A leading scholar and researcher of Latin American art song, mezzo-soprano Maya Hoover is an active performer, teacher, clinician, music education philosopher, and author. Her accomplishments in the performance and teaching arenas have earned her invitations to appear around the world, and her specialty in the music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has led her to collaborations with some of today's leading composers.

Ms. Hoover has appeared in recital throughout the United States performing works from the standard repertoire as well as lesser-known works. She enjoys a long-time collaboration with pianist José Meléndez, with whom she regularly appears in recitals, concerts, and master classes. Their unique parnership as a performing and teaching team coupled with their specialization in Latin American art song has afforded them invitations to appear throughout the United States and abroad.

On the operatic and concert stage, Ms. Hoover has sung roles from Xerxes (Xerxes) to Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly), and has appeared with orchestras in works from Bach to Babbitt. Sought-after for her research on Latin American art song, Ms. Hoover serves on the Advisory Board of the Latin American Art Song Alliance, an organization dedicated to the promotion of songs from South America, Central America, and the Islands of the Caribbean. She has appeared in perfomances in Colombia, Bolivia, Italy, Hungary, and Peru in addition to numerous venues in the United States. Some of the highlights of this season include multiple recitals on the island of O`ahu and on the mainland, and in March, she will give the world premieres of three pieces on Clayton State University's Classical Now series at Spivey Hall in a concert featuring Atlanta-area composers. In June, she will appear at the Latin American Music Festival in Colorado as the featured soloist in three performances of Osvaldo Golijov's Oceana, and in July, she joins the Bellingham Music Festival (Washington) as the mezzo soloist for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Maya Hoover holds a Doctor of Music degree in Voice Performance and Literature with a minor in Music Education from Indiana University, a Master of Music degree from Westminster Choir College, a Bachelor of Music degree with a minor in Italian Language and Literature from Binghamton University, and she continues her studies with Virginia Zeani. Her publications have appeared in Classical Singer, The Mentoring Connection, and the Philosophy of Music Education Review, and she has a book on Latin American art song under contract with Indiana University Press. From 2002-2007, she served as Assistant Professor of Voice at Clayton State University, and in August 2007, she joined the distinguished faculty of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.