Dr. Maya Sypert (Hoover)
Professor of Music
Associate Department Chair
Undergraduate Studies Chair
Praised for her outstanding artistry, “vocal beauty of high technical caliber,” and “vocal flare and flamenco abandon,” mezzo-soprano Maya Sypert (formerly Hoover) is widely recognized for her passion, profundity, and depth on stage. She has recently been featured in concerts with renowned soprano Sumi Jo and the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra (HSO); Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra (Colorado); The Magic Flute (Second Lady) and Il Trovatore (Inez) with Hawai‘i Opera Theatre (HOT); gala concerts with Opera NEO (San Diego); recitals in Vernon, France and throughout China; and concerts with Artists for Social Justice Hawai‘i. This season, she sings Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (Opera Ft. Collins) and Mercédès in Carmen (Axelrod Performing Arts Center, NJ). In June, she will be a featured artist with the Art Song Preservation Society of New York in a program of all Latin American art song with her musical partner of more than twenty years, pianist José Meléndez.
Other highlights include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (HSO, Bellingham Festival of Music); Falla’s El sombrero de tres picos (HSO); Mary in Der fliegende Holländer (HOT); Verdi’s Requiem (Tuscia Operafestival, Viterbo, Italy); Respighi’s Il tramonto and Simon Sargon’s Shemà (Chamber Music Hawai‘i); and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (Chamber Music Hawai‘i), in a production staged by Henry Akina. Other international appearances include Festival Mozart y Beethoven, Festival Internacional Bach, and Festimúsica Internacional (Peru); Songs Across the Americas Festival (Bolivia); Bellingham Festival of Music; Bloomington Early Music Festival; Escuela de Artes Musicales, Universidad de Costa Rica; Auditorio Fabio Lozano (Bogotá, Colombia); and Teatro Municipal (Trujillo, Peru).
As a recitalist, she has performed regularly with José Meléndez for two decades in innovative programs frequently highlighting Latin American, Spanish, and other outstanding lesser-known works. She 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 in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College, and a Bachelor of Music degree with a minor in Italian Language and Literature from Binghamton University. She has studied with Mary Burgess, Laura Brooks Rice, Patricia Havranek, Virginia Zeani, and currently studies with Andrea DelGiudice. Her publications have appeared in Classical Singer, The Mentoring Connection, Philosophy of Music Education Review, and Choral Journal, and her book Guide to the Latin American Art Song Repertoire: An Annotated Catalog of Twentieth-Century Art Songs for Voice and Piano (Indiana University Press) was released in March 2010. In August 2007, she joined the distinguished faculty of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she serves as Professor of Music with a world-class faculty.