about
classical singer. improviser. teacher. co-creator. song maker.
Tara Khozein is a soprano who makes and sings concert music and music-theater. She was born in Ecuador to a mixed Iranian-American family, was raised in New Mexico, and has lived, studied, and worked across the US and Europe. As a multidisciplinary performer, she explores the intersections of classical singing, extended techniques*, and physical theatre. She is also a voice teacher, a music director for theater, and a performance director for musicians.
Tara holds an artist diploma in physical theatre from The Jacques Lecoq School in Paris, a B.M. in classical vocal performance from New Mexico State University. After her formal education, she lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she directed circus, immersive, operetta, and children's performances, and established an improvisation practice. While in Santa Fe, she became a company member of Theater Grottesco, and was on the original sound design and creation team for Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return, where she later served as the primary content director for immersive performance. She moved to Budapest at the end of 2019, and established an online voice studio during Covid, where she continues to teach students from around the world.
Her recent creative projects include two world premieres of Czech composer Ondřej Adámek: INES (2024) at Opera Köln, and CONNECTION IMPOSSIBLE (2024) with Ensemble Modern at the Bregenz Festival; physical and vocal performances in ONCE WITHIN A TIME (2022), a film by Godfrey Reggio with music by Philip Glass; the central role in Samu Gryllus's interactive opera, GEISELOPER (2023); her one-woman show IN TO OUT (2023-); and Kate Soper's one-woman chamber opera IPSA DIXIT with Chatter ABQ.
She is a member of Kat and the Devil, The Tara and Rhonda Show, JazzaJ's Budapest Improvisors Orchestra, Timo Kinnunen's International Experimental Orchestra, and was the interim artistic director of Budapest's Soharóza Experimental Choir in their 2023-24 season. She also performs regularly in Budapest's underground music scene as a free improviser alongside classical, jazz, noise, and electronic musicians.
Tara released her first duo improvisation tape in 2021 with contrabass player Carlos Santistevan of Santa Fe, NM. Her second duo improvisation album with multi-instrumentalist Etienne Rolin was released in Spring of 2022, her third with vocalist and electronic music creator Thea Soti was released in April of 2024, and her fourth with saxophonist Rhonda Taylor, will be released sometime soon.
Tara's heart resides in the high deserts of northern New Mexico. The rest of her is based in Budapest, Hungary and New York, NY.
*extended vocal techniques are ways of vocalizing that are not traditionally used in classical music descending from the European tradition, but can be found in other traditions around the world
© Raunak Kapoor 2022
upcoming events
September 21 @ Magyar Zene Háza
Erste Young Diva Concert
solo set to open for Hungarian folk singer Sőregi Anna
Event Page
September 26 @ Jedermann Budapest
Kat & the Devil, improvised music with texts about dying
with Berci Márkos, Oliver Mayne, Ernő Hock, and Szilveszter Miklós
September 30, 2024 @ Budapest Music Center
POP QUOTATIONS, ALLUSIONS
compositions by Balázs Horváth
October 9, 2024 @ Kölner Philharmonie
Connection Impossible, a new music theater piece by Ondřej Adámek
with Ensemble Modern
October 15, 2024 @ Lumen Kávézó Budapest
Kat & the Devil, improvised music with texts about monsters
with Berci Márkos, Oliver Mayne, Ernő Hock, and Szilveszter Miklós
October 23, 2024 @ Dobozi 21
free improvisation
with Ádám Jávorka, Oliver Mayne, Nandor Hevesi, and Peter Hárságyi
November 23, 2024 @ Paul Hall, The Juilliard School
Faculty Recital | Daniel Felsenfeld, Composition
January 11, 2025 @ Taos Chamber Music Festival
IPSA Dixit by Kate Soper
With David Felberg, Jessie Tatum, and Alan Zimmerman
January 12, 2025 @ Taos Chamber Music Festival
IPSA Dixit by Kate Soper
With David Felberg, Jessie Tatum, and Alan Zimmerman
Films
Once Within a Time
By Godfrey Reggio, Philip Glass, and Jon Kane
Screening Now in the US and Canada
Credits: Hero and Soundtrack Vocals
Cicaverzum (Cat Call)
Directed by Rozália Szeleczki
Premiering at Tallinn Black Nights
Credits: Main Theme Lyricist & Singer