From Handel to Verdi & beyond: I chat to soprano Soraya Mafi about singing in Handel's Saul at Glyndebourne, & expanding into bel canto & Bernstein

Handel: Saul - Soraya Mafi - Glyndebourne Opera (Photo: Glyndebourne/ASH)

Soprano Soraya Mafi is currently singing the role of Michal in Handel's Saul at Glyndebourne in the 2025 revival of the 2015 production by Barrie Kosky which can rightly be called iconic [see my review]. Soraya returns to Handel next year when she makes her debut at the Komische Oper, Berlin in Belshazzar. Before then she will be performing the role of Cunegonde in Bernstein's Candide with Welsh National Opera this Autumn as well as premiering a new song cycle by Emily Hazrati at the Oxford International Song Festival. I chatted to Soraya recently, in a break between performances of Saul.

Soraya first appeared on these pages when studying at the Royal College of Music where in 2012 she was in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea, with Louise Alder as Poppea [see my review] then in 2013 she was Arianna in Handel's Arianna in Creta [see my review] in collaboration with the London Handel Festival. Since then we have seen her as Mabel in G&S's The Pirates of Penzance at English National Opera [see my review], Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare in English Touring Opera's brave staging of the uncut opera [see my review], Titania in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at ENO [see my review], Gretel in Humperdinck's Hansel & Gretel at Grange Park Opera [see my review], Amor in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at ENO [see my review], and Morgana in Handel's Alcina at Glyndebourne [see my review], as well as in recital at Wigmore Hall [see my review].

Performing in Saul at Glyndebourne has been an intense and physically demanding experience she has found. She needs to be on full all the time, the stage is raked and her role is very active, she describes her character, Michal as very bouncy. All of which means that it is aerobically challenging. But she is also finding the performances inspiring, working with Iestyn Davies and Christopher Purves (both of whom are returning to the roles they created in 2015) and finding them coming back to the roles with the same level of dedication. She finds the performances fresh and exciting.

Handel: Alcina - Soraya Mafi, Samantha Hankey, James Cleverton - Glyndebourne Opera. 2022 (Photo Tristram Kenton)

Whilst she had seen clips of the production online, knew the music and loved Barrie Kosky's work, she had never seen the production and had only watched the first act before she was asked about the role. In fact, though she had heard Saul in concert she had never performed it.

Saul is, of course, an oratorio which Handel would have performed in concert. When I asked Soraya about performing in a staged version, she laughed and said that she loved anything staged. But it is a brilliant piece of theatre that lends itself to being staged and would Handel have chosen to stage it without the censorship present at the time (it was considered unseemly to put Biblical stories on the stage). Soraya points out that Handel's Italian opera Alcina, for its superb music has a difficult and complex plot whereas Saul makes sense dramatically.

She sang the role of Morgana in Francesco Micheli's production of Alcina at Glyndebourne in 2022 with Jane Archibald in the title role and Jonathan Cohen conducting. She describes this as the best fun ever, and she loved the staging. Soraya has been something of a familiar face at Glyndebourne in recent years, she sang one performance of Ann Trulove in Stravinsky's The Rakes Progress, Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Titania in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Valencienne in Lehar's The Merry Widow.

Handel: Saul - Soraya Mafi, Christopher Purves - Glyndebourne Opera (Photo: Glyndebourne/ASH)

We most associate her with Mozart and Handel roles, and she explains that when she was younger she was advised to concentrate on these and allow her voice to develop. Sometimes companies get to know you and then hear things in your voice that you didn't expect, whilst other companies do not know you and don't have preconceptions of your voice. She was able to sing her first Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto at Seattle Opera and has since sung the role with Welsh National Opera and Irish National Opera and wants to expand her bel canto repertoire.

However, she also affirms that she loves variety. She started as a dancer so musical theatre is a great love. Being a young artist was something of a voyage of discovery, not only exploring her voice as it developed but also finding out what role she found challenging and rewarding, though she also points out that as a young artist, you often have to take the roles that are offered to you.

In September she takes on the role of Cunegonde in the revival of James Bonas' 2020 production of Bernstein's Candide at WNO with Ed Lyon in the title role, conducted by Ryan McAdams. Cunegonde is a role Soraya has been desperate to perform, as she loves the character and has, of course, performed 'Glitter and Be Gay'. She enjoys both the coloratura required in the role but also that Cunegonde is a multi-faceted character. For her, Bernstein is a genius and she talks about singing along with Marnie Nixon in the car, and the way West Side Story merges music and dance.

Verdi: I- Soraya Mafi (Gilda), Raffaele Abete (The Duke of Mantua) - Welsh National Opera, 2024 (Photo: Richard Hubert Smith)

Also in the Autumn, Soraya and pianist Ian Tindale present The Book of Kings at the Oxford International Song Festival. The recital is a celebration of Soraya's dual heritage as her Father is Iranian and her Mother comes from Irish stock. The recital in Oxford centres upon the premier of Emily Hazrati's new song cycle, Book of Queens with a text by writer Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh and inspired by the Shahnameh (‘The Book of Kings’), the 10th-century epic poem by the Persian poet Ferdowsi.

She has explored something of this before in her 2018 Wigmore Hall debut recital with pianist Graham Johnson, The Lure of the East looking at the way different composers had written about the East, and she revived the programme in Buxton. She admits that there is a whole list of repertoire that she could present in this area. But for Oxford, she is pairing the Persian-inspired songs with songs from her Mother's family's homeland, Ireland, including both songs she has researched and those that were familiar. Sholto Kynoch, the artistic director of the festival, approached her with the idea of premiering Emily Hazrati's piece (Hazrati is the festival's Associate Composer), and it fitted in with her earlier recitals and her interest in her heritage.

Before then she has a programme of Handel duets with Iestyn Davies and Arcangelo, conductor Jonathan Cohen, creating an imaginary romantic encounter across duets and arias drawn from the composer’s first Italian opera for London to his final English oratorios. There are performances in Denmark, at the Ryedale Festival and in France, further details.

When she sings the role of Nitocris in Handel's Belshazzar at the Komische Oper in Berlin in March 2026 this will be her role debut, Komische Oper debut and German debut. The production is by Herbert Fritsch and conducted by George Petrou. She finds Nitocris a fantastic role, and sees it as a challenge because Nitocris is Belshazzar's mother; people still see Soraya as youthful, but she has two children of her own. 

Other role debuts are coming up, in Europe and the USA, are both in bel canto and in Richard Strauss, roles that she is desperate to 'tick off the list'. 

However, she has taken the pragmatic approach that it is a mistake to approach some repertoire too early. Her teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music warned her against going too big too young, of trying to sing roles with a big orchestra. She needed to build up her stamina, but also to develop a solid technique, working on both technical abilities and stagecraft. 

As a Harewood Artist with ENO, she sang coloratura roles like Titania and Mabel, and also the soubrette repertoire. With this latter, in particular, she needed to focus on the middle of her voice so that it would be heard best in the large London Coliseum auditorium. Her teacher is now Janis Kelly, who encourages her to sing lyrically and let the voice develop properly.

Soraya Mafi

• Handel's Saul is in repertoire at Glyndebourne Opera until 24 July, further details
• Handel duets with Iestyn Davies, Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen on 7 14 & 21 July, further details
• Bernstein's Candide is in repertoire at Welsh National Opera from 17 September to 17 October, further details 
• The Book of Kings is at Oxford International Song Festival on 23 October, further details
• Handel's Belshazzar is at the Komische Oper, Berlin from 28 March 2026, further details

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