What she's doing with us: Hailing from Penticton, B.C., soprano Layla Claire makes her COC debut at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts as Fiordiligi in Atom Egoyan's brand new production of Mozart's romantic comedy, Così fan tutte.

Where you might have seen her: Well-known for her skills with Mozart's repertoire, Layla has performed a variety of roles onstage at Palm Beach Opera, Tanglewood Festival, Curtis Opera Theatre, Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence and at the Metropolitan Opera. While at the Met, she also performed the role of Helena in the world premiere of The Enchanted Island.

Her background: Layla earned an undergraduate and a master's degree from the University of Montreal, continued her studies at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and took her talents to the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. (Two of her Così co-stars, Paul Appleby and Wallis Giunta, also graduated from the Lindemann program.)

Interviews and profiles: Layla was featured in Opera News last year about her time spent at the Lindemann program, a Toronto Star article profiled her performance as Sandrina in La finta giardiniera at the 2012 Aix Festival, and she is featured in a coaching session with conductor James Levine in the PBS documentary, America's Maestro. Most recently, she participated in a Q&A in a CBC Music blog post about being awarded the illustrious Virginia Parker Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts.

What's next for Layla: Before she heads to Toronto for Così in the winter, Layla stars as Pamina in The Magic Flute at the Pittsburgh Opera, and next spring she performs the same role at the Minnesota Opera.

You can follow Layla on Twitter @laylaclairesop, on Facebook, or on her website. 

Watch Layla perform with Elizabeth DeShong (our Cenerentola from 2010) in this clip from The Enchanted Island.

Photo by Lisa Marie Mazzucco