Originally from Van Buren, Arkansas, MiKayla Lynn Hatfield is a doctoral student at Shenandoah Conservatory, where she studies under the guidance of Nancy Gustafson. She holds a Bachelor of Music from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a Master of Music in Performance from Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia.

Ms. Hatfield has performed a wide range of theatrical roles, including Lidochka in Moscow, Cheryomushki, Eugénie in Germaine Tailleferre’s La Pauvre Eugénie, Suor Angelica in Suor Angelica, Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical: The Musical, and Father in Children of Eden. In the summer of 2022, she was selected to attend the prestigious American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, where she studied for six weeks.

In 2023, Ms. Hatfield was awarded the $20,000 Stephen Feinberg Scholarship from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. That same year, she won first place in Division II of the Shenandoah Conservatory Student Soloists Competition. In the fall, she toured Portugal and Spain with Shenandoah Conservatory’s opera program, performing the role of Galatea in Händel’s Acis and Galatea.

Most recently, in February, Ms. Hatfield performed with Charlottesville Opera in Sing Me A Story: Your Journey to the Stage—a program designed for students in grades 3–8 that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the diverse paths and people who bring opera to life.

Looking ahead, Ms. Hatfield will join the Lyric Opera of Kansas City as a resident artist for the 2025–2026 season while completing her degree.