Yaffa Ovsishcher is a Russian-American mezzo-soprano who possesses a warm, resonant voice and artistic versatility across a wide range of repertoire. A native of Brooklyn, New York, she is currently pursuing her Master of Music in Vocal Performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studies under the guidance of renowned soprano Rhoslyn Jones.

In the 2026 season, Yaffa will join Des Moines Metro Opera as an Apprentice Artist. She recently appeared as Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen and Evangeline Harcourt in Anything Goes at the Seagle Festival. Yaffa’s operatic performances also include the title role in Handel’s Orlando and Maurya in Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea with SFCM Opera. Other notable roles include La Reine Gertrude in Hamlet (Purchase Opera), Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos (Berlin Opernfest), Der Knusperhexe in Hänsel und Gretel (Purchase Opera), and an ensemble appearance in Teatro Grattacielo’s 2024 production of L’elisir d’amore. As a studio artist with Classic Lyric Arts in 2023, she performed scenes as Sesto in La clemenza di Tito and Cecilio in Lucio Silla.

In the 2025 season, Yaffa was recognized as the Emerging Artist Winner of the Rochester International Vocal Competition and earned second place nationally in the prestigious Shirley Rabb Winston Voice Scholarship Competition. She was also named a finalist in both the NOA Carolyn Bailey Argento Vocal Competition and the Dominick Argento Fellowship, and a semi-finalist in the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition.

Equally at home on the concert stage, Yaffa has appeared as soloist in works such as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Mass in C, and Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder.

In addition to her vocal training, she studied piano for many years and trained extensively in ballroom and Latin dance—disciplines that continue to inform her musicality, stage presence, and physical expressivity as a performer.