Ayana Haviv

Voice part: Soprano

Season you joined the Chorale: 2004-05

Birthplace: Jerusalem, Israel

Where else do you gig/teach/conduct/sing/perform? Los Angeles Opera Chorus, Los Angeles Chamber Singers/Cappella, and freelance recording work. I sing in lots of very different styles; you can hear some of them at www.ayanahaviv.com. Also full-time gig as a mom to Dalia, 4, and Eitan, 1.

Recent solo roles or guest appearances: Shostakovich From Jewish Folk Poetry; Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem; Händel’s Messiah (twice!) with the LAMC; Haydn Heiligmesse with the LAMC; Shulamit Ran O the Chimneys; role of “Third Swallow” in LA Opera’s Die Vögel; several recitals of Yiddish & Judeo-Spanish folk and art songs with frequent musical partner-in-crime, pianist Tali Tadmor.

Recordings/TV/Film: Solo recordings include Balkan-style solos in the Danny Elfman score to The Next Three Days; solos (operatic, Middle Eastern, and Balkan styles) in the TV shows Supernatural, The Green Lantern Animated Series, and The Philanthropist; solos on the forthcoming animated film Dorothy of Oz; solos on several albums for Walt Disney Records; and solos in numerous video games including The Punisher and James Bond: Quantum of Solace. Won 2007 Grammy Award® for Cappella's Padilla: Sun of Justice; my own CD as part of Nest, my alt-rock band; and also sung on numerous other film soundtracks including Avatar, Cowboys and Aliens, The Rite, Hop, Cirque du Freak, 2012 and Cats & Dogs, as well as the charity sound recording The Haiti Project: A Symphony of Hope

Highlights of your musical career: Singing two songs in the role of Balthazar, the page, in Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare's restored Globe Theatre in London; recording my own album as a singer-songwriter; my first concert with the Master Chorale at Disney Hall

My favorite choral work: This is extremely difficult, but I’ll give a tie between Rachmaninoff Vespers and the Verdi Requiem

A defining moment or favorite onstage experience: Singing the soprano solo in Händel’s Messiah at Walt Disney Concert Hall; singing with my own rock band at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood

What are you listening to these days? Sufjan Stevens, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Radiohead, Andrew Bird, Björk, Blonde Redhead, James MacMillan, and John Adams

Anything you'd like to add about yourself? Before my music career, I was studying for a doctorate in cultural anthropology at UCLA