Lyric soprano, Kaya Giroux, is currently a candidate for the Artist Diploma in Opera Studies, on a full-tuition scholarship, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), where she studies with acclaimed mezzo-soprano, Susanne Mentzer. In the Summer of 2026, Kaya will join Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist where she will cover the roles of Edith in The Pirates of Penzance and Juliette in Romeo and Juliette. In 2025, Kaya covered Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at Opera San José and graduated with her Master of Music in Voice from SFCM. While at SFCM, she has performed the roles of Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte and Nella in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with the San Francisco Conservatory Opera, as well as scenes as the titular roles of Susannah and Emmeline, Mimì in La Bohème, and Alice Ford in Falstaff with the SFCM Opera Workshop. Also during her time at SFCM, Kaya was selected by celebrated soprano and stage director, Patricia Racette, to take part in a two week coaching seminar that culminated in a concert,The Art of Informing Classical singing through the Crossover Genre with Patricia Racette, in which Kaya performed opera and musical theater selections.

Recently, Kaya was a 2025 semi-finalist in the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, the recipient of a 2025 Emerging Artist Grant from the Berkeley Piano Club, and is a two time Encouragement Award winner of the San Francisco District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, winning in both 2024 and 2025. Kaya was also selected as a 2023, 2024, and 2025 recipient of the Paul J. Baum Fund Scholarship from the Pittsburgh Foundation. In 2022, Kaya won first place in the College/University Division of the Hal Leonard Vocal Competition. In 2021, Kaya won top prize in the first ever Schmidt Undergraduate Competition. She also received the Sylvie Derdeyn Scholarship in Voice from Carnegie Mellon, placed third in the 2021 Hal Leonard Vocal Competition, and participated in the 2021 Milnes VOICE Studio. She is also a 2021 grant recipient from the Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art @ the Frontier through The STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. This grant was used to create a hybrid junior recital which combined performances from inside the recital hall and outside in nature.

While in Pittsburgh, Kaya sang as a 2022 Fleischner Young Artist with Pittsburgh Festival Opera, performing scenes as Marguerite in Faust and Frasquita in Carmen as well as arias from Manon and La Rondine. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University where she graduated with both University and College Honors and studied with world renowned soprano, Maria Spacagna. At Carnegie Mellon University, Kaya performed roles such as Violante/Sandrina in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, La bergére, Une Pastorelle, La Chouette, and Le chauve-souris in Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges, Béatrice in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, Rusalka in The Pastiche Project, and Martha in the premier of On Our Street with Compōs-it Opera Festival. She also performed in scenes as Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus and Alice Ford in Falstaff.

Originally from Bristol, Rhode Island, Kaya had a love for singing from a young age. This passion led her to attend Jacqueline M. Walsh High School for the Visual & Performing Arts as a vocal performance major studying with soprano Diana McVey. During these four years, Kaya performed at over one hundred and fifty events including voice recitals, gallery showings, baseball games, and even a Forigner concert. She was also fortunate enough to work with great artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Phillip Glass, and Rosanne Cash.

When Kaya isn’t performing, she is an avid voice teacher. She is currently teaching voice lessons at Songbird Studios in San Francisco and previously taught at Sunburst School of Music in Pittsburgh. In addition to being passionate about opera and music education, she loves all things pink, Princess Leia, and her partner, Dyer.