Lilian Farahani is an internationally sought-after Dutch-Iranian soprano, renowned for her versatility, acting talent, and ability to fully embody her characters. Her expressive performances and captivating stage presence have earned her widespread acclaim.

In spring 2026, she will be covering the role of The Bride in Innocence, the last opera by Kaija Saariaho at the Metropolitan Opera, role that she previously sang at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Royal Opera House in London, Dutch National Opera and at San Francisco Opera. Furthermore during the 2025/26 season, she will sing Musetta in La Bohème with the Opéra National de Lorraine in Nancy, Théâtre de Caen and Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg.

Her 2024/2025 season included performances at the Dutch Touring Opera with The Pirate Queen, a new opera by Monique Krüs and as Drusilla and Fortuna in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea.

Lilian has sung on the major Dutch stages with companies such as Dutch National Opera, Opera Zuid and Dutch Touring Opera, but also in the opera houses of Nancy, Bern, Essen, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the International Maifestspiele Wiesbaden. Her repertoire includes Mozart roles such as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Despina in Così fan tutte, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Carolina in Il matrimonio segreto, Musetta in La Bohème and Frasquita in Carmen.

Lilian has worked with stage directors such as Simon McBurney, Lotte de Beer, Laurent Pelly, Monique Wagemakers, Simon Stone and Ted Huffman and with conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Raphaël Pichon, Antony Hermus, Ed Spanjaard, Patrick Fournillier, Kenneth Montgomery, Antonello Manacorda, Sacha Goetzel and Susanna Mälkki, and with orchestras like the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Hague Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Ensemble Pygmalion, London Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, The Netherlands Wind Ensemble, Essener Philharmoniker, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and members of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Besides opera, operetta and the classical repertoire of Lieder, Lilian feels at home singing contemporary works. Besides Saariaho’s Innocence, she sang leading roles in Anne and Zef by Monique Krüs, Death Knocks’ (Christian Jost) and The infernal comedy by Michael Sturminger with the Dutch National Theater. In the spring of 2019, her debut CD Woman – the making of…with works of Jake Heggie, was released, along with pianist Maurice Lammerts van Bueren. In her second CD, Nomad (2024), Lilian performs Persian Folk Songs by the contemporary Iranian composer Reza Vali.

Lilian Farahani is represented by ArteMIS worldwide.