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.