Celebrated for her “magnificently rich, earthy mezzo-soprano” (Boston Music Intelligencer) and “impeccable” singing (OperaWire), Sri Lankan-American performer Tahanee Aluwihare is regularly sought out for her unique vocal timbre and vibrant stage presence.

Recently, Ms. Aluwihare “gave a masterful turn as the spinsterish Marcellina [Le nozze di Figaro]” (San Francisco Chronicle) in her debut with Opera San Jose; performed with Cambridge Chamber Ensemble in the title role of Holst’s seldom performed opera, Savitri; and returned to Opera Idaho for the role of Ježibaba in Rusalka, and Boston Camerata for the title role in Dido and Aeneas.

Previous seasons’ highlights have included singing the roles of La Badessa, La Suor Zelatrice, and La Maestra della Novizie in Suor Angelica; La Ciesca and Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Ruggiero in Alcina; Beppe in L’amico Fritz; Idamante in Idomeneo; and Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana.

Aluwihare has performed the title role in Bizet/Brook’s La tragédie de Carmen with City Lyric Opera in New York City, for which Voce Di Meche lauded her “dusky instrument and seductive presentation [that] gave us a believable free-spirited Carmen.” She has also covered the role of Carmen as an Apprentice Artist with Charlottesville Opera and with Opera Noord-Holland-Noord in the Netherlands.

Ms. Aluwihare has performed with Opera Memphis as a Handorf Company Artist, where she sang in multiple concerts including an interactive reduction of The Magic Flute; and as a Young Artist at Opera Idaho, where she covered Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Amneris in Aida and performed in the company’s touring production of The Enchanted Forest. She has also performed as a fellow with the Berlin Opera Academy, at the Lidal North Opera Workshop in Crete, Greece, and across Germany and France with Opera Classica Europa.

A proponent of newly composed or rediscovered works, Aluwihare premiered the role of Anjana in Kamala Sankaram’s live streamed virtual-reality opera Miranda with Tri-cities Opera, as well as premiering the roles of the Monkey Queen and Lord of the Tigers in Houston Grand Opera’s (HGOco) touring production of Sankaram’s Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers. With Opera Memphis, she played principal character Alice Mitchell in the company’s workshop of Robert G. Patterson and Jerre Dye’s A Pretty Little Room. Aluwihare also sang the role of Sinang in the Tagalog language production of Felipe de Leon’s Le Opera Noli Me Tangere with Opera Brittenica as part of a national revival of the seminal Filipino work. Outside of the operatic cannon, she was invited to perform in HGOco’s Harmony of Trees, a multimedia presentation incorporating ten languages and diverse cultural components into the art installation “Hello, Trees!” at Discovery Green.

Aluwihare earned her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College with concentrations in Music and Anthropology, and her M.M. in Vocal Performance from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. During her studies, she performed several times with the Mount Holyoke Orchestra under the baton of Tian Ng Hui and was awarded the Dorothy Currey Award for Excellence in Music for two consecutive years.

Committed to exploring the intersection between art, education, and social justice, Aluwihare has been a guest speaker at Tufts University and Mount Holyoke College and a teaching artist in residence with Lakes Area Music Festival. Outside of her rich and varied musical career, Ms. Aluwihare pursues her other passions as a trained French Patisserie chef, an avid reader, and museumgoer. She is concurrently pursuing a second master’s degree at Tufts University in Museum Education with a focus on curating Early Modern art.