Hudson Baroque, under the direction of Owen Burdick. In April she can be heard as a soloist in Bach's St. John Passion with Clarion. Raha will have her house and role debut as Sesto in Giulio Cesare this April/May with Ruckus at Hudson Hall, directed by R.B. Schlather. Based in New York, Raha earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Maryland, where she studied with Gran Wilson.

Mirzadegan is the founder and director of Hudson Baroque, an organization which aims to provide soul-nourishing, and accessible concerts for all members of the regional community. In collaboration with award-winning, internationally acclaimed artists—players from Il Pomo d’Oro, Les Talens Lyriques, Holland Baroque, The English Concert, Pygmalion, Jupiter, Ruckus, Theotokos, and Les Arts Florissants, etc., students and graduates of the Juilliard415 program, and TECA fellows, as well as some of the finest vocalists on the early music scene, including current and past singers from Trinity Church, Wall Street, The Clarion Choir, Sequentia, and St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue—Hudson Baroque is where passion, virtuosity, and historically informed performance practice foster a culture of excellence, and goodwill.