NEDA LAHIDJI
ACTOR | SINGER | VOCAL HEALTH COACH | VOICE INSTRUCTOR
ABOUT
Known for her incredibly rich and flexible voice, American-Iranian Actor and Lyric-Soprano Neda Lahidji is equally adept at singing in an array of genres including musical theatre, opera, jazz, and popular. In addition to performing, Neda is the Owner and Founder of NL Vocal Studio in Los Angeles. She works with celebrities and high profile clients as a Vocal Consultant, Singing/Voice Habilitation Specialist, Vocal Coach and Voice Teacher. Her clients can be seen on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, TBS, the CW, and Ryan Murphy’s The Prom. She is a certified Vocal Health First Aider from the Vocal Health Education in the UK and is a member of The Voice Foundation. Neda also works with professional and aspiring singing actors, with vocal health, 8-shows-a-week stamina, and career longevity as her top priorities. Her fun and empowering approach has helped build powerful voices and rehabilitate singing and speaking voices with vocal injuries or technical challenges. Neda holds a Masters Degree in Musical Theatre and an Advanced Certificate in Vocal Pedagogy from NYU. For the past few years, she taught voice and vocal health at Lindsay Mendez and Ryan Scott Oliver's Actor Therapy in New York City. She is based in Los Angeles but works with clients all over the country and internationally.
While at NYU, she was an Adjunct Professor of Voice and performed the role of Raffaela in their production of Grand Hotel. She was also seen as Niaz in Signature Theatre company’s production of Bystander. Neda received her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Chapman University, where she performed as the Second Spirit in The Magic Flute and also studied Marzelline in Fidelio and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. During her time at Chapman, she spent a month in Rome performing in Die Fledermaus and Suor Angelica at the Operafestival di Roma and worked at the prestigious Idyllwild Arts Academy. Previously, she spent summers at Oberlin Conservatory and the Tanglewood Institute. Neda was invited by The Curtis Institute of Music to audition for both undergraduate and graduate studies.
Upon completing her undergraduate studies, Neda was accepted into the OperaWorks Emerging Artist program as well as Songfest on a scholarship. In addition, she was the Vocal Director of The Wizard of Oz at the Children's Musical Theater of San Jose (CMTSJ) as well as their Guest Instructor.
Neda with Tony Winner Victoria Clark
Neda was chosen by Victoria to sing one-on-one with her at New York City Center's Front and Center master class.
Neda portrayed Kristin in Waiting...A Song Cycle
Neda brought one of her dear friends and composer Bob Kelly and Kelly Pomeroy's song cycle "Waiting" to Los Angeles to have its West Coast Premiere. She starred in, Assistant Directed, and Vocal Directed the project as well.
Neda has had the privilege of working with internationally acclaimed pianists, singers, and composers including Graham Johnson, Rudolf Piernay, Sanford Sylvan, Susanne Mentzer, Jake Heggie, William Bolcom, Libby Larsen, Lucy Shelton, Gwen Detwiler, Audrey Luna, Craig Rutenberg, Lisa Saffer, John Musto, and Amy Burton. The Kurt Weill Foundation awarded Neda the Emerging Artist Award from the Lotte Lenya Competition in 2014.