About

Kayla Oderah is an emerging African American soprano known for her dazzling lyric sound and vocal warmth. 

This 23/24 season Kayla joins the Handorf Company Young Artist program at Opera Memphis. There, she will make her debut as Musetta in La Bohème and Linfea in La Calisto. Her residency will also include a workshop performance of A.E. Reverie in partnership with Chautauqua, by Kamala Sankaram / Jerre Dye performing the total role of Young Woman. This Spring she made her Memphis Symphony Orchestra Debut as Pamina in Orchestra Unplugged: Mozart The Magic Flute. 

 

Last season she sang as a Dayton Opera Artist-in-Residence. There, Kayla sang the role of Woglinde in their production of Das Rheingold. During her spring residency she also sang as a soloist in the Young People’s Concert with the Dayton Philharmonic where she performed Dvořák’s ‘Song to the Moon’. She also performed as the soprano soloist in the Vaughan Williams’ Pastoral Symphony and the Mozart Missa Brevis K 259 with the Dayton Philharmonic. In addition to school and community performances for Dayton Opera, she was a featured soloist for the Stained Glass Series where she sang ‘Deh vieni non tardar’ and ‘Witness’ with the Dayton Philharmonic. 

 

Kayla made her professional debut in 2022 performing the role of Girlfriend 2 in Jeanine Tesori’s Blue with Toledo Opera as well as Despina in Così fan Tutte with Finger Lakes Opera as a Tomita Young Artist. She also sang as a young artist with Opera Ithaca. There, Kayla performed the role of Zegner Daughter Littler in Proving Up by Missy Mazzoli and Anna in Nabucco. 

 

She completed her Master’s at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. While completing her MMus degree she performed the role of Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 2016 she attended the Aspen Music Festival as a studio artist. 

 

Oderah is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she received her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance with a minor in artistic entrepreneurship. At UNC she was the recipient of the prestigious four-year Kenan Music Scholarship and performed opera roles including, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito, and Mary in Highway #1 USA.

 

Kayla has performed internationally at the University of Cape Town where she sang the role of Constance in Dialogues of the Carmelites. She’s also performed in opera at the Amalfi Coast Music Festival and the Berlin Opera Academy.  

 

While music remains her primary focus, Kayla has always had an interest in artistic outreach and entrepreneurial work in the arts. She hopes to extend the scope of opera to reach new and different audiences. Kayla is especially passionate about classical music and the African American/ African diaspora.

 

 She is the founder of lifestyle blog: divaredfined.com.