Lara Jokhadar

Biography

Born in Lebanon, Lebanese-Canadian soprano Lara Jokhadar is a graduate alumni in Chemistry from the Lebanese University, in classical singing from the Lebanese National Conservatory of Music in 2014 and in Advanced Opera Studies from the Tor Vergata University of Rome in 2018. She has been traveling regularly to Europe to perfect her career with outstanding figures in numerous master classes; notably with Madame Montserrat Caballé in Spain, Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz in Italy and Simone Alaimo ... in Italy. In 2017 she has reached the semi-final round in Vox Artis competition for opera singers in Sibiu, Romania. Lara has appeared in many opera roles on stage, such as “Cecchina” in Piccini’s La Cecchina o La Buona Figliola, at the Ennio Morricone Auditorium in Rome conducted by Gabriele Bonolis, “Countess Almaviva” in Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro, “Fiordiligi” in Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart as well, “Lola” in Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, and “Abla” in the Arabic opera “Antar & Abla” by Maroun Al-Rahi at The Muscat Royal Opera House in May 2019, conducted by Nayer Nagui with whom she has performed Grieg’s Peer Gynt suites at the Bibliotheca Alexandria, Egypt in October 2021. In December 2021, her sacred repertoire was enriched with Palmeri’s Misa Tango conducted by Yasmina Sabbah. She has sung under the baton of Austrian conductor Manfred Mussauer as well as Lubnan Baalbaki with the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra in Beirut, Andre Al Maalouly with the Orpheus Orchestra at the Damascus Opera House in Syria where she has become a recurrent guest artist and in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with Les Cordes Résonantes under the direction of Joe Daou. Also with Les Cordes Résonnantes, she has performed at the Beiteddine Festival in July 2022. She has sung the role of “Fatima” in Father Khalil Rahme’s premiere of Francesco e il Sultano in November 2021 and has toured with it in Italy in May 2022. She has also premiered in Wajdi Abou Diab's opera "The Dream" as Telephasa in May 2022, and also in the album "Daawatou mawt ila aashaa" by the same composer, in a serie of concerts in Belfort and Paris. Lara is the co-composer, assisting Elie Chahoud, of the oratorio in Arabic "from Supper to Resurrection" that has premiered in Beirut with the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra on April 8, 2022 and has sung the role of Mary Magdalene in it, under Garo Avessian's direction. Her first album, “Fajr”, has been released in June 2023 in France. It englobes a bouquet of songs of various styles, each track dedicated to a different period in her musical journey. In 2011, she sung the Hurrian hymn H6, the oldest known melody, found in Ugarit, as deciphered by archaeo-musicologist Richard Dumbrill, and in 2020 she has reprised its variations in the "Hurrian Meditations" for soprano and strings by Welsh composer Alex J Mills. Consequently, she has enrolled as a student of archeology at the Lebanese University and is working on a second album solely dedicated to re-inventing and arranging archaic chants. Lara is a very devout singing teacher and vocal coach in her own music school La Fabbrica in both Lebanon and Canada, and she has coached the Broadway program students of the YES Academy in August 2023 in Beirut and continues to take part in events for American Voices / YES Academy on an international level.