A recent graduate of The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Clarissa Lyons has been garnering praise for her “luxuriant large soprano” (Los Angeles Times) and “arresting, magisterial voice and presence” (Washington Post).  She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Karolka in Janáček’s Jenůfa in October of 2016 and sang Countess Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto in January and April 2017.  During her time as a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Ms. Lyons performed excerpts from Don Giovanni, La Clemenza di Tito, Idomeneo, Alcina, Dialogues of the Carmelites and Pelléas and Mélisande under the guidance of Maestro James Levine.  Additionally, she appeared as Lisa in The Met + Juilliard coproduction of La Sonnambula conducted by Speranza Scappucci.

The 2018 – 2019 season included repertoire both classic and new.  She began the season with The Bozeman Symphony Orchestra with performances of Poulenc’s Gloria and Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate.  Then, Lyons stepped into the World Premiere of Jimmy Lopez’s The Dreamers with Esa-Pekka Salonen leading Philharmonia Orchestra, Ana-Maria Martinez, Volti, and The UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus.  She happily returned to The Metropolitan Opera for the final performances of Michael Mayer’s Rigoletto.

Ms. Lyons joined the The Metropolitan Opera in December 2017 for Lehar’s The Merry Widow.  The 2017-2018 season also brought her debut with The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst in The Cunning Little Vixen at Severance Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, and Philharmonie Luxembourg.

In 2016, Ms. Lyons joined the roster of Wolf Trap Opera’s Filene Young Artist Program where she appeared alongside Steven Blier in recital and as Stonatrilla in the US Premiere of Gassmann’s L’Opera Seria. This opera-within-an-opera, directed by Matthew Ozawa and conducted by Eric Melear, earned extensive praise from critics and audience members alike with a sold out run at The Barns at Wolf Trap.  Ms. Lyons is also a proud recipient of the 2016 Catherine Filene Shouse Career Development Grant from Wolf Trap Opera. Clarissa has also spent summers as a Bel Canto Young Artist at Caramoor where she covered Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmelites, and at Opera on the Avalon where she sang Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

As a frequent recitalist, Ms. Lyons has performed recently at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, the Park Avenue Armory, Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium, Opera America’s National Opera Center, Carmel’s Sunset Center, New York’s WMP Concert Hall, and at the famed Frick Collection. She cultivated a strong connection to song repertoire while studying with Dawn Upshaw at Bard Conservatory of Music’s Vocal Arts program, and during her summers at the Tanglewood Music Center, SongFest, and recently at Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute. Ms. Lyons also participated in The Song Continues series at Carnegie Hall helmed by iconic mezzo-soprano, Marilyn Horne.

2015 was an especially notable year for Ms. Lyons after she was named the Grand Prize Winner at Florida Grand Opera’s Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition, the Glenn & Ginger Flournay Award Winner at Shreveport Opera’s Mary Jacobs Smith Singer of the Year Competition, and the Audience Favorite and Third Place at the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition.  Clarissa been named the winner of the Carmel Music Society Competition and West Bay Opera’s Henry and Maria Holt Competition.

Ms. Lyons has appeared as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra while in residence at Tanglewood, UC Berkeley University Chorus, the Vermont Philharmonic, and with San Francisco Choral Society at Davies Symphony Hall in their performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah featuring Rod Gilfry. She also performed with Mark Morris Dance Group in their productions of Love Song Waltzes and New Love Song Waltzes in both New York and Seattle, Dido & Aeneas at The Mostly Mozart Festival, and Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

In addition to her degree from Bard College Conservatory, Ms. Lyons holds a M.M. in Classical Voice from The Manhattan School of Music. A Native Californian, Clarissa graduated with Honors from University of California Berkeley where she received the Eisner Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts upon graduation and the 2014 Alfred Hertz Memorial Traveling Fellowship.