Hailey Clark is an award-winning operatic soprano from the US who continues to garner praise on the international stage for her signature character portrayals, as well as her versatility in operatic and concert repertoire spanning nearly three centuries.
Upcoming engagements in the 2025/26 season include her debut with San Diego Opera as Nedda in "Pagliacci", a return to the Dresdner Philharmonie under the baton of Donald Runnicles as 5. Magd/Schleppträgerin in Strauss' "Elektra", "Opera on the River" with St. Croix Valley Opera in Minnesota, a debut as the Soprano Soloist in Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music Orchestra & Choirs, and her long-anticipated role debut as Mimì in "La bohème" with Austin Opera. She will also be featured on Decca Classics' upcoming album release of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 as Magna Peccatrix, from performances at Concertgebouw at Mahler Festival 2025, conducted by Klaus Mäkelä with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The recipient of critical acclaim from international publications such as Opernwelt, The Financial Times, Opernglas, Opera Today, BR Klassik, The Huffington Post, Opera News, Oper! Magazin, the singing actress has made a dynamic and indisputable mark in both Europe and North America throughout her career. Her European debut at the Salzburger Landestheater earned her the Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis (Austrian Music Theater Award) for best interpretation of a female leading role, and Opernwelt hailed her breakout performance as the title heroine in Fromental Halévy's ambitious Five-Act masterpiece "La Juive" as "dazzling and powerful," a production by Staatsoper Hannover, which therefore was named German "Opera House of the Year" by OPER! magazine in 2020.
Recent appearances have included her debut at Wagner’s Bayreuth Festival as Freia in "Das Rheingold". In the 2024/25 season, she debuted Richard Strauss' "Vier letzte Lieder" with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara, Turkey, Violetta in "La traviata" with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Countess Almaviva in Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" with Palm Beach Opera.
Other notable engagements in Europe and North America have included appearances with Oper Stuttgart, Salzburger Landestheater, Staatsoper Hannover, Theater Basel, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Staatsoper Hamburg, The Royal Concertgebouw, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (Netherlands), Dresdner Philharmonie, hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra), Stadttheater Giessen, The Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Music in the Alps Festival (Austria), The Santa Fe Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Central City Opera, Austin Opera, North Carolina Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Naples, Opera on the James, Henderson Symphony Orchestra, The Santa Fe Symphony, Opera Saratoga, and Fort Worth Opera. She performed as a soloist in concert venues across Shanghai, Dalian, and Tongliao, China as a winner of the Charles A Lynam Competition, and made her Austrian debut at the Brucknerhaus Linz as a finalist of the Competizione dell'Opera.
Her expansive operatic repertoire includes her most-performed role of Fiordiligi in "Così fan tutte", Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in "Don Giovanni", Contessa Almaviva in "Le nozze di Figaro", Erste Dame in "Die Zauberflöte" (Mozart), Violetta in "La traviata" (Verdi), title roles in "Alcina" (Handel) and "La Juive" (Halévy), Nedda in "Pagliacci" (Leoncavallo), Micäela in "Carmen" (Bizet), Rosalinde in "Die Fledermaus" (J. Strauss), Gerhilde in "Die Walküre" (Wagner), Freia in "Das Rheingold" (Wagner), Anne Trulove in "The Rake’s Progress", Leïla in "The Pearl Fishers", Norina in "Don Pasquale" (Donizetti), Musetta in "La bohème", Anna Sørenson in "Silent Night" (Puts), Queen of Hearts in "Alice in Wonderland" (Chin), Alma Beers in "Brokeback Mountain" (Wuorinen). In concert, her touchstone soloist repertoire includes Handel’s "Messiah", Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Brahms' Requiem, Mahler's Symphonies Nos. 2 and 8, Orff's "Carmina Burana", Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Sibelius’ Op. 70 "Luonnotar".
Hailey Clark is Assistant Professor of Voice at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music in Nashville, Tennessee, where she appears regularly in collaboration and performance with other faculties. She also teaches on summer voice faculty at the Opera Viva! young artist training program in Verona, Italy.
She is a highly sought-after clinician and branding consultant for young artists interested in making a career move to Europe and has worked with students and young professionals across North America, Europe and Asia. In her teaching, she regularly integrates her Alexander Technique training and enthusiastically encourages her students’ exploration across styles and genres. She is a strong advocate for creating inclusive spaces for young singers and regularly organizes community benefit recitals around local non-profits alongside other collaborative musicians.
She is a two-time district winner of the Metropolitan Opera's Laffont Competition and a winner of the Santa Fe Opera's award for "Outstanding Apprentice". She holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Maryland School of Music. She is also a proud alumna of the Freie Universität Berlin's "FU-BEST" program. She is an active member of the National Opera Association and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
In addition to her classical career, the North Carolina native is an active singer-songwriter and pianist, recently releasing her debut folk EP "Sad Girl Songs" across all streaming platforms. Other notable releases include her debut single "Unraveled", and an original children’s song in collaboration with German singer-songwriters entitled "Für dich/For You", E.P. published by "Oh, my music!". A full album of original releases produced in Nashville remains on the horizon.
In 2019, Hailey Clark joined the ensemble of the Hanover State Opera, where she has taken on leading roles in the repertoire with great success. She made her debut in Lydia Steier's new production of La Juive by Halévy, with Opernwelt calling her "stunning" and Das Opernglas praising her "big, beautifully led soprano." She then made her debut in the title role of Alcina, about which the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung wrote: "[Clark] floods the hall with voice and presence; she is a diva the likes of which Hannover has not had for some time." In the 2020/21 season, she sang the roles of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Micaëla in a new production of Carmen, and received rave reviews as the soprano soloist in the MYTHOS orchestra concert with artist Tal Rosner and Sibelius' Op. 3 and Op. 70 Luonnotar. Other roles in her repertoire at the Hanover State Opera included Musetta, First Lady, and the soprano soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
Hailey Clark is currently on maternity leave (2021/22) and recently made an unexpected return to the stage as Alma Beers in the premiere of Brokeback Mountain at Stadttheater Giessen, where she was acclaimed by audiences and press. In the 2022/23 season, Hailey Clark returns to Central City Opera where she will debut as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, makes her Dresden Philharmonic debut in Wagner's Ring cycle as Gerhilde in Die Walküre, and returns to the Staatsoper Hannover as Rachel in La Juive.
In the 2018/19 season, she made her debut with Palm Beach Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and with Austin Opera as Anna Sørensen in Kevin Puts' Silent Night. She also returned to the Salzburg Landestheater as Fiordiligi. Her concert stage debuts included the inaugural tour with the Columbia Bel Canto Trio, performances with the Santa Fe Symphony (Messiah), the Music in the Alps Festival (Carmina Burana), and debuts at the Alte Oper Frankfurt and the Konzerthaus Dortmund in Elektra with the Hessischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
At Theater Basel in 2017/18, she appeared as Lucio Cinna (Lucio Silla), as the 5th Maid (Elektra), and as Anne Trulove (The Rakeʼs Progress). As Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) she appeared at the Salzburg Landestheater, at the Stuttgart Opera as well as at the Central City Opera in Colorado. As Micaëla (Carmen) she made a guest appearance at the Florida Grand Opera in Miami.
Hailey Clark is a two-time regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions, was a finalist in the 2015 "Competizione dellʼOpera" competition (Linz, Austria), and a Santa Fe Opera scholarship recipient ("Award for Outstanding Apprentice"). Hailey Clark also won the Heafner-Williams Competition in 2014, is a laureate of the "Opera Guild of Charlotte Competition" and the "Shreveport Singer of the Year Competition". A winner of the "Charles Lynam Vocal Competition," she made a five-city concert tour of China and Inner Mongolia in 2009.
Clark holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan School of Music and received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Maryland School of Music. Likewise, she is a successful graduate of the FU-Best program at Freie Universität Berlin.