Mezzo-soprano Claire McCahan (she/her) is regarded as a musician of sincerity and versatility, delivering compelling and honest performances across Baroque, recital, opera, and contemporary repertoire. Winner of the 2022 Joy in Singing International Art Song Competition and the 2022 NATS Artist Awards Claire is an accomplished recitalist, devising programs revealing thematic connection across time and language. She was selected for the 2024 inaugural Fellowship of the Song with the Cincinnati Song Initiative, working extensively with Margo Garrett. Along with collaborative pianist Barbara Noyes, she co-founded Horizon Duo, dedicated to creative programming of contemporary and classic repertoire. The duo made their New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall in 2023. A champion of new works, Claire has premiered and workshopped contemporary operas and art songs in collaboration with composers like Jake Heggie, George Benjamin, Ben Morris, and Lisa Neher, partnering with Tanglewood Music Festival, Art Song Colorado, and Catalyst New Music, amongst others. She is also a co-founder of Spiral Songs, a project which curates multi-genre, immersive music gatherings inviting participants to attune to the seasonal changes of our inner and outer landscapes.

Praised for her interpretations of J.S. Bach, she is the winner of the 2025 American National Oratorio Competition, an alumna of the American Bach Soloists Academy, and a featured soloist on the Boulder Bach Festival’s first commercial album. She is a recurring performer with the COmpass REsonance Ensemble and has performed in concert with the New England Conservatory Baroque Orchestra, the New Hampshire Music Festival, the Colorado Bach Ensemble, and the Silesian Philharmonic. Recent stage credits include Arias Aloft with Boston Lyric Opera and Opera on Tap Boston, the American premiere of George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Sibella in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder with Opera Saratoga, covering Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with the Handel & Haydn Society, and Orfeo in an adaptation of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with Renegade Opera. This summer, she joins the Glimmerglass Festival as a Resident Artist, performing Naomi/Betty in Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George and covering Mama Cordero for the world premiere of The House on Mango Street. She is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and the University of Colorado Boulder.

For more, visit clairemccahan.com.