Soraya Mafi

Soraya was born to an Iranian father and a second generation Irish mother in Bury, Greater Manchester. A talented dancer, Soraya performed with the English Youth Ballet as a teenager. However, following success in a local music festival, which resulted in her competing in and winning the National Junior English Song Prize at The Royal Academy Of Music, she chose to pursue a career in singing. The Prize included a bursary to fund singing tuition and enabled Soraya to study with Sandra Dugdale at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music ; a relationship which continued throughout her undergraduate studies at the RNCM.` Whilst in her first year of postgraduate studies at The Royal College of Music, Soraya made her professional début with Grange Park Opera as Soeur Constance in Poulenc’s Dia