Sophia Maekawa, a first-year mezzo-soprano with Lyric Opera’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, is from Kyoto, Japan. She was a 2022 Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist, understudying Rosina/Il barbiere di Siviglia and Comrade Chin and Shu Fang/M. Butterfly, and a 2021 Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theater of Saint Louis, understudying Kadin/On the edge. She recently received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. While there, the mezzo performed in Ariodante (title role), Albert Herring, and L’enfant et les sortilèges, and understudied Dorabella/Così fan tutte. Other roles in her repertoire include Hermia/A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Annio/La clemenza di Tito, Mercédès/Carmen, Second Woman/Dido and Aeneas, and Mrs. Nolan/The Medium. Concert appearances include the Wichita Symphony and Curtis Symphony Orchestra with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Maekawa was a finalist at the 2022 Opera Grand Rapids Competition and semi-finalist in the 2021 Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition. In Lyric’s 2023/24 Season, Maekawa appears in Jenůfa and Cinderella.