KAJIMOTO is pleased to welcome the up-and-coming mezzo-soprano/contralto Mae Hayashi to the roster.

Born in Yokohama, Japan, Mae Hayashi has been active as a mezzo-soprano but also as one of the rare contralto singers in the world, fascinating the audience with her extensive repertoire ranging from Baroque to Romantic music.

She earned her master’s degree majoring in solo singing at the Tokyo University of the Arts. She then completed the Suntory Hall Opera Academy’s Advanced Course where she studied under Giuseppe Sabbatini. She was also trained by Sonia Prina and Serena Farnocchia in Milan, Italy.

In 2016, Hayashi made her European debut as Ragonde (Le comte Ory) and the Countess (Il conte di Marsico) at the Bad Wildbad Rossini Festival in Germany. She has since sung Azucena (Il trovatore) at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi di Busseto in Italy, Erato (Opera Minima, world premiere) at the Teatro Municipale di Piacenza, Lucia (Cavalleria Rusticana) at the Mascagni Festival, Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) at the Kaunas Opera Festival in Lithuania and many other roles.

In Japan, she has appeared in numerous opera performances singing roles, such as Flora (La traviata) under the baton of Nicola Luisotti at the Suntory Hall Opera in 2021 and Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro) under the baton of Maiku Shibata at the Hiroshima Opera Renaissance.

In addition, she has appeared in orchestral concerts as a soloist alongside the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michiyoshi Inoue for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”, the New Japan Philharmonic led by the same conductor for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, and the New Japan Philharmonic under the baton of Yutaka Sado for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 to name a few. She is currently a vocal member of the Bach Collegium Japan.