title: Mira Zakai
text: Mira Zakai (‎; 21 September 1942 – 20 May 2019) was an Israeli opera singer. She was a contralto. She was born in Jerusalem. She worked with Yehudi Menuhin. She appeared with Menuhin at a concert in Castel Gandolfo for Pope John Paul II. Before this, she appeared in Menuhin's festival as a soloist in Bach's Mass in B minor. Her recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with Georg Solti won the Grammy Award for Best Overall Classical Recording in 1982. She studied at the University of Tel Aviv, where she later served as a professor.
  
  On 20 May 2019, Zakai died of problems caused by a stroke she had a year before. She was 76.
  
  References
  
  1942 births
  2019 deaths
  Deaths from stroke
  Israeli academics
  Grammy Award winners
  Israeli singers
  Asian opera singers
  People from Jerusalem