Personal Profile About Saira Peter
Saira Peter is a British-Pakistani soprano singer, composer, fusion music artist, vocal coach, author, and philanthropist. She is the world’s first Sufi opera singer. The Saira Peter biography tells that she pioneered the fusion of Western opera with Eastern and Sufi classical traditions. Based in London, she is the director of NJ Arts London and founder of the Saira Arts Academy in Lahore.
Saira performs in 17 languages, covering Western opera, Sufi poetry, ghazals, and fusion works. She is developing the full-scale Sufi opera Marvi’s Tears, based on Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, and a fusion qawwali on Rumi’s poetry in collaboration with the Konya Culture Department.
Born in Karachi, Saira holds a master’s in physical chemistry and a master’s in history (Islam and the West). She trained in Western classical voice under Paul Knight, a student of Benjamin Britten, and in South Asian classical music.