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A leading scholar and researcher of Latin American art song, mezzo-soprano Maya Hoover is an active performer, teacher, clinician, music education philosopher, and author. Her accomplishments in the performance and teaching arenas have earned her invitations to appear around the world, and her specialty in the music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has led her to collaborations with some of today’s leading composers.
Ms. Hoover has appeared in recital throughout the United States performing works from the standard repertoire as well as lesser-known works. She enjoys a long-time collaboration with pianist José Meléndez, with whom she regularly appears in recitals, concerts, and master classes. Their unique partnership as a performing and teaching team, coupled with their specialization in Latin American art song, has afforded them invitations to appear throughout the United States and abroad.
On the operatic and concert stage, Ms. Hoover has sung roles from Xerxes (Xerxes) to Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly), and has appeared with orchestras in works from Bach to Babbitt. Sought-after for her research on Latin American art song, Ms. Hoover serves on the Advisory Board of the Latin American Art Song Alliance, an organization dedicated to the promotion of songs from South America, Central America, and the Islands of the Caribbean. She has appeared in performances in Colombia, Bolivia, Italy, Hungary, and Peru, in addition to numerous venues in the United States. This season included recitals in Honolulu and Binghamton (New York) with José Meléndez, and a concert on the Classical Now New Music Series at Spivey Hall, where she gave world premieres of Mark Gresham's Song of the Chatahoochee and Nickitas J. Demos's Elegy for Myris. This summer she joins the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra for Osvaldo Golijov's Oceana, travels to the islands of Lana`i and Hawai`i for a recital and the Hawai`i Performing Arts Festival, then joins the Bellingham Music Festival (Washington) as the mezzo soloist for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Maya Hoover holds a Doctor of Music degree in Voice Performance and Literature with a minor in Music Education from Indiana University, a Master of Music degree from Westminster Choir College, a Bachelor of Music degree with a minor in Italian Language and Literature from Binghamton University, and she has continued her studies with Virginia Zeani. Her publications have appeared in Classical Singer, The Mentoring Connection, and the Philosophy of Music Education Review, and she has a book on Latin American art song under contract with Indiana University Press. From 2002-2007, she served as Assistant Professor of Voice at Clayton State University, and in August 2007, she joined the distinguished faculty of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.
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