About
Sophia Maekawa
Praised by her "supple and buttery voice" (The New Criterion), hailing from Kyoto Japan, American-Japanese mezzo soprano, Sophia Maekawa finished her tenure as a Ryan Opera Center ensemble member at Lyric Opera of Chicago. This summer Ms. Maekawa reprises the role of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Opera Grand Rapids and is thrilled to debut the role of Angelina in La Cenerentola with Wolf Trap Opera and with Ozarks Lyric Opera.
Last season Ms. Maekawa debuted with several companies such as covering Crab General/ Venus Star in Monkey King with San Francisco Opera, Zwei Verkäuferin in Der Silbersee Chicago Opera Theater, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Opera Williamsburg, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Wolf Trap Opera and Soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with The Binghamton Philharmonic. In the 2024-25 season, she sang the role of Cherubino as a Renée Fleming Artist in Aspen Music Festival. She also attended numerous Appearance Programs such as Santa Fe Opera (2022) and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis(2021).
As a Ryan Opera ensemble member, she appeared as Lee Ann in Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners, Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Pastuchyna in Janacek’s Jenufa, as well as covering Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro. She also covered the role of Li song in Aaron Zigman’s Émigré (US Premier) with the New York Philharmonic.
Ms. Maekawa is the recipient of multiple awards and career grants such as the Richard F. Gold career grant from the Shoshana Foundation in 2025, Virginia Cooper Maier Award winner from Musicians Club of Women in 2024, scholarship winner of American Opera Society of Chicago in 2024. She was also a semi-finalist in the Houston Grand Opera "Concert of Arias" Elenor McCollun Competition in 2022, first place in Tokyo International Vocal Music Competition 2020 and was a finalist in the 2020 Music Competition of Japan where she received the Tokyo Newspaper (Tokyo Shinbun) award.
She holds the Bachelor’s Degree from the Curtis Institute of Music.
