ABOUT MAIA

“Aramburu’s voice as Mimì had a sweet and sparkling timbre. However, at the end of “Si mi chiamano Mimì,” there was a major change as Aramburú moved upstage reaching the peak of the aria, her sound shifted forward creating a rich and expansive resonance that showed what her instrument is fully capable of.”

— Opera Wire

“Soprano Maia Aramburú is gifted with vocal and artistic potential that augurs well for a successful future in performance on the international stage.”

— George I. Shirley

Opera Wire has lauded Maia Aramburú’s voice as having a “sweet and sparkling timbre… with rich and expansive resonance.” Born in 2000 in Lima, Peru, she is a celebrated figure in her home country, described as “Peru’s young opera promise” and one of the “seven new Peruvian voices of the new generation” (Cosas Magazine). With a commanding stage presence, she has been invited to the Riverside Lyric Opera’s 2026 Annual Gala, the Sociedad Filarmónica de Lima’s 2024 season, and performed at the Ravinia Festival with the Steans Institute.

Maia will soon make a house debut and premiere the lead soprano role with Austin Opera, singing Pina in Ofrenda by Jorge Sosa. Other of her roles include Mimì (La bohème), Rosalba (Florencia en el Amazonas), Anita (La Navarraise), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), L’Ensoleillad (Chérubin), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Minskwoman (Flight), Mrs. Hayes (Susannah), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Dorothée (Cendrillon), and Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), among others, performed with companies such as Ravinia Festival, Yale Opera, the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center, USC Opera Theatre, the Berlin Opera Academy, the Vienna Summer Music Festival, the Miami Music Festival, and the University of Michigan Opera Theatre, etc.

An award-winning artist, this year she won the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition District as wewll as placed second in the Regionals as well as named a semifinalist in the Premiere Opera Foundation in NYC. She also received the Martha Mifflin Award for “Best Peruvian Voice” at the Concurso Latinoamericano de Canto Lírico - Radio Filarmonía, was recognized as an MPower Artist by the Sphinx Organization, and was a finalist in the Duncan Williams Voice Competition with New York City Opera and MSM. Additional honors include Third Place in the George Shirley Voice Competition and First Place in the Medici International Music Competition.

Maia is a member of EXIGENCE, the Sphinx Organization’s vocal ensemble, performing at venues such as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Hill Auditorium, the North Carolina ACDA Residency, and the ACDA Southern Region Conference.

Beyond performance, she is deeply committed to arts administration and community engagement. She serves as Executive Director of Aramburu Producciones in Lima, founder of ALMA TAKI, and Artistic Director of Riverside Lyric Opera in California.

She holds a Master of Musical Arts in Opera from the prestigious Yale School of Music under Gerald Martin Moore, a Master of Music from the USC Thornton School of Music under Elizabeth Hynes, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Michigan under George I. Shirley.