Originally from Hollywood, Florida, Ai Ra has burst onto the New York City classical music scene this past summer with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble and the Lighthouse Opera Company, performing The Bishop of Puebla in the East Coast Premiere of Juana by Carla Lucero among other roles. His New England Debut as Gastone in MassOpera’s immersive production of La Traviata was a critically acclaimed sold out run, and he then reprised the role with Lighthouse Opera. Prior to the pandemic, they performed Il Conte d’Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Opera in the Ozarks, Monostatos in Landlocked Opera’s Die Zauberflöte, and Don Ottavio in a virtual production of Don Giovanni with Spotlight on Opera.  Ai is a proud graduate of the Florida State University, UMKC, and Northeastern University. They relocated to New York City in May 2022, they look forward to bringing their vocal talents, dynamic stage presence, and reliability to NYC stages as Don Basilio (Le nozze di Figaro) and Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola) this fall. He will also join City Lyric Opera in the professional premiere of Lori Laitman's Uncovered and Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live! as Christian in Cyrano de Bergerac. They make their straight play debut as Jarrett (Kent u/s) in The Why Collective's world premiere of The Smallest Sound, in the Smallest Space. Ai debuts with Seagle Music Festival this summer, singing Roméo (Roméo et Juliette) and Padre Antonio (With Blood, With Ink). He looks forward to debuts with St. Petersburg Opera and Teatro Nuovo in the 2023/24 season.