Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado

Soprano Mara Riley is recognized for her compelling musicality, having a particular affinity for early music, song, and ensemble singing. She is a 2024-2025 Voces8 US Scholar, and sings often with Emmanuel Music, Colorado Bach Ensemble, and Nightingale Vocal Ensemble. This season, she joins the Boston Early Music Festival’s production of Telemann’s Don Quixote, and is a featured soloist with Emmanuel Music, Colorado Bach Ensemble, and Boulder Bach Festival. She was the First Prize winner in the 2023 Colorado Bach Ensemble’s Young Artist Competition, and was the Soprano Fellow with Emmanuel Music’s Bach Institute. She has been a soloist in the Boulder Bach Festival’s Messiah, the Colorado Bach Ensemble’s Cantata Insights series, Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Back Bay Chorale, and Handel’s Samson with the Cambridge Chamber Ensemble. Favourite opera roles have included Calisto in Cavalli’s La Calisto and Mary Bailey in Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life. She recently completed a double Master’s degree in voice and flute performance at the New England Conservatory. In addition to singing, she is concurrently making a name for herself as a Baroque flutist, with engagements this season with the Boston Early Music Festival and Blue Hill Bach.