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.

The 2026/2027 season will include concert works and opera roles, such as the role of the Barbarian Girl in Philip Glass’s opera Waiting for the Barbarians with the Dutch National Touring Opera Company, as well as an extensive tour across the Netherlands in the title role of Paul Lincke’s operetta Frau Luna with Opera Zuid.

In the previous season, she covered the role of The Bride in Innocence, the final opera by Kaija Saariaho, at the Metropolitan Opera—a role she has previously performed at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Royal Opera House in London, the Dutch National Opera, and the San Francisco Opera. Furthermore, during the 2025/26 season, she also sang Musetta in La Bohème with the Opéra National de Lorraine in Nancy and at the Théâtre de Caen.

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.